Literary Executions: Capital Punishment and American Culture

Explores the intertwined history of capital punishment and American literature from 1820 to 1925, focusing on how abolitionist movements influenced literary expression and, conversely, how literature shaped public discourse on the death penalty. It examines various authors, including Walt Whitman, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, and Theodore Dreiser, analyzing their engagement with themes of crime, justice, and state authority. The text also scrutinizes legal documents and debates of the era, highlighting the cultural rhetoric surrounding executions and the evolving understanding of individual and societal responsibility in a democratic republic. Ultimately, it reveals the complex interplay between legal frameworks, popular sentiment, and artistic representations of capital punishment throughout the long nineteenth century.

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