Encyclopedia of Capital Punishment

Considers the history of state-sanctioned homicide from the 17th century BCE to the present. Most of the entries are people who were executed or had some impact on the debate or practice. Other topics include breaking on the wheel, court cases, the electric chair, the Molly Maquires, the Nuremberg war crimes defendants, purge trials, race, and theories of retribution and deterrence. Includes a general and entry-specific bibliographies, and a chronology. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.