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Book Review: The Death Penalty: An American History

There exists a large and diverse body of literature on the death penalty. Some examples focus on death row experiences (Death Work by Johnson [1998] or Executing the Mentally Ill by Miller and Radelet [1993]); others cover the legal aspects of the death penalty (The Death Penalty in America by Bedau [1997]); still others are accounts from the condemned (Cell 2455 by Caryl Chessman [1954]) or focused examinations of a particular state and their experience with the death penalty (The Rope, the Chair, and the Needle by Marquart, Ekland-Olson, & Sorenson [1994] or The Execution Protocol by Trombley [1992]). A handful of works tackle the moral, ethical, and religious slants and debates on the death penalty (The Death Penalty: An Historical and Theological Survey by Megivern [1997]), whereas several works attempt to focus on multiple areas (The Contradictions of American Capital Punishment by Zimring [2003] and The Death Penalty in America by Bedau [1997]). Finally, there is a smaller body of literature that examines the historical roots of the death penalty and how and why it has become what it is today. The latter holds true for The Death Penalty: An American History. Beyond the endemic debates about the utility or futility of the death penalty and all that such debates entail, Stuart Banner engages the larger task of situating the death penalty in its historical place. Covering nearly 400 years, Banner guides the reader through a neutral and thorough analysis of the roots of the death penalty in America. Along the way Banner takes time to cover, in appropriate detail, the topics that are the foundation to death penalty history: