Description
Book SynopsisFirst constructed in Nevada in 1924, the gas chamber, a method of killing sealed off and removed from the sight and hearing of witnesses, was originally touted as a 'humane' method of execution. This title takes us to the dark side of human history in the first full chronicle of the gas chamber in the United States.
Trade Review"Christianson makes a chilling argument for its [the gas chamber's]-and the death penalty's-abolition." STARRED REVIEW Publishers Weekly "An excellent history." -- Brian Bethune Maclean's "Christianson has written the definitive (actually, the only) history of the gas chamber. It is a history so complicated and convoluted that it reads almost like something out of Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow." -- Ben Pesta California Lawyer "First full-scale history of gas chamber connects murky (and sure-to-be controversial) dots, including Hitler's adoption of American technology and joint American-German research and development." -- Gene Santoro American History "This sobering work is recommended to all readers interested in exploring the topic." -- Stephen L. Hupp Library Journal "Scholarly, original, and readable ... Recommended." -- R. D. McCrie Choice
Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction PART ONE THE RISE OF THE LETHAL CHAMBER 1. Envisioning the Lethal Chamber 2. Fashioning a Frightful Weapon of War 3. Devising "Constructive Peacetime Uses" 4. Staging the World's First Gas Execution 5. "Like Watering Flowers" 6. Pillar of Respectability 7. The Rising Storm 8. Adapted for Genocide PART TWO THE FALL OF THE GAS CHAMBER 9. Clouds of Abolition 10. The Battle over Capital Punishment 11 "Cruel and Unusual Punishment"? 12. The Last Gasp Appendix 1: Earl C. Liston's Patent Application Appendix 2: Persons Executed by Lethal Gas in the United States, by State, 1924--1999 Notes Select Bibliography Index
