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Tyburn gallows (London --- England)

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Tyburn gallows (London --- England)

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Ballads, English --- History and criticism --- Maid freed from the gallows --- -English ballads --- English ballads and songs --- History and criticism. --- -History and criticism --- Maid freed from the gallows.

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Some beg for forgiveness. Others claim innocence. At least three cheer for their favorite football teams. Death waits for us all, but only those sentenced to death know the day and the hour-and only they can be sure that their last words will be recorded for posterity. Last Words of the Executed presents an oral history of American capital punishment, as heard from the gallows, the chair, and the gurney. The product of seven years of extensive research by journalist Robert K. Elder, the book explores the cultural value of these final statements and asks what we can learn from them. We hear from both the famous-such as Nathan Hale, Joe Hill, Ted Bundy, and John Brown-and the forgotten, and their words give us unprecedented glimpses into their lives, their crimes, and the world they inhabited. Organized by era and method of execution, these final statements range from heartfelt to horrific. Some are calls for peace or cries against injustice; others are accepting, confessional, or consoling; still others are venomous, rage-fueled diatribes. Even the chills evoked by some of these last words are brought on in part by the shared humanity we can't ignore, their reminder that we all come to the same end, regardless of how we arrive there. Last Words of the Executed is not a political book. Rather, Elder simply asks readers to listen closely to these voices that echo history. The result is a riveting, moving testament from the darkest corners of society.

Last words. --- Capital punishment --- criminal biographies, crime, criminology, forgiveness, innocence, social issues, justice, capital punishment, death dying, sociology, psychology, oral history, united states, gallows, electric chair, executions, extensive research, journalism, cultural value, final statements, john brown, nathan hale, ted bundy, serial killers, murderers, rapists, joe hill, rage-fueled diatribes, humanity.

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This book is open access under a CC BY 4.0 license This book explores the magical and medical history of executions from the eighteenth to the early twentieth century by looking at the afterlife potency of criminal corpses, the healing activities of the executioner, and the magic of the gallows site. The use of corpses in medicine and magic has been recorded back into antiquity. The lacerated bodies of Roman gladiators were used as a source of curative blood, for instance. In early modern Europe, a great trade opened up in ancient Egyptian mummies and the fat of executed criminals, plundered as medicinal cure-alls. However, this is the first book to consider the demand for the blood of the executed, the desire for human fat, the resort to the hanged man’s hand, and the trade in hanging rope in the modern era. It ends by look at the spiritual afterlife of dead criminals.

History. --- Great Britain --- Civilization --- Social history. --- Crime --- Social History. --- History of Science. --- Crime and Society. --- History of Britain and Ireland. --- Cultural History. --- Sociological aspects. --- Descriptive sociology --- Social conditions --- Social history --- History --- Sociology --- Cultural history --- Annals --- Auxiliary sciences of history --- Criminal sociology --- Criminology --- Sociology of crime --- Sociological aspects --- Crime—Sociological aspects. --- Great Britain-History. --- Civilization-History. --- England --- Great Britain—History. --- Civilization—History. --- Medical history --- magical history --- executions --- afterlife --- eighteenth century --- nineteenth century --- twentieth century --- Capital punishment --- Gallows --- Gibbeting --- Hanging