An ex-convict struggles with his addictive yearning for prison. A law-abiding citizen broods over his pleasure in violent, illegal acts. A prison warden loses his job because he is so successful in rehabilitating criminals. These are but a few of the intriguing stories Martha Grace Duncan examines in her bold, interdisciplinary book Romantic Outlaws, Beloved Prisons.

Duncan writes: -This is a book about paradoxes and mingled yarns - about the bright sides of dark events, the silver linings of sable clouds.- She portrays upright citizens who harbor a strange liking for...