In My Father's House

A New View of How Crime Runs in the Family

By: Fox Butterfield

Narrated by: Paul Michael

From the Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times journalist: a pathbreaking examination of our huge crime and incarceration problem that looks at the influence of the family--specifically one Oregon family with a generations-long legacy of lawlessness.

The United States currently holds the distinction of housing nearly one-quarter of the world's prison population. But our reliance on mass incarceration, Fox Butterfield argues, misses the intractable reality: As few as 5 percent of families account for half of all crime, and only 10 percent account for two-thirds. In introducing us to the Bogle family, the author invites us to understand crime in this eye-opening new light. He chronicles the malignant legacy of criminality passed from parents to children, grandchildren, and even great-grandchildren. Examining the long history of the Bogles, a white family, Butterfield offers a revelatory look at criminality that forces us to disentangle race from our ideas about crime and, in doing so, strikes at the heart of our deepest stereotypes. And he makes clear how these new insights are leading to fundamentally different efforts at reform. With his empathic insight and profound knowledge of criminology, Butterfield offers us both the indelible tale of one family's transgressions and tribulations, and an entirely new way to understand crime in America.

Rotten Family Tree

I've always enjoyed reading and watching about true crime, but they always talk about the crime and they hardly ever explain what influenced the criminal. "In My Father's House" is a story about a real life family of criminals. Outstanding information how an entire family going back generations after generations of abuse, addictions and metal illness, pile up to a rotten family tree.

Triggers of Abuse

I understood this would be a book of crime, as how it runs in families, but wasn’t prepared for the detailed descriptions of abuse throughout the book. Wouldn’t read it again, but so glad I read it! Very intriguing read.

Sad tale

if you want some insights into criminality and how poverty, mental illness, and addiction and abuse create dismal outcomes...this is a good example. leads one to conclude that adopting out children from these families might be best.

great listen

eye opening to just how detrimental a poor family environment can be. please love your children , help them strive for greatness and be there for them, always.

Loved every minute

Very realistic view of the struggles of growing up in a negative environment. It's a vicious cycle.. difficult to break.