The death penalty : an American history / Stuart Banner.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Banner, Stuart, 1963-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Capital punishment--United States--History.

Capital punishment.

Capital punishment--Moral and ethical aspects--United States.

United States--Social conditions.

United States.

Physical Description:

1 online resource ([ix], 385 p., [8] p. of plates ) ill., facsims.

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press, c2002.

Summary:

The death penalty arouses more passion than almost any other issue. This account of the death penalty in the United States tells the story of dramatic changes, over four centuries, in the ways capital punishment has been administered and experienced.

Now, for the first time, we have a comprehensive history of the death penalty in the United States. Stuart Banner tells the story of how, over four centuries, dramatic changes have taken place in the ways capital punishment has been administered and experienced. Banner moves beyond the debates to give us an unprecedented understanding of the many meanings of capital punishment in America.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Abbreviations

Introduction

1. Terror, Blood, and Repentance

2. Hanging Day

3. Degrees of Death

4. The Origins of Opposition

5. Northern Reform, Southern Retention

6. Into the Jail Yard

7. Technological Cures

8. Decline

9. To the Supreme Court

10. Resurrection

Epilogue

Appendix: Counting Executions

Notes

Acknowledgments

Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (p. [315]-369) and index.

ISBN:

9780674020511

0674020510