Title: The spectacle of death : populist literary responses to American capital cases /
Authors: Boudreau, Kristin, 1965-
Publisher: Prometheus Books,
Year: 2006
Subjects: Popular literature United States History and criticism.; Capital punishment in literature.; Executions and executioners in literature.; American literature History and criticism; American literature History and criticism; Capital punishment United States Public opinion.; Capital punishment in popular culture United States.; Public opinion United States
Abstract: "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.
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.