Bo Yang wrote continuously in prison, and completed his Outline of the History of the Chinese People while incarcerated. Sales of his previously banned work also boomed at this time, in both legitimate and pirate editions. He kept on writing after his release.
柏楊文章的傳奇與傳播力道在於，他雖人在牢房裡，不但書寫不輟，完成《中國人史綱》等大部頭史書，之前被查禁的書籍如《異域》，正版與盜版都在鐵窗外狂銷。