Silence: A Social History of One of the Least Understood Elements of Our Lives

A compelling history of silence as a shaper of the human mind—in prisons, in places of contemplation, and in our own lives—from the author of Brilliant.

Through her evocative intertwined histories of the penitentiary and the monastery, Jane Brox illuminates the many ways silence is far more complex than any absolute; how it has influenced ideas of the self, soul, and society. Brox traces its place as a transformative power in the monastic world from Medieval Europe to the very public life of twentieth century monk Thomas Merton, whose love for silence deepened even as he faced his obligation to speak out against war. This fascinating history of ideas also explores the influence the monastic cell had on one of society’s darkest experiments in silence: Eastern State Penitentiary. Conceived of by one of the Founding Fathers and built on the outskirts of Philadelphia, the penitentiary’s early promulgators imagined redemption in imposed isolation, but they badly misapprehended silence’s dangers.

Finally, Brox’s rich exploration of silence’s complex and competing meanings leads us to imagine how we might navigate our own relationship with silence today, for the transformation it has always promised, in our own lives.

“Brox writes beautifully . . . Silence for her is a force of nature, awe provoking, like lightning, capable of electrocuting us and of illuminating the night.” —The New York Times Book Review

“Silence is an uncommon book on an increasingly uncommon phenomenon, a gift to be treasured in the din of daily life.” —Megan Marshall, Pulitzer Prize–winning author

“A perceptive and subtle meditation about a ‘true reckoning with the self.’” —Kirkus Reviews

© 2023 Mariner Books (Ebook): 9780544702516

Release date

Ebook: November 21, 2023