strong narrative, it’s incredibly well-crafted and meticulously all pieced together. the only reason i’m not giving it five stars is i do think it’d be significantly better with more of an abolitionist bend. that said, the moderate/neolib politics it mostly alludes to are more accessible to the general public and i could see ear hustle making centrists/liberals feel more compassion towards incarcerated people. one person interviewed seems dedicated to abolition, but he’s only in a small section of the book.

i also am a little disappointed with the general lack of intersectionality? they talk about race and class and some about gender. i haven’t listened to the podcast bc i’m not a big podcast person, but i would hope it’s a bit more diverse in that regard? gender and queerness and disability are all such big parts of abolition, so maybe i have high expectations, i just believe all those things are necessary to consider regarding incarceration.