A powerful contribution to the genre of the prison memoir in Africa. Jack Mapanje presents the moving account of a poet's imprisonment by the state, his struggle to probe the hidden motives for this arrest and his attempt to provide an unforgettable record of the architecture of imprisonment and the perpetual struggle between the forces of truth and those of naked power. In 1987, Mapanje was arrested by the Malawian secret police and imprisoned without charge until 1991. His memoir represents a retrospective attempt to explain the cause and terms of his imprisonment.