Proximity to Death [Paperback]

William S. McFeely (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 2001

"A remarkable book—part historical tract, part political manifesto—that examines one of the most bitter issues of contemporary life."—Boston Globe

On a misty September morning in rural Georgia, a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian found himself cast in a role that he had never imagined for himself: an expert witness in the sentencing trial of a convicted kidnapper, rapist, and murderer. His brief testimony that day would ultimately lead him on a personal journey into the criminal justice system, to confront the actions and decisions of lawyers battling for and against the death penalty, convicts whose lives are at stake, and jurors forced to decide who shall live and who shall die.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Civil War historian McFeely recounts in detail several death sentences that were appealed by a group of poorly funded lawyers in Georgia. They called in McFeely as an expert witness on the history of the Confederate battle flag's incorporation into the state flag, contending it conveys a racist message to the state's blacks. McFeely thereby got interested in their crusade, which was the impetus for this book. Although their clients are almost certainly guilty of murder, the lawyers search tirelessly for arguments that death ought not be their lot. Along with admiring descriptions of the lawyers, McFeely sympathetically narrates their pleas for commutation to life: one client had a physically abusive childhood; another seemed rueful and rehabilitated in prison; a third discovered after his conviction and death sentence that blacks had purposely been kept off his jury. The morality of capital punishment aside, McFeely's ventures into the engine room of its legal machinery create an impression of capriciousness in its application. An earnest, ruminative protest. Gilbert Taylor --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Kirkus Reviews

A slender, forceful volume from Pulitzer-winning historian McFeely (Grant, 1981; Sapelos People, 1994) that examines the work of Stephen Brights Southern Center for Human Rights in defending the indigent of Death Row against the states killing apparatus. McFeely encountered Bright when solicited for testimony in a death-case appeal regarding the symbolic implications of the Confederate flags placement within the Georgia flag. Intrigued by Brights creativity in countermanding his clients sentences, and startled by his quasi-Gothic encounter with death penalty reality, hes produced an analysis of this seemingly quixotic fight on behalf of the condemned. Following Brights maxim that even murderers possess more humanity than their worst action indicates, McFeely succeeds in both illuminating Brights often scorned work and portraying the penaltys effect on all those it ensnares, including jurors, families of victims and perpetrators, and sundry protesters. In keeping with his title, McFeely endeavors to discern the life in the midst of the mainstreamed execution culture of the southern death belt. His findings are unsettling: for example, the travails of a man whose 1977 death sentence is only commuted via a 1991 Bright-helmed retrial subtly evoke the absurdly timeless terror such inmates experience. Additionally, this historian discerns without rhetorical overkill the deeply race- and class-based inequities that have long compromised the application of capital punishment. He explores how public enthusiasm for it rises in times of war or domestic upheaval, and finds that generally, its application is determined by such factors as local outrage, political expedience, and initially poor legal representation. Also within is a provocative, disturbing portrayal of how determined southern legislators forced an end-run around the Supreme Courts seemingly impermeable 1972 decision against capital punishment. McFeely succeeds in paying tribute to the maverick attorneys who pursue this unpopular, unremunerative work so vital to constitutional interests. He succeeds equally in his consideration of how this quintessentially American punishment stabs at the souls of all citizens, not least those who regard it as natural and just. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (February 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393321045
• ISBN-13: 978-0393321043
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,245,481 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars More a hagiography than an insightful account, February 16, 2000

By 

Julian P Killingley - See all my reviews

This review is from: Proximity to Death (Hardcover)

The chief virtue of this book is its brevity; its chief vice is that it is not clear what purpose it is intended to serve.

Although most readers of these reviews have not found <bookmanphnomhpenh>'s review below to be helpful, I find myself largely in agreement with his conclusion. Unlike him, though, I am not bothered that the author has no legal credentials - journalists are perfectly capable of writing perceptive accounts of capital cases.

The problem with this book is that there is no clear need for it to be written. Like my fellow reviewer I agree that this account meanders along following no obvious line of argument. The best I can say in its defense is that it gives the reader some insight into the dedication of capital defense lawyers who worked in the former federally funded Death Penalty Resource Centers but did not throw in the towel when the funding dried up. Stephen Bright is perhaps the best known of these lawyers but others stayed the course too like Nick Trenticosta in Louisiana, Jim Marcus in Texas, and Bryan Stevenson in Alabama.

There is no doubt but that McFeely was dazzled by Steve Bright - but then who would not be? I have sent three students to Steve Bright's office but have never met the man other than on the phone. McFeely's book gave me a fuller picture of him and his colleagues and for that I am grateful. I would certainly recommend this book to any law student considering an internship at the Southern Center for Human Rights.

When I put down this book my first thought was that my review would have to say something about McFeely's highly judgmental comments on the "cast". I can see why <bookmanphnomhpenh> wrote, with only a little exaggeration, that "The author spends pages describing how good looking the lawyers on his side of the issue are! " Scarcely anyone mentioned escapes comment about their appearance. The reader might be forgiven for thinking that McFeely had walked among gods...

The press reviewers have treated McFeely kindly on this one. I wouldn't go so far as describe the book as "trivial" but anecdotal is about the mark. The reader looking for a deeper insight into capital penalty litigation should look elsewhere, e.g. Pete Earley's Circumstantial Evidence or John Tucker's May God Have Mercy.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars fighting for a cause, November 14, 2003

By 

"stewbaby016" (Atlanta Ga United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Proximity to Death (Paperback)

I would agree with the reviews which claim that this book tells one side of a major debate, but I do not consider this a fault. The author never claims to be presenting a fair and balanced account of the death penalty, nor does he claim the status of an expert on capital punishment. Contrary to what one might be lead to believe from other reviews, I certainly do not understand the book, to assert that capital punishment is Unconstitutional, but simply gives an overview of an organization that fights to make sure that if the death penalty must be administered, it be administered in a constitutional and fair manner, in one of the most sad death penalty systems in the country. In sum, if you are looking for an in depth debate on the constitutional and policy aspects of capital punishment, read Furman v. Georgia, not this book. If you want to read about a group of warriors wit top notch legal abilities who sacrifice all the riches and political clout such ability could bring them, in exchange for 30k per year and fighting for a cause they believe in, this is the book to read.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excelllent primer on death "penalty" in USA, January 29, 2000

By 

Jonathan M. Mason "jm_1951" (Punta Gorda, FL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Proximity to Death (Hardcover)

The format of the book is less than ideal. I think the author adopted a format that centered on character sketches of a group of death-penalty lawyers because he wanted to emphasize that the whole business is about people, not about abstract ideas.

The whole issue of the humanity of the death-row inmate is dealt with 100 times more effectively in George Orwell's essay "A Hanging", but that is another story altogether.

The book gives the reader a lot of useful history and information about the death "penalty" in Georgia, both then and now, and shows how the modern death penalty has, in a sense, taken over where lynching left off.

There are well researched notes and references for each chapter for those who want to go deeper. The USA stands proudly alongside jurisdictions like Yemen and Saudi Arabia in retaining the death penalty and this book provides a good discussion of why. The author includes a great deal of information in support of his opinion that the primary purpose of the continuation of the death "penalty" is to feed the desire for revenge. One may disagree with this thesis, but it is there. He also presents ample data suggesting that the death penalty lacks value as a deterrent. If you are looking for a book that provides support and justification for retention of the death "penalty", this is not it.