... Brox hunkers down in two institutions dominated by the absence of noise — prison and the monastery — and leaves us with a much more ambiguous sense of silence: oppressive under certain conditions, liberating under others ... Brox writes beautifully about the silence woven through daily tasks and between prayers in the medieval monastery, its varying qualities and duration...
Her ability to juxtapose prisons and monasteries, fear and peace is remarkable, and her graceful prose, which appears effortless, draws upon a wealth of research. This is history at its most effective: elegant, essential, and provocative. Those with an interest in prison reform should be particularly drawn to these thought-provoking pages.
... couldn’t come at a better time ... A wonderfully evocative writer with a knack for the illuminating detail, Ms. Brox explores the history and cultural meaning of silence through the story of a prison and a monastery. It is an unusual and useful approach ... At times, Ms. Brox meanders from her principal narrative. While some of her tangents are illuminating, others are a distraction ... Ms. Brox’s engaging book offers readers an opportunity to explore a few crucial moments of that history and, in the process, to ponder what silence—or its absence—tells us about the world we are making every day.
