This classic book tells the harrowing and inspirational story of Robert Elliott Burns' imprisonment on a chain gang in Georgia in the 1920s, his subsequent escape from the chain gang (twice, no less ), and the public furor that developed across the nation. The book was immediately turned into a famous movie and sparked outrage about prison conditions and involuntary servitude that led to major reforms. This memoir is also simply a very interesting read.

Originally issued in 1931 as a six-part serial in the pages of True Detective Mysteries magazine, and printed by the...