Research Catalog

Title

The spectacle of death : populist literary responses to American capital cases / Kristin Boudreau.

Author

Boudreau, Kristin, 1965-

Publication

Amherst, N.Y. : Prometheus Books, 2006.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Description

292 p. : ill.; 23 cm.

Summary

"In this lucid, gripping, and original examination of public reactions to America's death penalty from colonial days to the present, Kristin Boudreau examines the important role that literary works and popular writers can play in stirring public sentiment against the state in high-profile capital punishment cases."--Jacket.

Subject

• American literature > 19th century > History and criticism
• American literature > 20th century > History and criticism
• Capital punishment > United States > Public opinion
• Capital punishment in literature
• Capital punishment in popular culture > United States
• Executions and executioners in literature
• Popular literature > United States > History and criticism
• Public opinion > United States

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 269-280) and index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

Theoretical introduction to execution literature: early American criminal narratives, the power of reading, and the problem of public sentiments -- Rewriting the Fall River murder : a factory town turns to sentimental narratives -- The Haymarket Anarchist Trial of 1886 -- Wisdom, justice and moderation abandoned : the lynching of Leo Frank -- No other remedy : community awakening and the lynching of Emmett Till -- Witnesses to an execution : Norman Mailer's spectacle of death -- The sweetheart of death row : Karla Faye Tucker and the problem of public sentiments -- Artful uprisings : the campaign against capital punishment.

ISBN

• 159102403X (pbk. : alk. paper)
• 9781591024033

LCCN

^^2005038056

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library