Robin Bernstein

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley and am voluntarily writing an honest review.

Freeman’s Challenge is the story of a young man’s crimes committed after spending five years in a torturous 19th century prison. It is a damning indictment of for-profit prisons both in the 19th century and today, and outlines the beginning of these prisons and their genesis in the 19th century.

This was not an easy book to read. It was incredibly disturbing both because of the racism and the torture that took place in the prison and the crimes that William Freeman committed upon his release. While his treatment doesn’t excuse his crimes, it certainly gives a reason for them - at least partly that he was so severely brain damaged by the beatings he received that he lost his hearing and his family said he was a completely different person.

This is a heartbreaking book. So many people (black and white, but mostly black) were victimized by these prisons that basically became a way to legitimize slavery. This is a book that will make sure that you feel uncomfortable, as anyone should when reading terrible history like this.

I also enjoyed the narrator of this audiobook. He was easy to understand, expressive, and did a good job making this book such a powerful and upsetting history.… (més)