To tell the story of a beloved cousin’s death, Danielle Allen ’93 shifts between her private anguish and a scholar’s critique of the American prison system. After being sentenced at 15, Allen’s cousin Michael spent 11 years in prison. In Cuz: The Life and Times of Michael A. (Liveright), Allen recalls his homecoming, and how even her devoted support of his fresh start could not shield him from the brutal reality of life as an American ex-convict and indelible mark that is left by so many years in prison.