Abolition Geography: Essays Towards Liberation

This is a collection of Ruth Wilson Gilmore’s writings from over three decades, offering readers a unique perspective on the politics of abolition.

Gilmore’s work challenges conventional explanations of mass incarceration and racist violence, focusing instead on the geographical aspects of contemporary racial capitalism. She argues that an “anti-state state” operates through the organized abandonment of surplus people and environments. Gilmore’s analysis goes beyond one-dimensional conceptions of liberation, drawing on grassroots organizing to redefine abolition as a place rather than a principle.