God of the Rodeo: The Quest for Redemption in Louisianas Angola Prison by Daniel Bergner

God of the Rodeo: The Quest for Redemption in Louisianas Angola Prison Reviews

• 
  James

  I attended the Angola rodeo when I lived in New Orleans. I think I may, in fact, have been at the 1997 rodeo portrayed at the climax of this devastating book. I believe I learned about it from
  Louisiana Dayride, my weekend-excursion bible at the time, where it is listed alongside other bits of charming local color like the Christmas bonfires in Grammercy and the Courir de Mardi Gras in Mamou. At the time, the prison marketed the rodeo as "the wildest show in the South," which, I'm not proud to say, is pretty seductive to someone for whom a review like, "That movie is really fucked up!" is a compelling pointer to a must-see experience. At any rate, I've been a little obsessed with cowboys my whole life and I couldn't resist the opportunity to visit a legendarily brutal maximum security prison as a tourist. I can still remember the delicious frisson I felt on the winding drive through lovely wooded hills as I approached the prison, when I realized that most people who traveled that same bucolic stretch only made the trip in one direction (something like 8 in 10 Angolites at that time were lifers). Imagining their fates, I got to enjoy an abstract, horror-movie thrill of fear and then I got to go home. I know, I know, I'm a terrible person.
  
  I'm a little apalled, now, that I was able to not let myself see that I had come to the rodeo to witness, effectively, a blood sacrifice. These men, by and large, aren't cowboys. There are a few standard rodeo competitions like bull riding and bronc busting, and these feature inmates who actually rope and ride in Angola livestock operations, but most of the competitions, such as Convict Poker (four inmates play chicken at a card table while a bull, provoked by a professional rodeo clown, rampages around them) and Guts and Glory (the climax of the rodeo, where inmates try to snatch a poker chip from between the horns of another angry bull), in which unskilled men try to win a little approbation and commissary credit by exposing themselves to significant risk of grave bodily injury for the delectation of the day visitors. I suppose I don't need to add that the vast majority of competitors are black and the audience is almost entirely white.
  
  I'm still glad I went, I guess. The inmates are delighted to have the rodeo. Most of the men profiled in this book structure their years around it. It represents a chance, for some, to interact with folks from the free world and to be seen, for one day,as something resembling a human being. To be seen at all, really. Maybe, with the popularity of Orange is the New Black, more people like me think empathetically about the inmate experience, but I doubt it. Prison is something that people without my dark fascinations would prefer not to think about, period. Inmates who are not participating in the rodeo itself and who are in good disciplinary standing have an opportunity to sell crafts to visitors. I bought a belt at the craft fair that I wore for years(I'm too fat for it now, but I have it still), and I had a brief conversation with the man who made it. I don't remember what we talked about. I'm just glad I had the good manners not to ask, as I wanted to, what he had done to get himself there.
  
  But enough about me. The book is well-written and deeply compassionate while avoiding mawkishness. Bergner is clear-eyed about the fact that the men whose suffering moves him have themselves, by and large, done some terrible things, things that permanently devastated the lives of others. God of the Rodeo had its origin with an article that Bergner wrote for Harper's, but it doesn't read like many articles expanded into books that don't really have anything more to say than the article. He spent a year getting to know inmates, guards, and the venal, hungry-for-the national-spotlight, and ostentatiously born-again warden, Burl Cain, who becomes the anti-hero of this narrative. I hope it isn't too much of a spoiler to reveal that it is the corrupt, capricious, sentimental and vengeful Cain who is the god of the title - a paternalistic, racist tyrant who holds the fate of hopeless men in his grasping hands.
• 
  Jim

