God of the Rodeo: The Quest for Redemption in Louisiana's Angola Prison
by Daniel Bergner
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Description
Never before had Daniel Bergner seen a spectacle as bizarre as the one he had come to watch that Sunday in October. Murderers, rapists, and armed robbers were competing in the annual rodeo at Angola, the grim maximum-security penitentiary in Louisiana. The convicts, sentenced to life without parole, were thrown, trampled, and gored by bucking bulls and broncos before thousands of cheering spectators. But amid the brutality of this gladiatorial spectacle Bergner caught surprising glimpses of show more exaltation, hints of triumphant skill. The incongruity of seeing hope where one would expect only hopelessness, self-control in men who were there because they'd had none, sparked an urgent quest in him. Having gained unlimited and unmonitored access, Bergner spent an unflinching year inside the harsh world of Angola. He forged relationships with seven prisoners who left an indelible impression on him. There's Johnny Brooks, seemingly a latter-day Stepin Fetchit, who, while washing the warden's car, longs to be a cowboy and to marry a woman he meets on the rodeo grounds. Then there's Danny Fabre, locked up for viciously beating a woman to death, now struggling to bring his reading skills up to a sixth-grade level. And Terry Hawkins, haunted nightly by the ghost of his victim, a ghost he tries in vain to exorcise in a prison church that echoes with the cries of convicts talking in tongues. Looming front and center is Warden Burl Cain, the larger-than-life ruler of Angola who quotes both Jesus and Attila the Hun, declares himself a prophet, and declaims that redemption is possible for even the most depraved criminal. Cain welcomes Bergner in, and so begins a journey that takes the author deep into a forgotten world and forces him to question his most closely held beliefs. The climax of his story is as unexpected as it is wrenching. Rendered in luminous prose, God of the Rodeo is an exploration of the human spirit, yielding in the process a searing portrait of a place that will be impossible to forget and a group of men, guilty of unimaginable crimes, desperately seeking a moment of grace. From the Hardcover edition. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
This is a fascinating glimpse inside one of the toughest prisons in the country, Louisiana's Angola, a former plantation which now houses men (predominately black men) convicted of violent crimes, a large percentage of them sentenced to life without parole. The author was given free access to the prison, inmates and staff over a period of a year, despite the warden's second thoughts and attempts to bar him after a few months. It may be a bit out of date, as it was written in 1998, but as the author points out, the system doesn't want us to inquire, wonder or mind what happens to these prisoners...they've been dealt with precisely so ordinary citizens don't ever have to think about them again. They will not return to society or commit show more further crimes against it; their only victims from now on will be themselves and each other. Well written, not the least bit sensational, despite some pretty grim and graphic details.
My cover subtitles this book "The Quest for Hope, Faith and a Six-Second Ride in Louisiana's Angola Prison". I note that other editions change that to "The Quest for Redemption in..." I think the former is more accurate.
Review written August 2016 show less
My cover subtitles this book "The Quest for Hope, Faith and a Six-Second Ride in Louisiana's Angola Prison". I note that other editions change that to "The Quest for Redemption in..." I think the former is more accurate.
Review written August 2016 show less
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ThingScore 75
There's not much cachet to prison reporting these days. Bergner's rich, probing and compassionate book is a rare look at both the physical and spiritual world on the other side of the bars.
added by Shortride
Author Information
9+ Works 729 Members
Novelist and journalist Daniel Bergner was raised in Washington state, the son of two dedicated public servants. While covering the annual Louisiana State Prison at Angola rodeo, he discovered corruption in the form of Warden Burl Cain, who requested a payment of $50,000 and the right of editorial control on Bergner's project. Bergner's eventual show more book on the affair, God of the Rodeo: The Search for Hope, Faith and a Six-Second Ride in Louisiana's Angola Prison, deals in part with the fact that not all public servants are as helpful or as dedicated as his parents were. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Common Knowledge
- Important places*
- Angola
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Classifications
- Genres
- Nonfiction, General Nonfiction, Religion & Spirituality
- DDC/MDS
- 365.66 — Society, Government, and Culture Social problems and social services Punishment Inmates Services to prisoners
- LCC
- HV9475 .L22 .L635 — Social sciences Social pathology. Social and public welfare. Criminology Social pathology. Social and public welfare. Criminal justice administration Penology. Prisons. Corrections By region or country
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 116
- Popularity
- 279,749
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (3.73)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 6
- ASINs
- 1
