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Back from the Dead: One Woman's Search for the Men Who Walked off America's Death Row
What would happen if the United States abolished the death penalty and emptied its Death Rows? If killers were released from prison? What would they do with their second chance to live? Would they kill again? Back From The Dead is the story of 589 former death row inmates who, through a lottery of fate, were given a second chance at life in 1972 when the death penalty was abolished; it returned to the United States four years later. During the years she represented Walter Williams on Texas’ Death Row, Cheever always wondered what would happen if his death sentence was reversed and he was eventually released from prison. Would he have killed again? Two years after Williams’ execution, Cheever was determined to find the answer. Leaving her young family and comfortable life in suburbia, she traveled across the U.S. and into the lives and homes of former Death Row inmates, armed only with a tape recorder, notepad, a cell phone that didn’t always work, and a lot of faith. In Back from the Dead , Cheever describes her own journey and reveals these tales of second of tragedy and failure, racism and injustice, and redemption and rehabilitation. Visit www.backfromthedeadusa.com to find out more. Back From the Dead is an excellent choice for your Book Reading Group or School Group. On the website www.backfromthedeadusa.com there are questions for group discussion, as well as an 'interview with the Author'.
Joan Cheever will chat by speakerphone with any group that chooses Back From the Dead. Now you have the chance to ask your questions directly to the author. Why did Joan Cheever write this book? What was she looking for? Did she find it? How did she research Back From the Dead? What difficulties did she encounter? What was it like, interviewing and meeting former Death Row inmates? How did she leave her little children to do this? What was she feeling while on the road with The Class of '72? What was the most surprising thing she learned in writing about the men whose return address had once Death Row USA.
A chat with the author is FREE – just get a group of readers together and make sure you have a speakerphone and Joan Cheever will do the rest!
How to Make a Request for a Telephone Conversation with the Author
Your request for a speakerphone chat with Joan Cheever can be made through the form on this
Here are the
• Chats are scheduled between 9 AM Central and 8 PM Central time. (All time requests must be converted to Central Time.)
• You'll be asked to provide a choice of dates and times. The more dates you can provide, the easier it will be to schedule a chat. The time you request should be 30 minutes to an hour after your group begins meeting so your group has some time to settle in first.
• Leave a comment to let Joan know how you found out about the book and why you chose it for your group. Also, tell Joan a little bit about your book group – what other books you’ve been reading, the range of ages in the group, where you are from etc.
• Chats are not limited only to readers of Back From the Dead in the United States. As long as it can be scheduled within the hours listed above, Joan welcomes a conversation with readers across the globe.
• And if a chat is not possible, Joan is working on setting up an online 'Instant Message' discussion so that readers can ask the questions they have AND get an immediate response online during your meeting!
The Chat Details
Once you’ve made your request, we will be back in touch with you, usually within a few days. Together we will determine the date and time for the chat.
You will need access to a speaker telephone. Joan recommends giving it a trial run beforehand by having someone in your group dial in to that phone from outside. Make sure that you can hear her clearly—and that she can hear you from a good distance away.
Plan for Joan to call you 30 minutes to an hour after your group gets together. At that point you will have begun your discussion about Back From the Dead and Joan will be able to answer the questions from the author’s perspective!
At the appointed time, Joan will call in and for the next 30 - 45 minutes, you can put your feet up, relax and find out more about Back From the Dead, the author, her research and any news updates.
Joan Cheever will chat by speakerphone with any group that chooses Back From the Dead. Now you have the chance to ask your questions directly to the author. Why did Joan Cheever write this book? What was she looking for? Did she find it? How did she research Back From the Dead? What difficulties did she encounter? What was it like, interviewing and meeting former Death Row inmates? How did she leave her little children to do this? What was she feeling while on the road with The Class of '72? What was the most surprising thing she learned in writing about the men whose return address had once Death Row USA.
A chat with the author is FREE – just get a group of readers together and make sure you have a speakerphone and Joan Cheever will do the rest!
