Since its release in 1932, I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang had earned a reputation as one of the few Hollywood products that can be associated directly with social change. Film historians attribute the reform of the southern chain gang system to the public outrage generated by this movie, which depicts a true story.
    In addition to being an important social document, the film remains a gripping experience for filmgoers today because of its unusual dramatic conception, its hauntingly inconclusive ending, and Paul Muni's performance as the good boy forced to go wrong.

This book includes the complete screenplay.

    John E. O'Connor is Associate Professor of History at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. He is the author of several books.
    Tino Balio, Professor in the Department of Communication Arts at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, is the author of United Artists: The Company Built by the Stars, United Artists: The Company That Changed the Film Industry, and the editor of The American Film Industry as well as the 22 volume Wisconsin/Warner Bros. Screenplay series, all published by the University of Wisconsin Press. He directed the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theatre Research from 1966 to 1882.

• Contents 
• Foreword
• Balio, Tino
• Introduction: Warners Finds Its Social Conscience
• John E., O'Connor
• Illustrations
• I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang
• Notes to the Screenplay
• Production Credits
• Cast
• Inventory