Description
Book SynopsisWhy did people who didn't trust government to regulate the economy or provide daily services nonetheless believe that it should have the power to put its citizens to death? That question is at the heart of this book, a powerful, wide-ranging examination of the place of the death penalty in American culture and how it has changed over the years.
Trade Review"Executing Freedom is a truly extraordinary book. It offers a remarkable reading of the resonance of America's death penalty and some of the deepest strains in our culture, in particular beliefs about negative freedom. In addition, LaChance offers important lessons for abolitionists, warning that the problems in the death penalty system are not simply its assault on human dignity or its arbitrary and flawed administration, but rather its failure to generate the meaning that modern citizens crave. From start to finish, this book provides a sophisticated and persuasive analysis of the cultural life of capital punishment."--Austin Sarat "author of Gruesome Spectacles: Botched Executions and America's Death Penalty "
