On September 9, 1971, nearly 1,300 men at Attica Correctional Facility in upstate New York rose up against brutal conditions, overcrowding, and racism, and took control of the prison and dozens of hostages. Four days later, state troopers and guards stormed the yard, and the retaking left 39 men dead, including hostages, in what became one of the deadliest prison confrontations in American history. In Blood in the Water, historian Heather Ann Thompson draws on decades of research and newly uncovered records to tell the full story of the uprising, the violent retaliation against the prisoners, and the long cover-up that followed. This Pulitzer Prize-winning history gives voice to the prisoners, hostages, families, and officials who lived it, and it shows how Attica still shapes the debate over mass incarceration, justice, and power in America.