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Dead Reckoning: Executions in America
Capital punishment remains a hot-button issue in America. When Troy Davis was executed by the state of Georgia on September 21, 2011, despite questions about evidence linking him to a murder, it drew wide and angry protests in the United States and around the world. And no wonder: The U.S. is the only country in the West that continues to execute dozens of prisoners every year.
Why has the death penalty endured in America? And will it now be turned aside, outlawed forever? Greg Mitchell's timely new book, "Dead Reckoning: Executions in America," explores these questions, as it deeply probes the death penalty and evolving methods of state killing, from noose to needle, right up to the death of Troy Davis.
"Dead Reckoning" is only available as an e-book. It can be used on Kindles, all phones, Blackberrys, PCs and Macs.
Mitchell, who writes a popular daily blog at The Nation magazine, is the author of twelve previous books, including the anti-death penalty classic "Who Owns Death?" (available in print edition only), written with Robert Jay Lifton. That book focused on how various people respond to the death penalty process: prosecutors, judges, jurors, jailers, victims’ families, reporters and the American public.
The fast-paced new book, "Dead Reckoning," offers a critical overview of capital punishment in America, along with a vivid discussion of current issues central in today's debate, based on many interviews. Along the way, Mitchell turns to a wide cast of notable abolitionists, from Charles Dickens and Mark Twain to Albert Camus and Christopher Hitchens -- and Steve Earle. It's must reading for anyone interested in this increasingly volatile and important issue.
Many Americans still embrace the death penalty in theory, but look at it with an increasingly critical eye. This essential book helps explain why, and points to the eventual end of state killing.
Mitchell's classic Random House book "The Campaign of the Century" won the Goldsmith Book Prize and has just been published for the first time as an e-book.. His most recent e-book, on the Occupy Wall Street movement, is titled "40 Days That Shook the World."
His other recent books and e-books are "The Age of WikiLeaks," "Bradley Manning," and "Atomic Cover-Up: Two U.S. Soldiers, Hiroshima & Nagasaki and The Greatest Movie Never Made." He also wrote "Hiroshima in America" with Robert Jay Lifton.
-- PRAISE FOR "Who Owns Death?":
Los Angeles Times: "In eloquent detail, Lifton and Mitchell indict the randomness and cruelty of executions and the heavy burden they place on the souls of those who participate in the process of putting someone to death."
The Economist: "Impassioned and informative."
The New York Times Book Review: "It is a remarkable testimony to the authors' skills and the clarity of their writing that whether one is for or against capital punishment by the end of this book the reader will agree that inexorable social forces forces are carrying us to the eventual abolition of the death penalty."
Why has the death penalty endured in America? And will it now be turned aside, outlawed forever? Greg Mitchell's timely new book, "Dead Reckoning: Executions in America," explores these questions, as it deeply probes the death penalty and evolving methods of state killing, from noose to needle, right up to the death of Troy Davis.
"Dead Reckoning" is only available as an e-book. It can be used on Kindles, all phones, Blackberrys, PCs and Macs.
Mitchell, who writes a popular daily blog at The Nation magazine, is the author of twelve previous books, including the anti-death penalty classic "Who Owns Death?" (available in print edition only), written with Robert Jay Lifton. That book focused on how various people respond to the death penalty process: prosecutors, judges, jurors, jailers, victims’ families, reporters and the American public.
The fast-paced new book, "Dead Reckoning," offers a critical overview of capital punishment in America, along with a vivid discussion of current issues central in today's debate, based on many interviews. Along the way, Mitchell turns to a wide cast of notable abolitionists, from Charles Dickens and Mark Twain to Albert Camus and Christopher Hitchens -- and Steve Earle. It's must reading for anyone interested in this increasingly volatile and important issue.
Many Americans still embrace the death penalty in theory, but look at it with an increasingly critical eye. This essential book helps explain why, and points to the eventual end of state killing.
Mitchell's classic Random House book "The Campaign of the Century" won the Goldsmith Book Prize and has just been published for the first time as an e-book.. His most recent e-book, on the Occupy Wall Street movement, is titled "40 Days That Shook the World."
His other recent books and e-books are "The Age of WikiLeaks," "Bradley Manning," and "Atomic Cover-Up: Two U.S. Soldiers, Hiroshima & Nagasaki and The Greatest Movie Never Made." He also wrote "Hiroshima in America" with Robert Jay Lifton.
-- PRAISE FOR "Who Owns Death?":
Los Angeles Times: "In eloquent detail, Lifton and Mitchell indict the randomness and cruelty of executions and the heavy burden they place on the souls of those who participate in the process of putting someone to death."
The Economist: "Impassioned and informative."
The New York Times Book Review: "It is a remarkable testimony to the authors' skills and the clarity of their writing that whether one is for or against capital punishment by the end of this book the reader will agree that inexorable social forces forces are carrying us to the eventual abolition of the death penalty."
61 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2011
2 people are currently reading
20 people want to read
About the author
Greg Mitchell
81 books84 followersGreg Mitchell (born 1947) is the author of more than a dozen books. His new book (2020) is "The Beginning or the End: How Hollywood--and America--Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb" (The New Press). His previous book, from Crown, has been optioned for a major movie. It is titled "The Tunnels" and explores daring escape tunnels under the Berlin Wall in 1962--and the JFK White House attempts to kill NBC and CBS coverage of them at the height of nuclear tensions.
Mitchell has blogged on the media and politics, for The Nation. and at his own blog, Pressing Issjes. He was the editor of Editor & Publisher (E&P), from 2002 to the end of 2009, and long ago was executive editor at the legendary Crawdaddy. His book "The Campaign of the Century" won the Goldsmith Book Prize and "Tricky Dick and the Pink Lady" was a New York Times Notable Book for 1998. He has also co-authored two books with Robert Jay Lifton, along with a "So Wrong For So Long" about the media and Iraq. His books have been optioned numerous times for movies (including "Joy in Mudville" by Tim Hanks). He has served as chief adviser to two award-winning documentaries and currently is co-producer of an upcoming film on Beethoven with his co-author on "Journeys With Beethoven."
Mitchell has blogged on the media and politics, for The Nation. and at his own blog, Pressing Issjes. He was the editor of Editor & Publisher (E&P), from 2002 to the end of 2009, and long ago was executive editor at the legendary Crawdaddy. His book "The Campaign of the Century" won the Goldsmith Book Prize and "Tricky Dick and the Pink Lady" was a New York Times Notable Book for 1998. He has also co-authored two books with Robert Jay Lifton, along with a "So Wrong For So Long" about the media and Iraq. His books have been optioned numerous times for movies (including "Joy in Mudville" by Tim Hanks). He has served as chief adviser to two award-winning documentaries and currently is co-producer of an upcoming film on Beethoven with his co-author on "Journeys With Beethoven."
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