# Press and Reviews **Press for** ***Freeman's Challenge*** - “[A Nineteenth-Century Legal Case and Why it Matters Today](https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/02/13/arts/robin-bernstein-freeman-challenge-prison-system/?event=event12),” Kate Tuttle, *Boston Globe*, 16 February 2025 - “‘[It is Fundamentally Wrong](https://magazine.gwu.edu/bookshelves-winter-2024)’: Alumna Painstakingly Chronicles the Brutal and Surprising History of the For-Profit Prison System,” Rachel Muir, *GW Magazine*, Winter 2024 - “[Keyword Missing from CA’s Forced Labor Bill ]()May Have Caused it to Fail,” KNX News 97.1 FM, Los Angeles - “Rooted in Reform: [Navigating Carceral Stories](https://www.aam-us.org/2024/10/25/rooted-in-reform-navigating-carceral-stories-in-museum-spaces/) in Museum Spaces,” Billye Chabot et al, *American Alliance of Museums*, 25 October 2024 - “[Uncovering the Painful Truth about For-Profit Prisons in America](https://www.africanelements.org/news/uncovering-the-painful-truth-about-for-profit-prisons-in-america/),” Darius Spearman, African Elements, 8 September 2024 - “‘[Auburn System,’ Convict Leasing, and Inmate William Freeman](),” classroom lesson plan based on C-SPAN broadcast of event with Kevin Quashie at the American Antiquarian Society, 12 September 2024 - “Challenging the Legacy: An [Interview with Historian Robin Bernstein]() on William Freeman and the Roots of America’s Prison System,” *Epistle News*, 6 September 2024 - “[Footnote Leads to Exploration of Start of For-Profit Prisons in N.Y.](https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2024/05/footnote-leads-to-exploration-of-start-of-for-profit-prisons-in-n-y/),” Christy DeSmith, *Harvard Gazette*, 17 May 2024 - “[Harvard Historian Uncovers the Story of William Freeman](//ktla.com/business/press-releases/ein-presswire/708078045/harvard-historian-uncovers-the-story-of-william-freeman-and-the-original-prison-for-profit-system-in-new-book) and the Original Prison for Profit System in New Book,” KTLA5 Los Angeles, 2 May 2024 - “Book Corner: New Book Examines History of Prison Industrial Complex,” Marissa Wells, *Los Angeles Wave,* , 2 May 2024 - “[A ‘Challenge’ to the System](https://today.umd.edu/a-challenge-to-the-system): In Alumna’s New Book, Murder and For-Profit Prison Industry Converge,” Sala Levin, *Maryland Today*, 2 May 2024 - “[The Page 99 Test: Robin Bernstein’s ‘Freeman’s Challenge](https://page99test.blogspot.com/2024/05/robin-bernsteins-freemans-challenge.html),’” 1 May 2024 **Selected Reviews:** - [*Los Angeles Review of Books*](https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/ill-fares-the-land/) *(LARB)*, - [*Journal of the Early Republic*](https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/12/article/954034/pdf) - [*Kirkus*](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/robin-bernstein/freemans-challenge/) - [*The Arts Fuse*](https://artsfuse.org/293308/book-review-freemans-challenge-essential-reading-about-prisons-slavery-and-profit/) - [*Social History*](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03071022.2024.2311566) - [*Theatre Journal*](https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/article/957037) - [*Truthdig*](https://www.truthdig.com/articles/discipline-and-profit-the-origins-of-the-private-prison/)