Gruesome Spectacles tells the sobering history of botched, mismanaged,
and painful executions in the U.S. from 1890 to the present. Since the
book's initial publication in 2014, the cruel and unusual executions of
a number of people on death row, including Clayton Lockett in Oklahoma
and Joseph Wood in Arizona, have made headlines and renewed vigorous
debate surrounding the death penalty in America. Austin Sarat's book
instantly became an essential resource for citizens, scholars, and
lawmakers interested in capital punishment--even the Supreme Court,
which cited the book in its recent opinion, Glossip v. Gross.
Now in paperback, the book includes a new preface outlining the latest
twists and turns in the death penalty debate, including the recent
galvanization of citizens and leaders alike as recent botched executions
have unfolded in the press. Sarat argues that unlike in the past,
today's botched executions seem less like inexplicable mishaps and more
like the latest symptoms of a death penalty machinery in disarray.
Gruesome Spectacles traces the historical evolution of methods of
execution, from hanging or firing squad to electrocution to gas and
lethal injection. Even though each of these technologies was developed
to "perfect" state killing by decreasing the chance of a cruel death, an
estimated three percent of all American executions went awry in one way
or another. Sarat recounts the gripping and truly gruesome stories of
some of these deaths--stories obscured by history and to some extent,
the popular press.
