David Skarbek is Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science and the Political Theory Project at Brown University. He is the author of The Social Order of the Underworld (Oxford, 2014), which won the APSA's William Riker Award for best book in political economy and the Outstanding Book Award from International Association for the Study of Organized Crime.

Winner of the Best Book Award in International Criminology from the American Society for Criminology

"The Puzzle of Prison Order provides a rich foundation for future research... Examining the variation in governance institutions using Skarbek's theory may help researchers explain and address that variation in violence." -- Kaitlyn Woltz, The Review of Austrian Economics

"...this book is a wonderful example of how brilliant scholarship can be produced by relying on secondary data sources, without collecting any "original" data." -- Malcolm M. Feeley, Public Choice

"This book will likely have a wide appeal and be a useful resource to criminologists, sociologists, political scientists, and anthropologists alike, as well as to individuals working within the criminal justice system who wish to understand more about the underlying mechanisms of social order within prisons." -- Rose Elisabeth Boyle, Pernille Nyvoll, and Thomas Ugelvik, Criminal Law and Criminal Justice Books

"Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates. Graduate students and faculty." -- R. D. McCrie, CHOICE

"An illuminating work of much interest to students of crime and punishment."--Kirkus

"Prisons' regimes around the world and across history differ dramatically. Skarbek's new book offers a groundbreaking argument of why this so. He holds our hand in a fascinating and at times disturbing journey inside the world of prisons. I cannot think of a better guide." -Federico Varese, University of Oxford, and author of Mafia Life

"Were it only for its extraordinary comparative scope, The Puzzle of Order would already be a major contribution to the fields of prison studies and human rights, but Skarbek's rigorous analysis of governance structures across varying prison regimes makes this a major theoretical breakthrough in law and society research generally, one that should be read by all who care about the nature of public order in institutions of control." -Jonathan Simon, University of California Berkeley

"David Skarbek is one of the most interesting writers about prisons today. Using case studies from across continents and centuries, he develops a persuasive theory of extralegal governance which will help academics and prison professionals alike unravel the puzzle that is prison governance." -Nicholas Hardwick, Royal Holloway University of London