By The Beachwood Blago Books Affairs Desk
Unless Rod Blagojevich has a sudden moment of sanity and confesses, it will probably be at least a year – and probably two – before he actually sees the inside of a prison cell. Nonetheless, we here at the Beachwood Blago Books Affairs Desk would like to offer up some jailhouse reading for the gov.
1. The Man Who Emptied Death Row: Governor George Ryan and the Politics of Crime. By James Merriner.
At least Ryan emptied Death Row and kept the wheels of government turning. Your clumsy schemes, Mr. Blagojevich, are a disgrace to corrupt politicians everywhere. In prison, you’ll be Ryan’s bitch.
2. Big Jim Thompson. By Robert E. Hartley.
I know Big Jim Thompson, sir, and you are no Big Jim Thompson.
*
Thompson, by the way, once said “This should serve to put Chicago on notice that we are fed up with corruption in this town and we’re going to end it.”
And, “I’m going to kick ass until we get rid of the crooks.”
That’s when he was a prosecutor. See how that worked out?
3. Helpless, Hopeless. By Dan Walker.
“Dan Walker is almost certainly the only former Illinois governor whose memoir includes an eyewitness account of his prison cellmate being gang-raped,” the Sun-Times wrote.
“That was a searing experience because you watch that, and there is absolutely nothing you can do about it,” Walker said. “Absolutely nothing. The guards would not interfere. You were helpless and hopeless watching that happen.”
4. Psychology for Dummies. By Adam Cash.
What makes you tick?
5. The Prison Cookbook. By Jamie Oliver.
“The tasty treats include corned beef stew, Mars bar melts, Dairylea cheesecake and tuna and pepper sauce mash.”
6. Mr. Chairman: Power in Dan Rostenkowski’s America. By James Merriner.
“[In prison], Rosty worked seven and a half hours a day at landscaping and other chores at a starting pay of twelve cents an hour. He joined 135 other inmates who slept in four-man cubicles with no doors. Chicagoans joked that Rosty had reserved a suite for himself – one for his bed, three for his ego.”
7. My Fall From Grace. By Jim Laski.
“Convicted former City Clerk Jim Laski said Monday he worked through Mayor Daley’s top lieutenants to get Hired Truck business for the lifelong friend who betrayed him and, therefore, believes the mayor knows a lot more about the scandal than he has publicly admitted.
“Free after spending eleven months in a West Virginia federal prison and six months at a Chicago halfway house, Laski is pointing fingers at the mayor in a tell-all book and in-depth interview.”
8. What’s a Governor? By Nancy Harris.
Spanish title: Que es un gobernador?
9. Foundations of Democracy: Authority, Privacy, Responsibility, and Justice. By Joseph S. Jackson.
Student Text. High School Level.
10. Boss. By Mike Royko.
“In his Chicago, even a man’s birthday could be put to a political use. ‘Chicago ain’t ready for reform yet,’ Alderman Bauler said when Daley was elected in 1955. And in 1970, ready or not, it wasn’t getting any.
Posted on December 9, 2008