Executing Democracy

<DIV><P>This eye-opening and well-researched companion to the first volume of <I>Executing Democracy </I>enters the death-penalty discussion during the debates of 1835 and 1843, when pro-death penalty Calvinist minister George Barrell Cheever faced off against abolitionist magazine editor John O&rsquo;Sullivan. In contrast to the macro-historical overview presented in volume 1, volume 2 provides micro-historical case studies, using these debates as springboards into the discussion of the death penalty in America at large. Incorporating a wide range of sources, including political poems, newspaper editorials, and warring manifestos, this second volume highlights a variety of perspectives, thus demonstrating the centrality of public debates about crime, violence, and punishment to the history of American democracy. Hartnett&rsquo;s insightful assessment bears witness to a complex national discussion about the political, metaphysical, and cultural significance of the death penalty.</P></DIV>