God of the Rodeo : The Search for Hope, Faith, and a Six-Second Ride in Louisiana's Angola Prison

Rating:
Summary: Carpetbagger Journalism
Review: "God of the Rodeo" had the potential to be an outstanding story of life at the Louisiana State Prison known as Angola. The story is told from the inmate's viewpoint and mostly takes their sides.(How can you not like Littell?) The problem is Bergner needed an editor to organize his story. I would have liked to read more about some of the inmates and their families and much less about the author and his run-ins with Warden Cain. Within these limitations, I still recommend the book. It makes for an interesting gift idea!

Rating:
Summary: A fascinating look at life in a maximum-security prison
Review: Bergner has written a brave and fascinating book about the Angola prison in Louisiana. Not at all your standard prison fare, Bergner focuses not on the dark side of prison life but on the day-to-day lives of the prisoners and the events which make their existences bearable. The author was given the unusual opportunity to spend a year, basically unsupervised, wandering the grounds of this dreary but beautifully-set institution. This book is about hope in a place where there is none. It is about hope that is created, in part, by a freak-show-like rodeo hosted by the prison in which the virtually untrained prisoners take the dangerous roles of riders. In a sense, it is a heartbreaking look at the futurelessness of these life-term inmates. The inmates themselves tell us about their life-altering crimes and the demons that haunt them. At no point, however, does Bergner ask us to pity these men and we don't. Bergner's run-ins with the prison warden are books in themselves bringing into the light what we fear most in these situations: even the good guys are bad. I strongly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys non-fiction and is looking for a beautifully written and truly remarkable tale. I couldn't put it down!

Rating:
Summary: A First Hand View into Angola Prison
Review: Bergner's inside look reads more like an expose than a historical account, not surprising when one takes into consideration his background as a journalist. This account, however, it must be noted takes into account an extensive history of Angola State Prison. Bergner spent time there performing the work of a sociologist: observing, writing, detailing, getting to know the inmates on a personal basis; and even sometimes getting caught in the political tides of the prison administration. This work is as much designed for the general reader who seeks an understanding of the life of a prisoner as much as it is for the student of criminal justice or political science who seeks a knowledge base in prison life. Bergner's talents are clearly on display in this sociological masterpiece that clearly details the emotions of prison life. The graphic behavior exhibited by the characters in this work only serve to intensify the reality of prison life and drive home the point that Bergner makes, chiefly being that Angola State Prison, much like any other prison, is a world apart from normal society. This work is an inside view of that other world. It shocks just the same as Jonathan Kozol's Savage Inequalities.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: The positive reviews I have read here are mystifying. Bergner is a talented writer, for sure, but I really felt as if he mailed in this book more than anything. It sure didn't seem like he spent a year at Angola prison or even in the vicinity. Seemed more to me as if he flew down there every once in awhile to see what's up. The book starts off GREAT, the first third, and then proceeds to fall apart with the not-so-interesting details of his fight with warden Cain to retain his access. Once he wins that fight it's as if the author has lost his steam. The charcters, even warden Cain, don't seem to come to life and their story, the one he tells, just isn't so compelling. I just came away feeling that the author was worn out. Too bad, too. I had high hopes for this one. Want to read a book that DOES make this kind of access work? Try Pete Early's The Hot House, about his two or three years inside of Leavenworth.

Rating:
Summary: great material, poorly done
Review: This book is only incidentally about rodeo, and even less about God. Yes, Bergner uses a prison rodeo as the structural device to build this account of prison life around. But it's not any kind of rodeo you would see authorized by the PRCA. The events are more treacherous, and the men who participate have no experience. They are a spectacle for a crowd of people looking for the same kind of thrills that drew ancient Romans to the Coliseum.

The book is chiefly about the daily lives of several of the prisoners who happen to participate in this spectacle, as Bergner follows them over the period of a year at Louisiana's maximum security prison, Angola. Bergner is permitted to talk to them one-on-one, with no guards present, by an unusual warden with a reputation for his "humane" philosophy of incarceration and his efforts at rehabilitation. The interviews, as a result, or more than usually candid. One prisoner even fantasizes aloud to Bergner about escaping and taking revenge on the people who put him there.

Not all the prisoners Bergner introduces us to are reprehensible. Most, in fact, seem decent enough blokes, and he has to keep reminding us (and himself) that all of them are serving time for violent, awful crimes. Most are black men, reflecting the racial (im)balance of the prison population. And most struggle daily to maintain a sense of self-worth that society and the judicial and penal systems have denied them. One man becomes active in the prison's chapter of Toastmasters. Another attends church services for a time. One holds out the hope that his teenage son will find a way to be proud of him. One romances a woman with two children who eventually marries him in a prison ceremony.

Unexpectedly, in the middle of the narrative, the prison warden begins to pressure Bergner for editorial privileges. He wants only good publicity and perhaps suspects that Bergner has uncovered some shady dealings involving labor provided by prisoners to business associates. What starts as a congenial relationship between the two men turns sour, and Bergner has to take his case to a sympathetic state prison commissioner, who reinstates his privileges, no strings attached.

The book ends as it begins with the annual rodeo. By now we know how the hope of winning a buckle feeds the participants' desire to compete and succeed. We also see the shabby futility of the event and regret ever yearning along with them for a moment of personal glory.

I recommend this book to anyone who has the slightest interest in what happens to men who are sent to prison. Bergner has written a fascinating account of lives spent year after year behind bars. As a companion volume, I would recommend Ted Conover's "Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing," which gives an account of prison life told from the point of view of the men and women who work as guards.

Rating:
Summary: An Unexpected Story
Review: This is a fascinating book. I thought it would focus on the rodeo that Angola holds each October, but that's just a starting point. The rodeo gets him there, but like all good writers, Bergner realizes that a larger, deeper story exists. He sets out to spend a year at the prison. But, as often happens to good writers, the story that he expects to find is not the one that he finds. The book goes into a completely different direction that he, or readers, ever expected. Once the twists take place, I felt pulled into the book. There are times when I wanted more information, such as the end when he relates what happened to the people he discussed. And there are times when I skimmed, feeling like there were more details than necessary. But, overall, the book is a winner.

Rating:
Summary: Terrific book about a tough topic
Review: This is an excellently writen book I would reccomend to anyone interested in prison life and the forces that compel one to live on despite a sentence of life behind bars.I recently visited Angola in October as a law student and found the place to be most intriguing. Mr. Bergner's account of everyhting I saw, including death row, is quite accurate. Also, his rendition of Louisiana politics is right on the mark. A really good read I would reccomend to anyone.