Time of Grace: Thoughts on Nature, Family, and the Politics of Crime and Punishment

By Ken Lamberton

Book Overview

"I hole up in my own cozy cubicle and write, considering ways to make the approaching Thanksgiving holiday not just another day in this place. In prison, hope faces east; time is measured in wake-ups." Time of Grace is a remarkable book, written with great eloquence by a former science teacher who was incarcerated for twelve years for his sexual liaison with a teenage student. Far more than a "prison memoir," it is an intimate and revealing look at relationships--with fellow humans and with the surprising wildlife of the Sonoran Desert, both inside and beyond prison walls. Throughout, Ken Lamberton reflects on human relations as they mimic and defy those of the natural world, whose rhythms calibrate Lamberton's days and years behind bars. He writes with candor about his life, while observing desert flora and fauna with the insight and enthusiasm of a professional naturalist. While he studies a tarantula digging her way out of the packed earth and observes Mexican freetail bats sailing into the evening sky, Lamberton ruminates on his crime and on the wrenching effects it has had on his wife and three daughters. He writes of his connections with his fellow inmates--some of whom he teaches in prison classes--and with the guards who control them, sometimes with inexplicable cruelty. And he unflinchingly describes a prison system that has gone horribly wrong--a system entrapped in a self-created web of secrecy, fear, and lies. This is the final book of Lamberton's trilogy about the twelve years he spent in prison. Readers of his earlier books will savor this last volume. Those who are only now discovering Lamberton's distinctive voice--part poet, part scientist, part teacher, and always deeply, achingly human--will feel as if they are making a new friend. Gripping, sobering, and beautifully written, Lamberton's memoir is an unforgettable exploration of crime, punishment, and the power of the human spirit.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0816525706
• ISBN13: 9780816525706
• Release Date: October 2007
• Publisher: University of Arizona Press
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.1" x 7.4"

Customer Reviews

A view of Compassion vs Authoritarianism

I found the book to be a compelling, sometimes gut- wrenching tale of how society has twisted justice into a system of retribution and punishment. The tale is a prime example of what happens when overzealous proscecutors and coerrectional? staff have free reign to impose their personal concepts of justice on those who have used poor judgement. It seemed to me, while his actions were irresponsible, they did not seem to be criminally inspired. A tale of courage, of his, and of his family.

If you only read one naturalist sex offenders meditations from prison book this year then this has t

Rehabilitation or punishment? Which serves the innocent public better? Let alone the offender. And what of the other victims - the families of the offender? In Ken Lambertons previous books of essays from prison he focused on seeing prison through the eyes of a naturalist. I almost said naturist - which would actually make for a, perhaps, more compelling read. At least there would be no concealed weapons on such an inmate. In this book he speaks of the natural environment as observed from an environment that is, by its design, very un-natural. But he also meditates on crime, punishment, the crime of punishment and rehabilitation remorse and regret. Most of these guys are going to get out some day and walk among us. How we treat them in there has a direct effect on how they they will act out here. The innocent masses have a stake in how the guilty few are treated behind those walls and razor wire. Humanity is in our self interest. Ken Lambertons case is a strong one and is spoken from an insiders (12 years behind bars) perspective. The book not only makes a compelling argument but is also an interesting and well written peek into a world that most of us will never see and probably don't want to see. But we have to see it. Out of sight out of mind doesn't work here. What goes on in there very much affects those of us out here. Just the other day I heard an AM radio commentator describe how all sex offenders (of which Mr Lamberton is one) should be locked up forever. Easy to say but not very pragmatic and perhaps not very humane. The reality is we have more prisoners in this country per capita then any other nation. We can't lock everyone up. This is, in my opinion, the most compelling of Mr Lambertons "trilogy" of prison books (including his award winning book "Wilderness and razor wire"). If you like this one then read the others but if you only read one naturalist sex offenders meditations from prison book this year then this has to be it!