"Compelling. . . It is impossible to read The Torture Letters without the nagging realization that right now, somewhere in the United States, a similar story is playing out in real time. This book matters."--The Nation, on The Torture Letters
"[A] deeply caring work. . . An essential primer on the roots of police violence."--Publishers Weekly, on The Torture Letters
"Ralph brings necessary light to the problem of police torture. A damning indictment of the senseless and seemingly unceasing violence committed by those charged with serving the public."--Kirkus Reviews, on The Torture Letters
"Renegade Dreams is a tour de force―extremely well written and engaging, and replete with original insights. Once I began reading Ralph's book I had a difficult time putting it down. His field research is fascinating. And his explicit discussion of the interconnections of inner-city injury with government, community institutions, as well as how it is related to historical and social processes, is a major contribution."
--William Julius Wilson, author of The Truly Disadvantaged: The Inner City, the Underclass, and Public Policy, on Renegade Dreams"Although it lacks the easy narrative of many traditional ethnographies, this is precisely the book's strength. There is no convenient valorisation of the ordinary extraordinariness of the lives portrayed here. Their dreams are shown to be chaotic, complex and contradictory. Just like life in 'Eastwood.'"--Times Higher Education, on Renegade Dreams
"Astounding in its clarity and groundbreaking in its power, Renegade Dreams is a miraculous as the efforts of its all-American characters to remake life and invent a future without injury."--Joao Biehl, author of Vita: Life in a Zone of Social Abandonment, on Renegade Dreams