Broken Ground: A Novel

by John Keeble, Kathleen Dean Moore (Foreword by)

Outstanding Title, University Press Books for Public and Secondary School Libraries, 2011 Edition

Broken Ground employs a construction project in the Oregon desert as the basis for a story with far-reaching political and moral implications. Hank Lafleur has been sent to supervise the project, which is a prison-for-profit financed by a multinational corporation under government contract, and meant to house felons, illegal immigrants, and, as Lafleur comes to learn, political prisoners from Latin America. Broken Ground is remarkable for its prophetic vision of the hollow securities promised by incarceration and of the effects of "privatization" as an armature of American imperialism-in both the domestic and international realms.

441 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1987

Reviews

[Wilma Rebstock · Rating 4 out of 5]

I greatly enjoyed those books of John Keeble which I have had the pleasure to read. BROKEN GROUND and YELLOWFISH , like their author are philosophical and erudite. To give a good account of these fine books (and of myself) I would have to, and no doubt will, reread them. Its been a long time and my memory is not keen as it once once was. I do know they are well-plotted, with good characters and a fine view of the problems of the time. Mr. Keeble was a creative writing teacher of mine at Eastern Washington University at Cheney and I truly admire him personally and professionally.