Among the lowest of the dead

Description

From the cavernous halls of justice to the desolate cells on death row, from the brutal crimes of the convicted to the unbearable anguish of the victims, prizewinning journalist David Von Drehle takes us, as never before, into the harrowing world of the ultimate punishment. Here are the lawyers, on both sides, who dedicate their lives to saving or ending the lives of the accused. Here are the judges who pass the sentences and the politicians who pass the buck. And here are the inmates, staring at their walls and looking death in the face. A work of profound insight and stark vision, AMONG THE LOWEST OF THE DEAD sheds a revelatory light on this deepest, darkest realm. Acclaimed as one of the most powerful books ever written about crime and punishment in America, it is certain to shock both you . . . and the system. "BITTERLY HONEST . . . [Von Drehle ] frames the legal issues well and vividly evokes both the tense calm of the courtroom and the cramped, fetid gloom of prison cells." --The New York Times Book Review

Description

There is no light darker than that which filters through the cells and souls on death row. Now David Von Drehle, the prizewinning journalist of The Washington Post, takes us as never before into the world of death row inmates, the world of those who have been the victims of their crimes, and the world of those who have the power to punish by killing. Among the Lowest of the Dead introduces us to the lawyers who run their lives into the ground fighting to save killers, and the equally frazzled lawyers who fight to execute them. We sit with the survivors of murder victims, waiting - sometimes for decades - for justice to come. We oversee the deliberations of governors as they sign death warrants, then sit passively by the telephone as the appointed hour passes. We go inside the courtrooms where judges intone the awful words "and may God have mercy on your soul." And we delve into the world of the sick, the vicious, the changed - even the innocent - men and women who spend their days in tiny cells waiting for the moment when time runs out. A book of enormous and profound insight, cloaked in a prose poetic, stark, and stunningly revealing, Among the Lowest of the Dead is much more than one of the most powerful books ever written on crime and punishment in America - it is a look into the souls of the guilty, the innocent, and ourselves. There is no light darker than that which filters through the cells and souls on death row, but David Von Drehle's masterpiece of prose and power illuminates this deepest, darkest realm like a prolonged flash of lightning.

Subjects

Other Editions

• Among the lowest of the dead: the culture of death rowTimes Books1995-01-01
• Among the lowest of the deadNortheastern University Press2004-01-01
• Among the lowest of the deadUniversity of Michigan Press2006-01-01