Download or read book Last Words of the Executed written by Robert K. Elder and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2010-05-15 with total page 315 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Some beg for forgiveness. Others claim innocence. At least three cheer for their favorite football teams. Death waits for us all, but only those sentenced to death know the day and the hour—and only they can be sure that their last words will be recorded for posterity. Last Words of the Executed presents an oral history of American capital punishment, as heard from the gallows, the chair, and the gurney. The product of seven years of extensive research by journalist Robert K. Elder, the book explores the cultural value of these final statements and asks what we can learn from them. We hear from both the famous—such as Nathan Hale, Joe Hill, Ted Bundy, and John Brown—and the forgotten, and their words give us unprecedented glimpses into their lives, their crimes, and the world they inhabited. Organized by era and method of execution, these final statements range from heartfelt to horrific. Some are calls for peace or cries against injustice; others are accepting, confessional, or consoling; still others are venomous, rage-fueled diatribes. Even the chills evoked by some of these last words are brought on in part by the shared humanity we can’t ignore, their reminder that we all come to the same end, regardless of how we arrive there. Last Words of the Executed is not a political book. Rather, Elder simply asks readers to listen closely to these voices that echo history. The result is a riveting, moving testament from the darkest corners of society.
Download or read book Badasses of the Old West written by Erin H. Turner and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2009-09-18 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Badasses of the Old West brings together thirty-six tales of the worst (and best) robbers, rustlers, and bandits who shaped the history of the Wild West in one compelling volume. From the famous, such as Billy the Kid and the Wild Bunch, to the lesser-known but still colorful and wicked Charles Brown and Bud Stevens. Here are just some of the fascinating and forbidding faces you’ll meet: -Bud Stevens, whose murder of a cattle king’s son rang a death knell for an entire South Dakota town -William Quantrill, the terror of Civil War–era Missouri -Legendary bandits Frank and Jesse James -Cold-blooded Sam Brown, who sneered while cutting out a man’s heart but screamed in terror when the tables turned -Jack Slade, a composite of gentleman and murderer who was such an enigma across much of the West that he charmed both Mark Twain and Buffalo Bill Dust off your six-shooter and settle into your saddle because this collection compiles the stories of the most notorious black-hat wearers of a notorious age.
Download or read book The Lust for Blood written by Jeffrey A. Kottler and published by Prometheus Books. This book was released on 2010-12 with total page 311 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How do we explain the lurid fascination that most people experience when confronted by real or simulated acts of violence, murder, horror, and crime? This is the subject examined in this candid assessment of our dark vicarious thrills. Based on a series of interviews with perpetrators, victims, and "consumers" of violence, including several celebrities, the author of a best-selling book on serial killers explores what there is about this subject that draws such a wide audience. Unlike many other books that attempt to probe the murky psyches of deviant individuals, this book focuses on normal, average people who, despite themselves, enjoy getting close to the most forbidden, perverse side of destruction and evil. The persons interviewed range from homicide detectives and emergency room personnel to a heavyweight boxer and groupies of serial killers on death row. The author considers ideas from a variety of theories and research to explain our responses to violence, raises questions about the shifting line between normal and abnormal, evaluates the confusion and ambivalence that many people feel when witnessing others'' suffering, and suggests future trends in society''s attitudes toward violence.
Download or read book The Way West written by James A. Crutchfield and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2006-05-16 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The history of America is, at its core, the story of the American West. In this new volume from the Western Writers of America, readers are taken deep into the true stories that helped America form its identity, and the people that embodied its essence. James A. Crutchfield, a long-time WWA Secretary-Treasurer and seasoned historian, has assembled a remarkable cadre of contributors in The Way West. Included are winners of the Owen Wister Award, given for lifetime achievement in literature on the West: * David Dary explores the network of trails that lead explorers West * Bill Gulick recalls the Steamboat days of the Pacific Northwest * Leon Claire Metz goes deep into John Wesley Hardin's world * Robert M. Utley shows us the true faces of the Texas Rangers * Dale L. Walker takes us on a tour of the final resting places of forty of the West's most celebrated figures. The Way West covers many of the now obscure individuals and long-lost tales of our storied past and gives new insights into famous characters and events of this legendary era. So join the Western Writers of America on a journey back in time and lose yourself in the colorful history of the American West.
Download or read book Outlaw Tales of Wyoming 2nd written by R. Michael Wilson and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2013-09-03 with total page 171 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Massacres, mayhem, and mischief fill the pages of Outlaw Tales of Wyoming 2, with compelling legends of the Cowboy State's most despicable desperadoes. Ride with horse thieves and cattle rustlers, duck the bullets of murderers, plot strategies with con artists, and hiss at lawmen turned outlaws.
