When You Read This, They Will Have Killed Me The Life And Redemption of Caryl Chessman, Whose Execution Shook America

"Echoes of Caryl Chessman have been present at every death penalty case and execution in America since he was delivered to the gas chamber at San Quentin Prison on May 2, 1960. If this defiant loner's death was not the very embodiment of arbitrary, cruel, and unusual punishment, then that claim can scarcely be made for any American subsequently exterminated in the name of State's justice. In fact, few executions in American history have been as roundly protested at home and around the world as the killing of thirty-eight-year-old Caryl Chessman." "Yet, until now, Chessman's story has been largely forgotten. When Caryl Chessman's stoic visage appeared on the cover of Time's March, 21, 1960, issue, with the gas chamber as a backdrop, he was the most famous prisoner in America, perhaps the best-known in the world, and the very face of the capital punishment issue." "This book features: unprecedented access to the papers and letters of Chessman's attorneys, Chessman's own unpublished manuscripts and papers, recollections of those who knew him, and forty-two black and white illustrations throughout."--BOOK JACKET.Bisbort, Alan is the author of 'When You Read This, They Will Have Killed Me The Life And Redemption of Caryl Chessman, Whose Execution Shook America', published 2006 under ISBN 9780786716272 and ISBN 0786716274.