Rothman explores why prisons, insane asylums, and reformatories were constructed in the United States between 1820 and 1830 and delineates the role of the Jacksonian vision of institutionalization. His book provides a historical basis for explaining why the United States has maintained an uncritical acceptance of widescale incarceration, and his book has also contributed to discourse on the social history of institutions. Rothman notes distinct advantages in taking a social-historical approach to corrections and penal practices. He discusses punishment in Colonial America, the emergence of institutionalization during the Jacksonian era, prison discipline, and social disorder and control. He also considers the history of corrections, particularly punishment as an extension of state power, the relation between industrialization and social disorder, and economic determinants of the prison system. 26 references