title: The Maximum Security Book Club: Reading Literature in a Men's Prison
author:  Mikita Brottman 
description: Idiosyncraticpoignant When Brottman writes, shes a virtuoso: poised and sure-footed, confident and graceful, witty and relaxed. (<b>Baltimore Sun</b>)<br /><br />CharmingIn the end, the club shows how reading literature can be a moral project, a workshop open to all. (<b>Boston Globe</b>)<br /><br />Readers see more than how criminals respond to literary masterpieces. They also see how the author realigns her own college professor thinking about books she sees anew through the eyes of her tough-minded students. Great literature reassessed in a gritty world far removed from academes ivory towers. (<b>Booklist</b>)<br /><br />This memoirs energy emanates from Brottmans sharp understanding of group dynamics and her determination to avoid clichs. She delves into the personal stories of the men she met behind bars, and is clear-eyed both about literatures powers and its limitations. (<b>Los Angeles Times, "4 new nonfiction books not to be missed"</b>)<br /><br />Take nine convicted felonsAdd a well-meaning literary scholar armed only with cheap reprints of challenging books...The resulting dynamic is the subject of Mikita Brottmans fascinating and unvarnished book about criminals as rough-hewn literary critics. I tore through THE MAXIMUM SECURITY BOOK CLUB. (<b>Wally Lamb, New York Times bestselling author of WE ARE WATER</b>)<br /><br />Swiftly and sensitively writtenwe should all strive to build book clubs with people whose days and life histories are quite different from our own, rather than discussing books mainly with our friends. Until then, theres Mikita Brottmans wonderfully witty and deeply honest report from just that sort of space. (<b>Sheila Heti</b>)<br /><br />Steers clear of facile sentimentality. There is no transformation or redemption in Brottmanns story, only honest moments of encountermade possible by the act of reading literature. Brottman gives us a candid, unillusioned account of her work behind bars. A brave and admirable book about a brave and admirable project. (<b>William Deresiewicz, author of EXCELLENT SHEEP: THE MISEDUCATION OF THE AMERICAN ELITE and THE WAY TO A MEANINGFUL LIFE</b>)<br /><br />One of the best books about teaching Ive ever read, it is not only lively and engaging from the first page to the last, but dazzles by virtue of its honesty, sympathy and humanity. (<b>Phillip Lopate</b>)<br /><br />The prisoners are real. The fiction classics they read and discuss are real. Honest, engaging, surprising, and often unsettling, THE MAXIMUM SECURITY BOOK CLUB beautifully captures the banal insanity of prison life in America while exploring the power of literature to transform, reform, and illuminate. (<b>Kim Wozencraft, author of RUSH and THE DEVIL'S BACKBONE</b>)
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  Mooch
  
  A Novel
  
  Dan Fante
  
  With an Introduction by  
  ANTHONY BOURDAIN  
    
    
  
  ![](images/00002.jpg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  This book is dedicated to my older brother,  
  Nicholas Joseph Fante, 1942-1997.  
  Dead from Alcoholism. Crushed like a dog in the street.
  
  Special thanks to Judy Berlinski for her help in  
  editing my work.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  …he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the
  captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound.
  
  (Isaiah 61.1)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Table of Contents
  
  [Cover Page](Mooch_split_000.html#filepos178)
  
  [Title Page](Mooch_split_001.html#filepos330)
  
  [Dedication](Mooch_split_002.html#filepos837)
  
  [Epigraph](Mooch_split_003.html#filepos1201)
  
  [Introduction](Mooch_split_005.html#filepos5215)
  
  [Chapter One](Mooch_split_006.html#filepos8283)
  
  [Chapter Two](Mooch_split_007.html#filepos19527)
  
  [Chapter Three](Mooch_split_008.html#filepos25411)
  
  [Chapter Four](Mooch_split_009.html#filepos41938)
  
  [Chapter Five]