A death penalty book by Robert K. Elder, with a foreword by Studs
Terkel. Sister Helen Prejean, author of Dead Man Walking, has praised
the project and called it, “A dangerous book…” This is the
history of capital punishment in America, told from the gallows, the
front of the firing squad, the electric chair, the gas chamber, and
the lethal injection gurney. This is a nonpolitical work, simply
asking, “If these are the most reviled, outcast members of
society—why does it remain a cultural value to record what they
say?” Other keywords: hanging, noose, execution
series and podcast, is pleased to have Rob Elder come and read
excerpts from his forthcoming book, Last Words of The Executed,
(University of Chicago Press,
