title: Games Prisoners Play: The Tragicomic Worlds of Polish Prison
author: Marek M. Kaminski
description: <b>"Winner of the 2004 Distinguished Book Award, European Academy of Sociology"</b><br /><br />"Written with refreshing directness--funny and horrible by turns--and complemented by delightful illustrations, <i>Games Prisoners Play</i> . . . makes a highly original contribution to the literature on prisons. The book will also prove valuable for introducing game theory. . . . There could be no better advertisement for rational choice."<b>---Michael Biggs, <i>American Journal of Sociology</i></b><br /><br />"<i>Games Prisoners Play</i> is not just a superb description of prison life but also a provocative analysis of why the choices prisoners make under difficult circumstances are rational. The lens through which Kaminski views these choices is elementary game theory, which he uses to elucidate the subtleties of different strategic situations in a highly imaginative way. This book ranks with only a handful of works I know of that apply game theory, in depth, to unusual subjects and end up enriching both the subject and the theory."<b>Steven J. Brams, New York University, author of <i>Theory of Moves</i> and coauthor of <i>Fair Division: From Cake-Cutting to Dispute Resolution</i></b><br /><br />"An exceptionally interesting book, and a very engaging read, <i>Games Prisoners Play</i> is bound to make a major impact on scholarship in the field. I would be very surprised if it did not become a staple reference for any study of prison life for years to come."<b>Diego Gambetta, author of <i>The Sicilian Mafia</i></b><br /><br />"A terrific achievement. Marek Kaminski combines a unique 'fieldwork' in Polish prisons with insightful models of prisoners' behavior. This is an exceptional contribution to the ethnography of prison life and an imaginative application of game theory. It is also a memoir in its own right."<b>Federico Varese, author of <i>The Russian Mafia</i></b>
zlib_text: **The Damnation Game**
  
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  **by**
  
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  **Clive Barker**
  
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  **Copyright 1985**
  
    
    
    
    
    
  
  Nor yet exempt, though ruling them like slaves,
  
    
  
  From chance, and death, and mutability.
  
    
  
  -SHELLY, Prometheus Unbound
  
    
    
    
    
    
    
  
   **Part One**
  
    
    
  
   **TERRA INCOGNITA**
  
    
    
    
  
  Hell is the place of those who have denied;
  
    
  
  They find there what they planted and what dug.
  
    
  
  A Lake of Spaces, and a Wood of Nothing,
  
    
  
  And wander there and drift, and never cease
  
    
  
  Wailing for substance.
  
    
  
  -W.B. YEATS, The Hour Glass
  
    
    
    
    
    
  
   **I Providence**
  
    
    
  
   **1**
  
    
  
  The air was electric the day the thief crossed the city, certain that tonight,
  after so many weeks of frustration, he would finally locate the card-player.
  It was not an easy journey. Eighty-five percent of Warsaw had been leveled,
  either by the months of mortar bombardment that had preceded the Russian
  liberation of the city, or by the program of demol