  Mixed emotions about this book. Although it starts out generally as an investigation into the life of some prisoners involved in an on-site rodeo and the work of a warden, it quickly morphs into a work something akin to muckraking. It is hard to find that much sympathy for these murderers (although to some extent you do), and the author tries to maintain a distance (though he doesn't). You almost get the feeling that he isn't telling the whole truth, that he sounds at times almost like his subjects (not in degree, of course, but there is a sense that he is defending himself too much), who generally can't be believed. Did anyone else have the feeling that he was trying to tease out some sensational info, but the result still fell flat. I am jaded a bit, perhaps, since I worked as a guard in a juvenile facility, and truthfulness was not something I found in great supply among the inmates. Still, he raises legitimate complaints and points out some problems, though even there he falls far short of a true investigation, as you also get the feeling that he didn't do his groundwork and was more interested in being impressed (at first) and awed, than really going in with a critical eye. But stuff jumps up and smacks him, nonetheless. As a southerner, how is it that the corrections field is so burdened with corruption and nepotism? I have seen men like Cain, at different levels, who profit from their positions. I am amazed everytime I hear about a guard selling drugs, or turning his back, or having sex with prisoners--it disgusts me. And I know the job is tough---the average stay of a new guard was less than six months (almost all of my training class was gone within a year). Even more troubling is the lack of adequate government oversight (except the courts). In the end the book becomes less about prisoners and more about the author and the warden. If you want to read a better account of prison work, read NEWJACK or YOU GOT NOTHING COMING.
• 
  Joshua

  I'm torn between a 3 star and 4 star rating on this book. I'm going to recommend reading it, as it is compelling from a sociological perspective. But the author's personal narrative was a bit too strong, and in comparison to the first half of the book (which was truly excellent), the second half just... sort of... petered... out.
  
  The gist is that the author was given unrestricted access to Louisiana's Angola Prison and followed five inmates involved in the prison rodeo as well as the "reformist" prison warden. I'd suggest following this book up with
  Ted Conover's
  Newjack for a more holistic insider's view f prison society.
• 
  Paige

  Pretty good book, but I could have had less of Warden Cain and more of the prisoners and the prison. I know the stuff with Cain probably really pissed him off but it just doesn't make for AS compelling reading. Otherwise, it's pretty easy to get into.
• 
  Lindsay Luke

  I worked with a guy from New Orleans and he told us about the prison rodeo at Angola State Prison. Our (IT workers at a DC area bank) reaction was basically "WTF!?!" I'd heard of Angola from crime novels and some history books but had not heard of this rodeo, or really, anything like it. I think I went home, googled it, and forgot about it. When I stumbled upon this book in a local Little Free Library, I had to pick it up.
  The author, Daniel Bergner, went to Angola to write an article for Harper's about the rodeo. He returned several times over the next year and expanded it to this book. The "god" of the title is the flamboyant warden, Burl Cain. Using the rodeo as a starting point, Bergner writes about several inmates as they live their lives and prepare for the following year's rodeo and about the warden Cain and how he runs the prison.
  Angola is located on a former slave plantation and planting is still a big part of life there. At the time, most of the inmates were serving life sentences and died in the prison. It was pretty much its own self-contained world run by Cain, who believed that hard work and Christianity could at least make the inmates' lives better and maybe save their souls. He also had some corrupt practices going on, which the author discovered. Bergner had to walk a fine line to keep his access to the prison as he researched the book.
  The inmates he follows have done horrible things, but also seem to have changed - or at least mellowed - after years in prison. Only one of them was released during the writing of the book. Bergner follows them through work in and out of prison, hobbies, interaction with their families, and even marriage. He manages to portray them in a relatable way, appreciating their humanity without losing sight of their original crimes.
  The rodeo itself is kind of crazy. Inmates compete and are often injured for the audience's entertainment, a few dollars, prized belt buckles, and bragging rights. Inmates also sell arts and crafts and food during the rodeo, making money for the prison and for themselves. Prison life in general is more complicated that what is depicted on TV and in the movies.
  The book was written over 20 years ago. Warden Cain has since moved on, but the rodeo continues, and I imagine prison life is much the same. This was a fascinating look into a unique and disturbing world.
• 
  Heather

  I have a lot of complex feelings about the content of this book, but I’ll summarize in two main takeaways. 1. The life of prisoners is painful to read about. They have beautiful, heartbreaking stories. It’s what draws me to podcasts like Ear Hustle and books like this one. It’s important to read about those in prison because we so rarely have to spend a thought on those so far removed from us. 2. This and the other book (the title escapes me) about Warden Cain and Angola ought to be read as companions. The “Christian” version seems preachy and dishonest, but it communicates a hopefulness that the secular Bergner often can’t grasp in his retelling. Bergner is very vulnerable about his opinions and biases, which I appreciated greatly. This book was worth reading, but I’ll probably not keep it in my home library.
• 
  Sarah Bigham

