Four books written from a jail cell
Authors may be a degenerate lot, but that doesn't mean they can't illuminate the human condition. Even if they have to do it from jail. In fact, some of the world's greatest works of literature were written from jail.
1. Cervantes, Don Quixote
Widely considered to be one of the first true European novels, Don Quixote was written while Cervantes was serving time in debtor's prison.
2. Adolph Hitler, Mein Kampf
Horrible though it is to contemplate, Mein Kampf is probably the work of literature which has had the second biggest impact on the course of human history, after the Bible. Hitler penned this lengthy combination autobiography and political treatise while imprisoned in the wake of his failed attempt to seize power in Munich. Hitler's thesis of "the Jewish peril" obviously struck a chord with his readers. By the end of WWII "about 10 million copies of the book had been sold or distributed in Germany" including copies that were handed out free to every soldier and newlywed couple.
3. O. Henry, The Gift of the Magi
This Christmas classic was written while its author (William Sydney Porter, writing under a pseudonym) was in jail for embezzlement charges. (In a just world, it would turn out that Porter had embezzled money that the business owner set aside for Porter's annual bonus.)
4. Martin Luther King, Jr., Letter from a Birmingham Jail
While in jail for organizing a non-violent protest against racial segregation, Dr. King compiled this moving collection of information on non-violent protest, and made a compelling case that all people have a responsibility to work to overthrow unjust legislation. Conditions in the Birmingham jail were so bad that King had to write his book on the margins of a smuggled newspaper, and on scraps of paper slipped to him by a sympathetic black trusty.
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