An Expendable Man: The Near-Execution of Earl Washington, Jr.
“Best work of non-fiction about Virginia or by a Virginia author.”-Manasas Journal Messenger,“Edds’s powerful telling of Washington's experience uses court documents, personal interviews, and a variety of other sources to illustrate the political and social circumstances surrounding this extraordinary case. This book invites the reader to think about how due process is carried out and implemented.An Expendable Manis a valuable study of not only the Virginia legal system, but also that of the United States.”-Virginia Libraries,“Explores the dark side of the system of capital punishment. The book not only goes into great detail in recording Earl Washington, Jr.’s near-execution but also incorporates some history of the Virginia legal system.”-Criminal Justice Review,“The book is provocative for its vivid characterization and its study of the death penalty’s inherent flaws.”-Newport News Press,“Somewhere between the personal narratives found in H. Bruce Franklin’s collectionPrison Writing in 20th-Century America, the critical work of Mumia Abu-Jamal, and the recent profusion of sociological studies of America's accelerated prison economy,An Expendable Mangives us a moving portrait of a broad-based struggle on behalf of one man, and implies ways in which the halls of justice might become more just.”-Trial & Error,