Book Review: To Ascend Into the Shining World Again by Dr. Rudolph Alexander Jr.

Abstract

If the sentence of a trial that took place in a Georgia courtroom in 1967 had been actualized, Dr. Rudolph Alexander Jr., professor and director of the undergraduate social work program at Ohio State University, would not be present to serve as a role model for individuals who find themselves in what appear to be insurmountable circumstances. The title of Dr. Alexander’s autobiography, To Ascend Into the Shining World Again was taken from Dante’s Inferno and mirrors Dante’s descent to and ascent from hell. Alexander began life as one of six children born into a two-parent working-class family. He worked part-time while in high school, and was preparing to enter the military upon graduation. In 1967, at the age of 17, he was cornered in a store by a gang of youth who had previously attempted to maim him. Earlier that year, Alexander was assaulted and was legally blinded in one eye. A few weeks after eye surgery, a gang intentionally attacked him near the other eye. In self-defense, he shot and killed a member of this gang, who had been part of this attack and threatened to kill him. His text is a discussion of the social and economic injustice that he experienced after subsequently being arrested for murder.