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Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty in the United States

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Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty in the United States Cover

ISBN13: 9780679751311
ISBN10: 0679751319
Condition: Standard
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Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

In 1982, Sister Helen Prejean became the spiritual advisor to Patrick Sonnier, the convicted killer of two teenagers who was sentenced to die in the electric chair of Louisiana's Angola State Prison. In the months before Sonnier's death, the Roman Catholic nun came to know a man who was as terrified as he had once been terrifying. At the same time, she came to know the families of the victims and the men whose job it was to execute him--men who often harbored doubts about the rightness of what they were doing.

Out of that dreadful intimacy comes a profoundly moving spiritual journey through our system of capital punishment. Confronting both the plight of the condemned and the rage of the bereaved, the needs of a crime-ridden society and the Christian imperative of love, Dead Man Walking is an unprecedented look at the human consequences of the death penalty, a book that is both enlightening and devastating.

Review:

"Prejean is not preaching only to the converted....It is her experiences with the men on death row and the victims' families that convince both her and the reader that capital punishment serves no legitimate end, and it is here that being drawn so completely into her perspective...is sometimes effective." Hilary Hochman, Commonweal

Review:

"Touching and compelling." Kirkus Reviews

Review:

"[Sister Helen Prejean] tells her story with a quiet eloquence, not indulging in diatribe or personal attack....Here is one voice for life. We really should need no other." Garry Wills, New York Review of Books

Synopsis:

In 1982, Sister Helen Prejean became the spiritual advisor to Patrick Sonnier, the convicted killer of two teenagers who was sentenced to die in the electric chair of Louisiana's Angola State Prison. In the months before Sonnier's death, the Roman Catholic nun came to know a man who was as terrified as he had once been terrifying. At the same time, she came to know the families of the victims and the men whose job it was to execute him — men who often harbored doubts about the rightness of what they were doing.

Out of that dreadful intimacy comes a profoundly moving spiritual journey through our system of capital punishment. Confronting both the plight of the condemned and the rage of the bereaved, the needs of a crime-ridden society and the Christian imperative of love, Dead Man Walking is an unprecedented look at the human consequences of the death penalty, a book that is both enlightening and devastating.

Description:

Includes bibliographicale references (p. 246-268) and index.
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About the Author

Helen Prejean, C.S.J., was born and brought up in Baton Rouge, and has lived in Louisiana all her life. A member of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Medaille, she has long been involved in community work among the poor. Her contact with a man on Death Row in Angola State Prison led her to become an outspoken activist both against capital punishment and as an advocate for the families of murder victims. Prejean has lectured extensively on the subject of capital punishment and has appeared on ABC World News Tonight, 60 Minutes, National Public Radio, The Today Show, and an NBC special series on the death penalty. Her articles have appeared in a number of publications, including the San Francisco Chronicle and the Baltimore Sun.
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What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 2 comments:
emmejo, January 2, 2011 (view all comments by emmejo)
When Sister Helen Prejean agreed to become a penpal to a prisoner on death row, it began a chain of discoveries that have lead her to become a well-known advocate of abolishing the death penalty in the USA. As she got to know Pat Sonnier and subsequent prisoners she learned their side of the story and the problems they often experienced in trial. She met the families of these people and the families of their victims, as well as the men and women whose job it was to legally kill killers, even when they didn't believe it was the right thing to do.

This book was intense. By the time I had read about the first death Sister Helen went to, I was pacing my room. I couldn't sit still. The lead-up and worry and minuscule chance that it would be called off were more page-turning and stomach-churning than most books that are written for that effect. Sister Helen is a good writer, although she had a tendency to stick in clumps of statistics in poorly placed spots that were hard to slog through and broke the flow of the story. The other thing that annoyed me somewhat was the fact that she relied heavily on emotional and moral appeals rather than showing facts that backed up her claims, except for these info clumps where it seemed she had gone, done research, stuck it in there, and gone back to her story where we don't see much citation for her statements and they remain unconvincing to anyone who doesn't already agree with her stances. (Well, perhaps not too many folks who disagree with her are reading this book anyway.)

Good, harsh look at these secretive systems, but the pacing could have been a lot better.
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sharpjfa, December 29, 2009 (view all comments by sharpjfa)
" . . .makes you realize the Dead Man Walking truly belongs on the shelf in the library in the Fiction category." "Being devout Catholics, 'the norm' would be to look to the church for support and healing. Again, this need for spiritual stability was stolen by Sister Prejean." The Bourques, Victim Survivors, Dead Family Walking

"On November 5, 1977, the Bourque's teenage daughter, Loretta, was found murdered in a trash pile near the city of New Iberia, Louisiana lying side by side near her boyfriend–with three well-placed bullet holes behind each head. "

I. From Dead Family Walking: The Bourque Family Story of Dead Man Walking , by D. D. deVinci, Goldlamp Publishing, 2006, www.deadfamilywalking.com

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"Sister Helen Prejean & the death penalty: A Critical Review"
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Product Details

ISBN:
9780679751311
Author:
Prejean, Helen
Publisher:
Vintage Books USA
Author:
Sister Helen Prejean
Location:
New York :
Subject:
General
Subject:
Murder
Subject:
History & Theory
Subject:
United states
Subject:
Criminology
Subject:
Government and political science
Subject:
History, theory and practice
Subject:
Penology
Subject:
Criminal Law
Subject:
Capital punishment
Subject:
Capital punishment -- Religious aspects.
Subject:
Social science
Subject:
Murder - General
Subject:
Criminal Law - General
Subject:
Capital punishment -- United States.
Subject:
Crime - True Crime
Copyright:
1996
Edition Description:
Trade paper
Series:
Vintage
Series Volume:
RCP035
Publication Date:
19940531
Binding:
TRADE PAPER
Grade Level:
General/trade
Language:
English
Illustrations:
Y
Pages:
288
Dimensions:
8.05x5.21x.62 in. .48 lbs.
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Related Subjects


Business » Business Law
History and Social Science » Crime » Criminology
History and Social Science » Crime » Prisons and Prisoners
History and Social Science » Crime » Punishment
History and Social Science » Crime » True Crime
History and Social Science » Law » General
History and Social Science » Politics » General
History and Social Science » Sociology » Crime
Religion » Christianity » Inspirational
Religion » Christianity » Social and Political Issues

Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty in the United States Used Trade Paper
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Product details 288 pages Vintage Books USA - English 9780679751311 Reviews:
"Review" by , "Prejean is not preaching only to the converted....It is her experiences with the men on death row and the victims' families that convince both her and the reader that capital punishment serves no legitimate end, and it is here that being drawn so completely into her perspective...is sometimes effective."
"Review" by , "Touching and compelling."
"Review" by , "[Sister Helen Prejean] tells her story with a quiet eloquence, not indulging in diatribe or personal attack....Here is one voice for life. We really should need no other."
"Synopsis" by , In 1982, Sister Helen Prejean became the spiritual advisor to Patrick Sonnier, the convicted killer of two teenagers who was sentenced to die in the electric chair of Louisiana's Angola State Prison. In the months before Sonnier's death, the Roman Catholic nun came to know a man who was as terrified as he had once been terrifying. At the same time, she came to know the families of the victims and the men whose job it was to execute him — men who often harbored doubts about the rightness of what they were doing.

Out of that dreadful intimacy comes a profoundly moving spiritual journey through our system of capital punishment. Confronting both the plight of the condemned and the rage of the bereaved, the needs of a crime-ridden society and the Christian imperative of love, Dead Man Walking is an unprecedented look at the human consequences of the death penalty, a book that is both enlightening and devastating.
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