Martin Cathcart Frödéns new book will surely accelerate criminologys slow awakening to the potency and importance of imagination and creativity in rethinking crime and punishment. It deserves to be widely read and discussed by anyone and everyone who cares about the pursuit of justice. -- Prof Fergus McNeill, Professor of Criminology and Social Work Encompassing memoir, creative writing, criminology and architecture, this unusual book is in two halves. One is a critical, multi-disciplinary, autobiographical exploration of carceral space and place, time, absence and visibility, masculinities and vulnerabilities, movement and stasis, circularity and linearity. The other is a novel that explores in fiction the very same themes. The result is one of the most imaginative, ambitious, compelling, clever and funny books I have read. It is quite simply stunning. -- Yvonne Jewkes, Professor of Criminology Inspiring, bold and highly readable, A Circular Argument is a breath of fresh air in academic publishing. Employing practice as research to disrupt some of the hierarchies it examines, it offers a forward-thinking and transdisciplinary approach to spatial hierarchies with particular reference to carceral systems. Some of its most serious propositions are embedded in its gripping and entertaining narrative, proving that ideas are more effectively shared when rigour and humour go hand in hand. More of this, please - it's what we need to refresh our ways of working. -- Dr Zoë Strachan, Reader in Creative Writing, University of Glasgow
