This volume focuses on a feature of executions that was unique to Renaissance Italy: the presence in prisons and on scaffolds of laymen, gathered in confraternities called "conforterie," who worked with prisoners to prepare them spiritually and psychologically for execution. The…
Robert Frederick Opie takes the reader on a sometimes terrifying journey tracing the development of the guillotine over nearly two centuries, recounting the stories of famous executions and some of the most touching pleas for mercy.
"The guillotine is undoubtedly the most potent image of revolutionary France, the tool whereby a whole society was 'redesigned'. Yet what came to be seen as an instrument of terror was, ironically, introduced as the result of the humanitarian feelings of men intent on revising a…
[The author] chronicles a personal journey through the nation's prison system that culminated in giving the order to execute two death row inmates. [It] brings the reader inside the "secretive, mysterious world of the execution chamber" to witness the process of an execution and…
Death at Midnight is the provocative tale of prison warden Donald Cabana's moral awakening to the evils associated with the death penalty, and of the special relationship forged between a young black prisoner condemned to die and Cabana, the middle-aged white warden condemned to…
In Legacy of Violence, John D. Bessler takes us on a compelling journey through the history of lynchings and state-sanctioned executions that dramatically shaped Minnesotas past. Through personal accounts of those involved with the events, Bessler traces the history of both famo…
In paired novellas, award-winning authors Tobias S. Buckell and Paolo Bacigalupi explore a shared world where magic is forbidden"--Jacket.
"In paired novellas, award-winning authors Tobias S. Buckell and Paolo Bacigalupi explore a shared world where magic is forbidden"--Jkt. "Magic has a price. But someone else will pay. Every time a spell is cast, a bit of bramble sprouts, sending up tangling vines, bloody thorns…
"In paired novellas, award-winning authors Tobias S. Buckell and Paolo Bacigalupi explore a shared world where magic is forbidden"--Jacket. "Magic has a price. But someone else will pay. Every time a spell is cast, a bit of bramble sprouts, sending up tangling vines, bloody tho…
At first, Bartholomew Cubbins had just one hat, but when the King ordered him to take it off, he found that he could not--each time there was another on his head.
