Details

Subject(s)

• Hanging [Browse]
• Capital punishment [Browse]

Series

New York Review Books classics [More in this series]

Summary note

"... A Swiftian tribute ... not only of hanging but of electrocution, decapitation, and gassing; of innocent men executed and of executions botched; of the bloodlust of mobs and political expedients of the great."--Cover.

Notes

Originally published: London : Putnam, 1961.

Bibliographic references

Includes bibliographical references.

Action note

Committed to retain in perpetuity — ReCAP Shared Collection (HUL)

Contents

• Introduction
• Preface to the 1961 Edition-- Fashions in execution
• English neck-breaking the best
• Praise for hangmen
• A calm consideration of hanging
• Hanging as a fine art
• Hangman an artist
• Sheer beauty of hanging
• British hangmen poor but honest
• hangman a man of many parts
• Hangman a brave man
• Hangmen make mistakes : John Lee
• John Lee saved by rain!
• To err is human
• Open competition and examination for the post
• Charming personality of hangmen
• A uniform for hangmen
• Famous case quoted
• Conditioning for hanging
• No ill-will in hanging
• Bungled hangings
• Farcical inquests and official secrets
• Jurymen must demand evidence
• Fashions in evidence
• Is America more civilized than England?
• Broadcasting the neck-breaking
• Murders known to the police : statistics
• Anatomy of English murders
• A general picture and the dilemma
• House of Lords a sure preventive of abolition
• A history of the anti-hanging crusade
• Capital punishment abolished!
• No increase in the number of murders after abolition.
• English hanging "done on the sly"
• Why not hang in public?
• Make hangings more impressive
• Decline in hanging
• Increase in law : decrease in virtue
• Vested interests in hanging
• Mercy a dangerous thing
• Consult the hangman
• Dead men tell no tales
• Chance of errors reduced to a minimum
• Hanging a "ritual sacrifice"
• Hanging and ritualism
• Extraordinary case of Derek Bentley
• The writing on the wall
• Party politics and hanging
• More mistakes of hangmen
• Fun for the hangman
• Always hang women
• Romance in a butcher's shop
• A hypothetical murder
• The end of a dream
• Popularity of murder trials
• Plan to lower the income tax
• Hanged for sheer stupidity
• A book against hanging!
• Depressing modern hangman
• The great hangman interviewed
• Pride in profession
• Love versus career
• More difficult to hang one woman than two men!
• A new orientation in capital punishment
• Executioners are good Christians
• Digression on the Nazis
• Great era of execution
• Royal executioners and aristocratic hangmen
• Executioners risk their lives
• Drinking the prisoner's dope
• Imported hangmen
• Sporting instinct of the Greeks
• Hangman who hanged his brother
• On His Majesty's service
• The press and crime
• Hints for editors
• Making crime pay
• Memoirs of the hanged
• The 'hangman's record" quoted
• The condemned man
• Note on the literature of hanging.
• Hanging on stage and screen
• Still more mistakes of hangmen
• All sorts make mistakes
• even experts
• Hangmen not concerned with errors of courts
• Hanging in the U.S.A.
• The six who were hanged
• Death never instantaneous
• Saving "L'honneur de la belle France"
• Disgraceful plagiarism exposed
• Electrocution is torture
• A needle through the head
• The Rosenbergs
• U.S.A. : abolition and Caryl Chessman
• Wider moral of the Chessman case
• The death of Chessman
• Ugly stain on civilization
• Honors for hangmen
• Who ought to be hanged?
• George Bernard Shaw quoted
• Professor Dr. Joad, wit and philosopher
• The Great Nuremberg hangings
• Defense of a choice hangman
• The executioner who works from a desk
• Anti-hanging campaigns
• Lord Templewood on hanging
• April 1948 : House of Commons against hanging!
• House of Lords to the rescue
• Judicial psychology
• Hanging in suspense
• Post-war crimes
• the cause
• U.S.S.R.
• death penalty abolished!
• Soviet Decree of May 1961
• Roman Catholics and state killing
• Note on hanging, drawing, and quartering
• Hanging etc., bulwarks of the Constitution
• England's official Church favors hanging
• England's public hangings
• The bold Fenian men of Oul' Ireland
• Account of England's last public hanging.
• Hangmen born, not made
• Hangman's verses for his client
• The Scienza Nuova
• A wicked calumny refuted
• Spilsbury on the drop
• Hand-in-hand with science
• Hanging, flogging, war, and sadism
• The late Mr. Berry on hanging
• Vital importance of the drop
• Mr. Marwood
• pioneer of the new science
• A rough working list of drops
• Doctor's advice on hanging
• The Goodale mess explained
• Doctor who erred
• A hangman's diploma
• How hanging kills
• Note on pinioning
• Note on scaffolds
• Hangman describes hanging
• An "order to hang"
• The Holy procession
• Last scene of all
• Those last fleeting hours
• Hangman shakes hands and gets busy
• Fabulous speed of English hangings
• Scaffold unaffected by progress, revolutions, or select committees
• Britain stands by her hangmen
• The last certificate
• The new Homicide Act of 1957
• No hangings : no increase in murders!
• The new Sexual Offenses Act
• Campaign for more hanging : 1960's
• England's defeat no always a victory
• Homosexuality in England and France
• Conclusion
• Appendix : A ready reckoner for hangmen.

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ISBN

0940322676 (pbk : acid-free paper)

LCCN

^^^00011088^

OCLC

44905014

RCP

H - S

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