- Hardcover: 256 pages
- ISBN-10: 1550137042
- ISBN-13: 978-1550137040
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Facinating,
By
This review is from: Lord High Executioner: An Unashamed Look at Hangmen, Headsmen, and Their Kind (Paperback)
Mr.Engel gives us an enlightened account of the history of the personalties who haunt our nightmares: the executioners. He is generally objective in his treatment of that morbid fraternity but cannot resist the temptation to editorialize on the humanity and efficacy of the death penalty. I, for one, join Mr. Engle in opposing it and I am thankful for his frank and honest treatment of the subject.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Entertaining and biased,
By A Customer
This review is from: Lord High Executioner: An Unashamed Look at Hangmen, Headsmen, and Their Kind (Paperback)
Howard Engel's treatment of the history of executioners is both entertaining and biased (as he readily admits). The book begins well with many an ironic turn of phrase and gallows humor but by the end, Mr. Engel's political bias has taken over. He seems to have a particular obsession with Fred Leuchter. How anyone could link so-called holocaust denial into a book which purports to give an overview of executioners is beyond me. The first half of the book is an entertaining read; the second half a hackneyed polemic.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A vibrant & witty approach to the science of execution,
By Bannefin (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Lord High Executioner: An Unashamed Look at Hangmen, Headsmen, and Their Kind (Paperback)
Not only does this book take you through the long drop, the short drop, and the always crowd-pleasing beheading, it takes you through the lives of the death bringers themselves. Some who were truly masters of their craft, and humerous tales of those who would need four hits with a sharp axe in order to take the head. Not nearly as dry as most books written on the subject, has good illustrations and would be an excellent research tool for any writer. Begins with an intensive focus on England, especially the infamous "road to Tyburn" and continues onto focus on the hanging methods in Canada, and lastly the evolution of death in America. The volume also gives a brief note to the only documented female headsmen that I have yet to come across. High marks! Where most history books run by numbers, names, and locations, this one takes the time to give you an intense look at the method of execution and the personal character and life of each on of its subjects. Very well researched and I cannot praise the quality of the writing enough.
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
When Pharaoh of old hanged his chief baker, he pardoned his butler, just as the imprisoned Joseph had predicted. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
reluctant hangman, official executioner, triple tree, double execution, lethal chamber, condemned cell, new drop Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
James Berry, Lord High Executioner, Home Office, New York, Jack Ketch, William Marwood, William Calcraft, United States, Albert Pierrepoint, Julia Murdoch, Justin Atholl, Old Bailey, Brian Bailey, James Billington, Lord Durham, Mary Blandy, New France, Ann Bilansky, Arthur Ellis, Charles Dickens, Eliza Fenning, Harry Pierrepoint, John Ellis, Maria Manning, New South Wales New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
When Pharaoh of old hanged his chief baker, he pardoned his butler, just as the imprisoned Joseph had predicted. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
reluctant hangman, official executioner, triple tree, double execution, lethal chamber, condemned cell, new drop Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
James Berry, Lord High Executioner, Home Office, New York, Jack Ketch, William Marwood, William Calcraft, United States, Albert Pierrepoint, Julia Murdoch, Justin Atholl, Old Bailey, Brian Bailey, James Billington, Lord Durham, Mary Blandy, New France, Ann Bilansky, Arthur Ellis, Charles Dickens, Eliza Fenning, Harry Pierrepoint, John Ellis, Maria Manning, New South Wales New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 62
books:
See all 62 books this book cites
5
books
cite this book:
- Man and Superman by George Bernard Shaw on page 140, Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Travels By Night by Douglas Fetherling on page 190, Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Sing Sing: The Inside Story of a Notorious Prision by Denis Brian on page 197, page 199, and Back Matter
- The Case of Valentine Shortis: A True Story of Crime and Politics in Canada by Martin L. Friedland on page 169, Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- The Fatal Shore: The Epic of Australia's Founding by Robert Hughes on page 150, Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
See all 62 books this book cites
- The Lost Fleet: The Discovery of a Sunken Armada from the Golden Age of Piracy by Barry Clifford in Back Matter
- Inventing the Victorians by Matthew Sweet in Back Matter
- Hangman by Michael Slade on page 337
- The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Tenth Annual Collection (No.10) by Terri Windling & Ellen Datlow in Front Matter
- SoulTsunami by Leonard Sweet on page 361
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