How to Make a Request for a Telephone Conversation with the Author
Your request for a speakerphone chat with Joan Cheever can be made through the form on this
Here are the
• Chats are scheduled between 9 AM Central and 8 PM Central time. (All time requests must be converted to Central Time.)
• You'll be asked to provide a choice of dates and times. The more dates you can provide, the easier it will be to schedule a chat. The time you request should be 30 minutes to an hour after your group begins meeting so your group has some time to settle in first.
• Leave a comment to let Joan know how you found out about the book and why you chose it for your group. Also, tell Joan a little bit about your book group – what other books you’ve been reading, the range of ages in the group, where you are from etc.
• Chats are not limited only to readers of Back From the Dead in the United States. As long as it can be scheduled within the hours listed above, Joan welcomes a conversation with readers across the globe.
• And if a chat is not possible, Joan is working on setting up an online 'Instant Message' discussion so that readers can ask the questions they have AND get an immediate response online during your meeting!
The Chat Details
Once you’ve made your request, we will be back in touch with you, usually within a few days. Together we will determine the date and time for the chat.
You will need access to a speaker telephone. Joan recommends giving it a trial run beforehand by having someone in your group dial in to that phone from outside. Make sure that you can hear her clearly—and that she can hear you from a good distance away.
Plan for Joan to call you 30 minutes to an hour after your group gets together. At that point you will have begun your discussion about Back From the Dead and Joan will be able to answer the questions from the author’s perspective!
At the appointed time, Joan will call in and for the next 30 - 45 minutes, you can put your feet up, relax and find out more about Back From the Dead, the author, her research and any news updates.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published April 21, 2006
4 people are currently reading
56 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
August 16, 2011
In 1972, the Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty as it had been imposed in the United States was unconstitutional. 589 Death Row inmates were given a second chance at life itself. What did they do with it? Did they reform and become model citizens? Did they commit more crimes? Did they kill again?
One more question: How did Joan M. Cheever take a can't-miss idea like this and turn it into such a dog of a book? The answer is in the subtitle: "One woman's search for the men who walked off America's death row." This book isn't about the formerly condemned. It's about... Joan M. Cheever!
How else to explain the more than 60 pages before we meet any of the 589? (However, the author's summer job as a lifeguard at a country club is fully explored.) Every few pages, we are reminded of the mortal danger in which the author places herself to get us the story. Every now and then, we get a description of the cheap motel rooms she stays in to get us the story. Or how she sacrifices life with her family...
By the end of the book, I felt as guilty as any of the 589.
One more question: How did Joan M. Cheever take a can't-miss idea like this and turn it into such a dog of a book? The answer is in the subtitle: "One woman's search for the men who walked off America's death row." This book isn't about the formerly condemned. It's about... Joan M. Cheever!
How else to explain the more than 60 pages before we meet any of the 589? (However, the author's summer job as a lifeguard at a country club is fully explored.) Every few pages, we are reminded of the mortal danger in which the author places herself to get us the story. Every now and then, we get a description of the cheap motel rooms she stays in to get us the story. Or how she sacrifices life with her family...
By the end of the book, I felt as guilty as any of the 589.
Read
July 17, 2022So on the one hand, Cheever leans on the first person singular a lot. On the other hand, the main justification is that pro-bono representation of a death row inmate was what set her off in this interesting, but very flawed journey - neither document nor memoir, hovering uncertainly between the one and the other.
October 2, 2017
This might change you opinion of the death penalty. If you are strongly pro death penalty you should read this book. It may not make you change your mind, but it will make you think. I don't ask you to change your mind, but I would like you to think.
May 13, 2011
Cheever's is/was a lawyer who witnessed the execution of her Death Row client, which (unsurprisingly), profoundly affected her. She became haunted by the question of what he would have done/what would have become of his life if he had lived out his sentence and been paroled.
She got her chance to find out when the death penalty was temporarily abolished by the US Supreme Court in the 70s, and nearly 600 people were removed from Death Row to live out their sentences in other ways, many being paroled.