  Fascinating look into life in a men's max security prison with a rodeo tradition that can be seen as demoralizing, and a series of wardens with various management strategies. Much to reflect on and learn.
• 
  Caroline

  Interesting book but I found the author a slightly condescending narrator.
• 
  Ron

  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.
• 
  Adrienne

  When journalist Daniel Bergner first visited Angola prison, he was intending to a do a brief magazine article; instead, it turned into a year-long project of meeting with the prisoners, employees, and the warden. Warden Cain had a reputation as being a religious man, determined to help the men find redemption and turn their lives around--even though the majority of them were facing life in prison in a state that didn't offer parole on life sentences. Bergner wanted to know if this was possible and set out to examine the programs--including an annual inmate rodeo, church programs, and literacy programs--as well as the personnel, both to see if the men could change and if the man in charge of it all was as good as he seemed to be. He relates stories of a few specific prisoners, tracing the stories of the crimes that earned them their sentences and their time in the prison.
  
  This gritty and graphic look at prison life is highly detailed and hard to stomach. Bergner absolutely does not gloss over the realities of prison life; the behavior and language are intense, shocking, and disgusting. At the same time, this book gives much to ponder about prison systems, where prisoners are out of sight, out of mind, and whether redemption is possible. If you can block out the more disturbing elements of the book, you find yourself pulling for some of these men--men who committed horrific, violent crimes--and yet, who, through Bergner's tale, are human beings with hopes, dreams and heartaches. This is one of the most intense, disturbing books I've ever read--and I will not ever reread it--but it certainly is thought-provoking.
• 
  Lauren

  Aside from a brief glimpse into the prison system in LA the 1990's, this book offers not much more than a poorly written half researched journalistic account of several life serving prisoners. An exploration of hope in a dismal existence and morality questions of whether they deserve to have it provided to them.
  The Rodeo still exists today and apparently is thriving. I can't wrap my head around the practice of utilizing men barely trained to handle wild bulls in an arena as entertainment for the public. Watching men get physically abused by giant animals seems barbaric. Yet the book provides the view from the inmates perspective, which in some cases is completely opposite. The portrayal of the warden as a "christian" god send for the prison, is counter-balanced by his documented self serving actions.
  
• 
  Nathan

  Bergner's calm, detached perspective casts the gritty, even disgusting, reality of prison life into stark, sometimes horrifying relief. His great service is to show us the humanity of the inmates without glossing over their crimes or demonizing those who control them; overall, the effect is one of nuanced realism, which makes this portrait of American prison life effective indeed.
• 
  Ray

  This was a decent book. It's obviously outdated, which made it feel a little futile to read. I want to do some research on what's happened at Angola afterwards. It's also a bit brief and disjointed, and I don't necessarily have a lot of sympathy for the author/narrator. He has some issues with racism and homophobia, etc. But the topic is fascinating.
• 
  Jenn

  I read this particular book not for the insight into prison life per se, but for the insight into the once a year rodeo at thus Louisiana prison. It came across as pure lunacy with a large mix of desperation and hope. How different US prisons appear to be than Canadian ones.
• 
  Kelly

  This was a good book, wasn't sugar coated at all. Learned that Burl Cain is a man with his best interests at heart...
• 
  Pixismiler

  Went between three and four stars. Pretty accurate on some of the underlyings that occur at the prison.
• 
  Jessica Paglia

  Totally not what I was expecting. Very disappointing. With every page I kept waiting for it to get better. And it never did
• 
  Martha

  It's a good book with disturbing insights. Which I guess shouldn't surprise me, but it did. I've requested all of his books from the library...
  
• 
  Schuyler

  Loved the characters he focused on and how he developed them through the book.
• 
  Grace Mead

  A tremendous and tremendously nuanced book.
• 
  Mac

  Non fiction. Prison life in on of the worst of Louisiana's prisons. A good read.