Killer Looks, Zara Stone
Killer Looks, Zara Stone
List: $22.95 | Sale: $16.07
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Killer Looks
The Forgotten History of Plastic Surgery in Prisons

Author: Zara Stone

Narrator: Kirsten Potter

Unabridged: 12 hr 43 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 10/26/2021

Synopsis

Killer Looks is the definitive story about the long-forgotten practice of providing free nose jobs, face-lifts, breast implants, and other physical alterations to prisoners, the idea being that by remodeling the face you remake the man. From the 1920s up to the mid-1990s, half a million prison inmates across America, Canada, and the UK willingly went under the knife, their tab picked up by the government.In the beginning, this was a haphazard affair—applied inconsistently and unfairly to inmates, but entering the 1960s, a movement to scientifically quantify the long-term effect of such programs took hold. And, strange as it may sound, the criminologists were right: recidivism rates plummeted.In 1967, a three-year cosmetic surgery program set on Rikers Island saw recidivism rates drop 36% for surgically altered offenders. The program, funded by a $240,000 grant from the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, was led by Dr. Michael Lewin, who ran a similar program at Sing-Sing prison in 1953.Killer Looks draws on the intersectionality of socioeconomic success, racial bias, the prison industry complex and the fallacy of attractiveness to get to the heart of how appearance and societal approval creates self-worth, and uncovers deeper truths of beauty bias, inherited racism, effective recidivism programs, and inequality.

About Zara Stone

Zara Stone is an award-winning journalist who covers the intersection of culture, technology, and social justice. She’s published with The Atlantic, the Washington Post, the New York Times, Vice, Forbes, Wired, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Post, ABC News, the BBC, OZY Media, and BuzzFeed News and has worked as an on-air reporter for Fusion, a nationally syndicated ABC News affiliate. Stone’s affiliations include the San Francisco Writers Grotto and the Authors Guild, and she’s been a regular judge for the News & Documentary Emmy Awards. Her awards include a Dow Jones fellowship at the Wall Street Journal and a Mozilla-Firefox Open News Grant.

About Kirsten Potter

Kirsten Potter has narrated numerous audiobooks and has performed for television and in theaters across the country. She has won several awards, including several AudioFile Earphones Awards, and been a three-time finalist for the prestigious Audie Award.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Valerity (Val) on July 15, 2021

My thoughts: This is a fascinating book about the history of the little known plastic surgery that was performed in the prison system. This was done starting in the 1920s in order to help prisoners improve their appearance in order to be able to better obtain jobs and to boost their self-confidence.......more

Goodreads review by Staci on September 16, 2022

This is a fascinating and well-written book about the 19th Century experiment to see if plastic surgery could help with recidivism. Would physical beauty help prisoners lead happier more productive lives after prison? Did being seen as undesirable or "ugly" (according to beauty standards of the time......more

Goodreads review by Kim on September 21, 2021

A fascinating study of a time when prisons were offering free plastic surgery to inmates. This was Meticulously researched by Zara Stone, and written in a style that will engage the reader from p.1.......more

Goodreads review by E.M. on December 23, 2021

A superb investigation into the importance of being beautiful - but sadly overpriced This is a very strange book exploring in-depth and with academic attention to detail, a very strange topic: the use of plastic surgery to improve rates of recidivism amongst convicts. The author traces the story thro......more

Goodreads review by Lydia on October 03, 2021

On its surface, this book is about plastic surgery in prisons, but really it ends up being a much more thorough exploration into the research on effective rehabilitation practices in jails/prisons. At the end of the day, our prison systems are really just perpetuating the conditions that put people......more

Quotes

“One surgeon’s unconventional project provides the narrative spine for a fascinating, often-shocking look inside the American prison system. Expertly and rigorously researched, Killer Looks takes the reader through the little-known practice of testing surgeries on prisoners, the rise and fall of the rehabilitation movement, the surprising economics of lookism, and the ingrained racism at the heart of all of it. Stone writes with compassion and authority. I won’t soon forget this book.” Mary Roach, New York Times bestselling author

“In Killer Looks, Zara Stone shines a Sing Sing-wattage searchlight on the relationship between ugliness and criminality. She brilliantly flips the subject to investigate why the public would prefer higher recidivism to giving felons a “beauty bonus.” Killer Looks, capturing the nuances of a seven-decade social experiment with convicts, is a tour de force.” Joan Kron, former beauty editor, Allure; director of Take My Nose... Please!; author of Lift

“Through her engaging and insightful reporting, Zara Stone reveals a dark side of the history of plastic surgery. This thought-provoking read encourages us to examine the systemic problems of the criminal justice system that exist today.” Dr. Sam P. Most, chief, Division of Facial Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine

“Killer Looks is an eye-opener, and essential reading in criminology.” Dr. Katherine Ramsland, professor of forensic psychology and author of Confession of a Serial Killer

“Stone’s exhaustively researched, eminently readable book offers a unique look at the criminal justice system and how we can reform it.” Dr. Gary Brucato, coauthor of The New Evil

“Graceful prose bolsters this fascinating account. This is essential reading for anyone interested in criminal rehabilitation.” Publishers Weekly

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