Prisoner in the Kitchen The Car Thief the Murderer and the Man Hired to Feed Them edition by William Bonham Politics Social Sciences eBooks
Download As PDF : Prisoner in the Kitchen The Car Thief the Murderer and the Man Hired to Feed Them edition by William Bonham Politics Social Sciences eBooks
Winner of Simon & Schuster’s memoir contest in conjunction with AARP and the Huffington Post, the memoir of a man’s coming-of-age as a civilian cook in a maximum-security prison.
In 1973, recent Montana transplant William Bonham desperately needs a job. Hoping to take advantage of his background working in restaurants and diners, he finally comes across a listing for a position offering great money and benefits—at Montana State Prison in Deer Lodge. He takes it.
As food service supervisor in the kitchen of the maximum-security prison, Bonham oversees a kitchen crew of convicts that prepares and serves each meal. Among his staff are Earl, a homely baker; Aldrich, a timid young dishwasher; Smoky Boy, the prison’s most feared and respected convict; Mackey, who claims to have cooked at Seattle’s Olympic Hotel in his pre-incarceration life; and Reed, a cook whose calm, witty demeanor wins over Bonham.
Over the next year, Bonham comes to care for his crew. Although he knows that these men have committed unforgiveable crimes, Bonham forms a camaraderie with them that borders on friendship—until a late-night incident calls his judgment into question.
Told with humor and empathy, A Prisoner in the Kitchen is the redemptive tale of Bonham’s transformation from a bright-eyed optimist who sees the good in everyone to a man who understands and revels in the complexities of human nature.
Prisoner in the Kitchen The Car Thief the Murderer and the Man Hired to Feed Them edition by William Bonham Politics Social Sciences eBooks
Bonham has written a captivating, true-life morality tale of his transformation from a naive innocent to a clear-eyed, hardened realist - from a young man to a grown man. At times funny, enlightening, and frightening, the book covers one full year in a Montana prison during the Nixon Era in which Bonham, in his early 20s, was a greenhorn supervisor in the prison kitchen. He worked alongside hardened criminals, some of whom he grew to like personally… until he learned why they’d been incarcerated. Each chapter offers a well-written vignette about prison life from the objective view of an insider who was neither an inmate nor a corrections officer. His story and observations are as relevant today in this era of mass incarceration as when his tale took place in the 1970s, and the writing is as carefully crafted as meal prepared by a master chef.Product details
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Prisoner in the Kitchen The Car Thief the Murderer and the Man Hired to Feed Them edition by William Bonham Politics Social Sciences eBooks Reviews
This was a great story. Thought provoking. Sums up society and disappointment. I just finished watching Orange is the New Black and the story line re transition from state prison to privately run prisons. This book entered my mind numerous times while I watched. Yeah... I recommend this book, along with THE NEW JIM CROW for some historical perspective and watch 'Orange is the New Black' on Netflix. You will have a whole lot of thinking to do.
Memoirs are a way to peak into someone else's life, and I enjoy reading them. This one gives the reader a look into a bleak environment, and what it is like to voluntarily walk into a grim workplace, where most people have no choice about being. This is prison as it was in the 1970s in Montana. Bonham writes a spare prose that captures his experience, well. What I take away from it is his lesson that monsters can be likable, and one cannot always trust one's instincts.
Thanks to the AARP magazine, I discovered this fine new author. The book is only available digitally at present, so I charged up my seldom-used and enjoyed every chapter right away. I hope Prisoner in the Kitchen will be published in paperback form; I would like to buy some as gifts and have a copy for myself. (At the end of the book, we see many stories were cut to shorten this edition. May we expect a sequel soon?)
Well written. Learned not only about the prison, but the author as well. Loved his perspective and his humanity. I was relieved at the ending.
This short book won an award for memoir writing. I learned about it through AARP magazine, one of the sponsors of the award. It's the story of a man hired to work as a cook for inmates at the Montana State Prison in Deer Lodge. The book gives a different perspective on prison life. The author paints a picture of the drab environs of the prison contrasted by the vibrancy of life on the outside. At times, it's easy to draw a correlation to The Shawshank Redemption in the way the author portrays the inmates. As the author grows more comfortable working among the prison population, he oscillates from seeing them as normal people who just made some wrong decisions to men he feels deserve all the bad that has come their way.
The story covers a one year period in 1973. At times, the prison comes across as an acceptable place to be incarcerated. But by the end of that year, the author realizes that he is affected by the despair and realities of prison life. When he discovers the details of the specific crimes of some of the inmates, he struggles with his conflicting opinions about them. He ultimately decides that he wants nothing to do with the inmates or the prison.
Enjoyed every chapter and was sorry when I came to the last page. This is terrific read was selected as the winner of a memoir contest sponsored by AARP and the Huffington Post.
Currently only available as an e-book (with an excerpt in the April/May issue of AARP magazine), Prisoner in the Kitchen is well-written and paced, thanks to a tight and handsome edit. Hat's off to the author and publisher Simon & Schuster for a job well-done. It deserves to be issued at least as a trade paperback (in addition to the original version) so the work can reach the widest audience possible.
When you read this winning memoir of Mr. Bonham's year as a supervising cook in a Montana maximum security prison you may think that he has talent for "fiction." Granted, he is a talented writer, but the events and people in this award-winning tome are based on his year as an employee at this massive old institution in a tiny Montana town! It is true and authentic.
I know because I spent two years in a very similar federal institution from 2001-2003 and he is spot on with this compilation of stories and their "cast" of convicts, guards and other employees, who must live this rule-laden existence! Fear, anger,frustration and, yes, even humor. This account has it all.
It is hard to believe that this is Bonham's first published book! Read it. You won't be able to put it down!
Bonham has written a captivating, true-life morality tale of his transformation from a naive innocent to a clear-eyed, hardened realist - from a young man to a grown man. At times funny, enlightening, and frightening, the book covers one full year in a Montana prison during the Nixon Era in which Bonham, in his early 20s, was a greenhorn supervisor in the prison kitchen. He worked alongside hardened criminals, some of whom he grew to like personally… until he learned why they’d been incarcerated. Each chapter offers a well-written vignette about prison life from the objective view of an insider who was neither an inmate nor a corrections officer. His story and observations are as relevant today in this era of mass incarceration as when his tale took place in the 1970s, and the writing is as carefully crafted as meal prepared by a master chef.
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