530 P. Ph. D. 1992 The University of Iowa, Supervisor: Albert E. Stone

“[A] critical analysis of the autobiographical writings of twentieth century American prisoners of conscience. Prisoners of conscience have engaged consistently in the "practice of resistance:" a strategic intervention at sights of social injustice, intended to foster ethical renewal. In this study, the practice of resistance… Internal constraints upon national character discourse, however, reveal limited resources for a substantive transformation of American life.

This fact introduces the significance of the prisoner of conscience. Prisoners of conscience take history personally, creating "public memory" from acts of witness to critical historical events. …[The discussion also includes other major prisoners of conscience: Mother Jones, Ammon Hennacy, Dorothy Day, Daniel Berrigan, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, George Jackson and Barbara Deming]".