Download or read book Rotgut Rustlers written by Erin H. Turner and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2009-09-18 with total page 203 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Twenty-five true tales of a still-wild West from the late 1800s to the mid-20th century.
Download or read book Goodbye Judge Lynch written by John W. Davis and published by University of Oklahoma Press. This book was released on 2006-01-20 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tells the fascinating story of how lawlessness finally came to an end in the Big Horn Basin of northern Wyoming--one of the last frontiers in the continental United States.
Download or read book Outlaw Tales of Wyoming written by R. Michael Wilson and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2013-09-03 with total page 171 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Massacres, mayhem, and mischief fill the pages of Outlaw Tales of Wyoming 2, with compelling legends of the Cowboy State's most despicable desperadoes. Ride with horse thieves and cattle rustlers, duck the bullets of murderers, plot strategies with con artists, and hiss at lawmen turned outlaws.
Download or read book Frontier Justice in the Wild West written by R. Michael Wilson and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2007-06-01 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Frontier Justice highlights eighteen crimes and subsequent punishments of the most interesting, controversial, and unusual executions from an era when hangings and shootings were a legal means of capital punishment. Chapters include: the bungled hanging of Tom Ketchum who was beheaded by the noose; the unique trigger for the trapdoor used to hang Tom Horn; "Big Nose" George Parrott who was skinned, pickled, and made into a pair of shoes; the double trials of Jack McCall, assassin of Wild Bill Hickok; the hanging of a woman-Elizabeth Potts; the shooting of John D. Lee of Mountain Meadows Massacre infamy; and the only use of a double "twitch-up" gallows; etc. Each action-packed chapter includes biographical information, the pursuit, the investigation, legal maneuvers, trial information, and rarely-seen photographs.
Download or read book Your Travel Guide to America s Old West written by Rita J. Markel and published by Twenty-First Century Books. This book was released on 2004-01-01 with total page 100 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Takes readers on a journey back in time in order to experience life in the American West in the 1800s, describing clothing, accommodations, foods, local customs, transportation, a few notable personalities, and more.
Download or read book More Frontier Justice in the Wild West written by R. Michael Wilson and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2014-10-07 with total page 195 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: More Frontier Justice in the Wild West; Bungled, Bizarre and Fascinating Executions reveals the details of more than two dozen instances of frontier justice from the era of the Wild West. The events chosen are unique, have some surprising twist, serve as a landmark or benchmark event, or just stand out in the annals of western justice.
Download or read book American Cowboy written by and published by . This book was released on 1997-03 with total page 96 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Published for devotees of the cowboy and the West, American Cowboy covers all aspects of the Western lifestyle, delivering the best in entertainment, personalities, travel, rodeo action, human interest, art, poetry, fashion, food, horsemanship, history, and every other facet of Western culture. With stunning photography and you-are-there reportage, American Cowboy immerses readers in the cowboy life and the magic that is the great American West.
Download or read book American Cowboy written by and published by . This book was released on 2000-01 with total page 96 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Published for devotees of the cowboy and the West, American Cowboy covers all aspects of the Western lifestyle, delivering the best in entertainment, personalities, travel, rodeo action, human interest, art, poetry, fashion, food, horsemanship, history, and every other facet of Western culture. With stunning photography and you-are-there reportage, American Cowboy immerses readers in the cowboy life and the magic that is the great American West.
Download or read book Voices of the True hearted written by and published by . This book was released on 1846 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book You are Respectfully Invited to Attend My Execution written by Larry K. Brown and published by . This book was released on 1997 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Badmen on the Wyoming frontier? Many were lynched, but seven were legally hanged. You are respectfully invited to attend the executions.Badmen thrived in Wyoming Territory, but law and legal processes also existed. The frontier was so "civilized" that those men sentenced to hang were allowed to issue formal invitations to their executions.Read of the true stories of the crimes, lawmen, capture, investigations, escapes, trials, and deaths of the seven men legally hanged in Wyoming Territory, in this the second of Brown's trilogy on frontier crime. Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.
Download or read book The John Brown Invasion written by and published by . This book was released on 1860 with total page 366 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Capital Punishment written by C. Cliff and published by Nova Biomedical Books. This book was released on 2000 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Capital punishment, the death penalty, has enjoyed wide public support in the United States as the penalty of choice for one member of society taking the life of another. This viewpoint is not shared by most European governments -- perhaps because their murder rate is considerably lower. DNA testing, however, has begun to shed light not on the appropriateness of the penalty, but on the vastly imperfect system of what is jocularly termed justice. DNA evidence has overturned case after case resulting in a seashift in public opinion. This book examines current statutes dealing with the death penalty and presents a detailed bibliography on the topics with access provided by subject and author indexes.
