Hanged by the Neck

by Arthur Koestler, C.H. Rolph

First published in 1961 this brief Penguin Special by Arthur Koestler and C. H. Rolph (both notable advocates for the abolition of capital punishment) is, "a short, violent attack on the degradation of capital punishment. The authors show that capital punishment is not a deterrent and serves no useful purpose whatsoever. They examine the attitude of the retentionists and of the judges. They analyse the actions for which those convicted have been hanged in recent times. Finally they make a moving plea for sanity in the future." (quoted text comes from the blurb on the back of the book)

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction

143 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1956

About the author

Darkness at Noon (1940), novel of Hungarian-born British writer Arthur Koestler, portrays his disillusionment with Communism; his nonfiction works include The Sleepwalkers (1959) and The Ghost in the Machine (1967).


Arthur Koestler CBE [*Kösztler Artúr] was a prolific writer of essays, novels and autobiographies.

He was born into a Hungarian Jewish family in Budapest but, apart from his early school years, was educated in Austria. His early career was in journalism. In 1931 he joined the Communist Party of Germany but, disillusioned, he resigned from it in 1938 and in 1940 published a devastating anti-Communist novel, Darkness at Noon, which propelled him to instant international fame.

Over the next forty-three years he espoused many causes, wrote novels and biographies, and numerous essays. In 1968 he was awarded the prestigious and valuable Sonning Prize "For outstanding contribution to European culture", and in 1972 he was made a "Commander of the British Empire" (CBE).

In 1976 he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and three years later with leukaemia in its terminal stages. He committed suicide in 1983 in London.

Reviews

[Sawyer X · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a searing indictment of capital punishment (administered by hanging) in the UK and throughout the world. The writers take strong positions: referring to their position as the abolition of capital punishment, discuss open-air prisons, rehabilitation, and at some point make a strong statement on the indignity and horridness of any imprisonment.

They cover all he possible reasons people provide for supporting capital punishment (including quotes from the state and legal departments in the UK) and walk through them with eloquence and determinism.

The book has an entire section listing all the people executed between 1950 and 1961, allowing the reader to draw their own conclusions, and then provide their analysis of the data, bringing attention to all the logical mistakes and misunderstanding of humanity in the execution of those people.

The last hanging took place in 1964 and was effectively gone, only three years after the book was published. It was eventually abolished legally for murder in 1965 for Great Britain and 1973 for Northern Ireland. It was fully abolished in 1998.

I gave this book 5 stars but I wish I could give it more.

[Gerardo · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Abolition of the death-penalty has never made any difference to the number of murders in any country."

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was the cover that first drew me to this book. It looks like a real execution but is credited to the British Film Institute, so perhaps not. As for the text, a good read with a shocking chapter on the legal history of hanging showing an appalling level of ignorance and callousness at the very highest levels of the British judiciary from the 1800s right up to the 1960s, when the book was written. Otherwise quite dated in parts but worth it for Koestler's spark of genius.

[Nathan Henrion · Rating 4 out of 5]

Still a pertinent argument for the abolition of capital punishment, though written in 1956. The reasons given today for keeping the death penalty are the same as they have always been, and Koestler's refutation of those reasons rings clear and relevant in 2022.