The book traces Cheever's search for many of these men (they are all men except for two women) to see where they are (or were back when she was doing research), if they'd re-offended (and, if so, doing what), and to get their stories. Some had become counsellors and activists, some were poor, elderly, in poor health and just trying to scrape, and, yes, some had raped or killed again.
The book (and the author) is very clearly against the death penalty, though it is no attempt at constructing a fairy tale. She freely admits there are those who cannot be rehabilitated and will always be dangerous, and even those who never re-offend don't necessarily "make something" of themselves after prison.
All in all, an interesting read, though it felt like something was missing. Perhaps The Answers, which, of course, are not Cheever's to give. It also makes one wonder just what it's like witnessing the execution of a prisoner -- guilty or not -- or what it's like living for decades down the hall from an electric chair. The book makes it feel like there are many things you can't possibly fundamentally understand without that experience, but, at the same time, makes you feel immensely grateful (and that it's almost a bit of a luxury) that you don't.
She got her chance to find out when the death penalty was temporarily abolished by the US Supreme Court in the 70s, and nearly 600 people were removed from Death Row to live out their sentences in other ways, many being paroled.
The book traces Cheever's search for many of these men (they are all men except for two women) to see where they are (or were back when she was doing research), if they'd re-offended (and, if so, doing what), and to get their stories. Some had become counsellors and activists, some were poor, elderly, in poor health and just trying to scrape, and, yes, some had raped or killed again.
The book (and the author) is very clearly against the death penalty, though it is no attempt at constructing a fairy tale. She freely admits there are those who cannot be rehabilitated and will always be dangerous, and even those who never re-offend don't necessarily "make something" of themselves after prison.
All in all, an interesting read, though it felt like something was missing. Perhaps The Answers, which, of course, are not Cheever's to give. It also makes one wonder just what it's like witnessing the execution of a prisoner -- guilty or not -- or what it's like living for decades down the hall from an electric chair. The book makes it feel like there are many things you can't possibly fundamentally understand without that experience, but, at the same time, makes you feel immensely grateful (and that it's almost a bit of a luxury) that you don't.
June 15, 2007
While it was very interesting to read about the lives of some of the 589 individuals who were released from prison when the death penalty was overturned in America in 1972 (Furman v Georgia, 408 US 238), I found the author's paranoia at meeting these men somewhat frustrating. While I do understand her hesitation, it seemed as though she had made up her mind about what these men and their lives would be like before she met them face-to-face. True, some of the men were back in prison, but some of them were just quitly living their lives trying to leave the past in the past. While I do commend this book and the author for researching an aspect of the death penalty that hasn't been touched upon a great deal, her paranoia showed through more often than not.
July 9, 2015
- from the jacket: "Cheever is an award-winning legal affairs journalist and a former managing editor of The National Law Journal. In 1972, the U.S. Supreme Court briefly abolished the death penalty. More than 300 killers were paroled. 'Back From The Dead' tells of Cheever's exhaustive and sometimes dangerous search for these former residents of Death Row, many whom did not want to be found. They had built new lives and some were valued members of society; a few killed again. Can convicted killers be rehabilitated? Will they take their second chance at life, and kill again?"
April 14, 2011
I hadn't been aware of the ruling that released over 500 death row inmates - but this book reaffirmed my belief that the death penalty should be abolished for more reasons than I can list here. I'd be curious to hear what supporters of the death penalty thought after reading it. Well-written - a nice mix of statistics, hard facts and the author's personal experiences.
July 21, 2007
Want to know what became of the men and women who walked off death row in 1972 as a result of the Furmann v. Georgia Supreme Court Ruling....Well now you can. And it probably won't make you think too highly of the death penalty. Or the justice system as a whole.
Read
October 20, 2007so far it is grat. i actually bought this book fromthe author when she spoke on campus last year. So i have an autographed copy.
December 26, 2007
Fascinating, with a unique perspective on the death penalty.
January 16, 2009
This book could help America understand why the death penalty needs to abolished for so many reasons.
December 27, 2015
Fascinating account of the men who were to be put to death: until America abolished the death penalty. What they did, how they coped and how most of them stayed out of jail.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews