{"product_id":"reflections-on-hanging-paperback","title":"Reflections on Hanging - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eArthur Koestler\u003c\/b\u003e (Author), \u003cb\u003eEdmond Cahn\u003c\/b\u003e (Preface by), \u003cb\u003eSydney Silverman\u003c\/b\u003e (Afterword by)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eReflections on Hanging\u003c\/i\u003e is a searing indictment of capital punishment, inspired by its author's own time in the shadow of a firing squad. During the Spanish Civil War, Arthur Koestler was held by the Franco regime as a political prisoner, and condemned to death. He was freed, but only after months of witnessing the fates of less-fortunate inmates. That experience informs every page of the book, which was first published in England in 1956, and followed in 1957 by this American edition. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAs Koestler ranges across the history of capital punishment in Britain (with a focus on hanging), he looks at notable cases and rulings, and portrays politicians, judges, lawyers, scholars, clergymen, doctors, police, jailers, prisoners, and others involved in the long debate over the justness and effectiveness of the death penalty. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn Britain, \u003ci\u003eReflections on Hanging\u003c\/i\u003e was part of a concerted, ultimately successful effort to abolish the death penalty. At that time, in the forty-eight United States, capital punishment was sanctioned in forty-two of them, with hanging still practiced in five. This edition includes a preface and afterword written especially for the 1957 American edition. The preface makes the book relevant to readers in the U.S.; the afterword overviews the modern-day history of abolitionist legislation in the British Parliament. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eReflections on Hanging\u003c\/i\u003e is relentless, biting, and unsparing in its details of botched and unjust executions. It is a classic work of advocacy for some of society's most defenseless members, a critique of capital punishment that is still widely cited, and an enduring work that presaged such contemporary problems as the sensationalism of crime, the wrongful condemnation of the innocent and mentally ill, the callousness of penal systems, and the use of fear to control a citizenry.\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eARTHUR KOESTLER (1905-1983) was a novelist, journalist, essayist, and a towering public intellectual of the mid-twentieth century. Writing in both German and English, he published more than forty books during his life. Koestler is perhaps best known for \u003ci\u003eDarkness at Noon\u003c\/i\u003e, a novel often ranked alongside \u003ci\u003eNineteen Eighty-Four\u003c\/i\u003e in its damning portrayal of totalitarianism.\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 256\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.58 x 8.25 x 5.5 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e March 15, 2019\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47643328020739,"sku":"9780820355351","price":33.24,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0588\/9310\/7359\/files\/akhVSjVody9WREc2MWw5T1VmdzRyQT09.webp?v=1768693980","url":"https:\/\/annizon.com\/en-gb\/products\/reflections-on-hanging-paperback","provider":"annizon.com","version":"1.0","type":"link"}