Wilbert Rideau; an award-winning journalist who spent forty-four years in prison; delivers a remarkable memoir of crime; punishment; and ultimate triumph. After killing a bank teller in a moment of panic during a botched robbery; Wilbert Rideau was sentenced to death at the age of nineteen. He spent several years on death row at Angola before his sentence was commuted to life; where; as editor of the prison newsmagazine The Angolite; he undertook a mission to expose and reform Louisiana's iniquitous justice system from the inside. Vivid; incisive; and compassionate; this is a detailed account of prison life and a man who accepted responsibility for his actions and worked to redeem himself. It is a story about not giving up; finding love in unexpected places; the power of kindness; and the ability to do good; no matter where you are.
#215590 in Books Rosenbaum Ron 2014-07-08 2014-07-08Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.00 x 1.50 x 6.00l; 1.36 #File Name: 0306823187520 pagesExplaining Hitler The Search for the Origins of His Evil updated edition
Review
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful. Masterpiece That Doesn't Try to "Explain" Hitler's EvilBy M. JEFFREY MCMAHONIn this ambitious; well researched; well thought book; Rosenbaum critiques those theorists and academics who try to come up with explanations for Hitler's behavior whether Hitler is motivated by childhood traumas; sadistic power; sincere belief in his anti-Semitism; etc.; and what Rosenbaum discovers; to his dismay; is that too many deep thinkers cannot accept evil without "the fig leaf of rectitude." In other words; too many good-intentioned people unwittingly give Hitler a pass; excusing his evil in a way; by saying he was crazy; deranged; sincerely misguided; a true believer in his own vision.What these theorists are doing; Rosenbaum convincingly argues; is trying to come up with a single theory that says more about themselves than it does Hitler. A single theory advances their specialty and more importantly a theory is a form of consolation; a comfort because we deluded ourselves into believing that evil--even the kind of evil on the magnitude of Hitler--can be explained.In fact; what I got from reading this book is that evil cannot be explained entirely. Hitler; the mountebank; became a cult figure who created an Evil Culture; complete with art; architecture; music; and fashion; and the Cult of his Personality was necessary for the Nazi evil. You couldn't replace him with some other anti-Semite to advance his vision. In other words; Hitler was Nazism.What I concluded from this book is that Hitler was a fake; a clown who became intoxicated by his own cheap demagoguery and the German people's belief in it and in this intoxication he unleashed pure evil: a man who takes sadistic pleasure in torturing and killing others.Rosenbaum warns us not to try to explain evil with one over simplistic theory to suffer the either/or fallacy of Hitler was either a true believer or a cunning manipulator because he was in fact both.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. excellentBy CSRexcellent5 of 6 people found the following review helpful. Journalism; not history; but very fine journalismBy A CustomerRosenbaum's synthesis of current argument about "the nature of Adolf Hitler" makes a good introduction to the field. Like all good journalists; he seems to come away from each meeting (the book is structured as a series of interviews with historians; elucidated by informed asides by Rosenbaum)with some telling give-away; some unguarded response he has managed to provoke; which suggests a special insight. Trouble is; these "insights" are into the minds of the historians; rather than into the mind of Adolf Hitler himself -- and long before the end of the book; the reader is aware that Goldbaum is too wily a commentator to be going to risk any attempt at really explaining; as the subtitle has it; "The Origins of His Evil."The book is admirable in many ways; not least in that it marshals the main positions within "Hitler psychohistory" in a very readable fashion. But it is a fine piece of journalism; rather than a work of scholarship; and unlikely to provoke as much thought -- or stir up as many hornets -- as (for example) Daniel Goldhagen's flawed but extraordinarily illuminating "Hitler's Willing Executioners."You won't find any explanation for the origin of Hitler's evil here; unfortunately. In fact; this book is oddly bloodless and shadowless. But Goldbaum's fine intelligence is evident in every line.
