This Week's Hot Reads

This week: how one prisoner redeemed himself through writing, the latest from Nobel winner Orhan Pamuk, an in-depth look at the government elite, a hilarious new history of the Smothers Brothers, and a classic murder mystery from a master.

Mother California: A Story of Redemption Behind Bars. By Kenneth E. Hartman. 208 pages. Atlas. $22. Mother California: A Story of Redemption Behind Bars
by Kenneth E. Hartman

A prison reformist writes from behind bars about life without parole.

Kenneth Hartman has been serving a life sentence in prison, with no hope of parole, since murdering a homeless man in 1980 while high on drugs. In Mother California: A Story of Redemption Behind Bars, the once-violent offender chronicles his growth from an enraged young man to a meditative writer. His early years in prison were often spent in solitary confinement, after he lashed out at prison guards or fellow inmates. But when Hartman discovered his talent for writing, his world within the prison walls began to change. Hartman’s “descriptions are sharp and, remarkably, suffused with dry wit,” writes Bookforum.com. Hartman eventually met, via a chance phone call, a woman whom he married and had a child with. He also helped to establish the Honor Program at California State Prison-Los Angeles County, which incentivizes positive behavior among prisoners to create a safe and cooperative atmosphere.