Erwin James: Prisoners of Honour by David Levering Lewis

This month, we are delighted to welcome the writer, columnist and former prisoner Erwin James to choose our Book of the Month. James had little formal education as a child, and drifted into crime in his teens. In 1984 he was convicted of murder. While in prison, James embraced education for the first time and received an arts degree, majoring in History, from the Open University. He began writing about life inside for the Independent in 1994, and has been a regular columnist for the Guardian since 2000. His books are A Life Inside and The Home Stretch.

James writes this about his chosen book, Prisoners of Honour by David L. Lewis:

“I have just written something about a particular book that had a huge influence on me when I read it during the early months of my life sentence when I was still in Wandsworth prison. The piece is in The Reader Magazine, January 2014. I would like to recommend the book that I write about in the piece – it’s called Prisoners of Honour by David Levering Lewis. If I may I would like to donate my very special copy of this book, which has been a friend to me for 29 years…”