A Saint on Death Row: The Story of Dominique Green - Hardcover

Cahill, Thomas

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0385520190 ISBN 13: 9780385520195

Publisher: Nan a Talese, 2009

Synopsis

On October 26, 2004, Dominique Green, thirty, was executed by lethal injection in Huntsville, Texas. Arrested at the age of eighteen in the fatal shooting of a man during a robbery outside a Houston convenience store, Green may have taken part in the robbery but always insisted that he did not pull the trigger. The jury, which had no African Americans on it, sentenced him to death. Despite obvious errors in the legal procedures and the protests of the victim’s family, he spent the last twelve years of his life on Death Row.

When Cahill found himself in Texas in December 2003, he visited Dominique at the request of Judge Sheila Murphy, who was working on the appeal of the case. In Dominique, he encountered a level of goodness, peace, and enlightenment that few human beings ever attain. Cahill joined the fierce fight for Dominique’s life, even enlisting Dominique’s hero, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, to make an historic visit to Dominique and to plead publicly for mercy. Cahill was so profoundly moved by Dominique’s extraordinary life that he was compelled to tell the tragic story of his unjust death at the hands of the state.

A Saint on Death Row will introduce you to a young man whose history, innate goodness, and final days you will never forget. It also shines a necessary light on America’s racist and deeply flawed legal system. A Saint on Death Row is an absorbing, sobering, and deeply spiritual story that illuminates the moral imperatives too often ignored in the headlong quest for justice.

About this title

Review

This book is a life-changer. Thomas Cahill has shown through the extraordinary life of one man that God works everywhere and can bring the most beautiful soul to maturity in even the most horrifying circumstances. If you read his story you will never forget Dominique Green, nor will you ever feel the same way about our courts, our prisons, and our criminal justice system. Sister Helen Prejean, author of Dead Man Walking
Though this is a book that ends in death, it does not end in despair. Read it and discover how even the obscenity of capital punishment can be transformed into an occasion of light and peace. Desmond Tutu, Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town, South Africa
"A deeply moving narrative about a man transformed as he faced an unjust execution." James H. Cone, author of Black Theology and Black Power
I expect A Saint on Death Row to become a classic in the growing struggle to cleanse this nation finally of the sin of the death penalty. Jonathan Kozol
Riveting. . . . [A] poignant tribute. . . . Cahill s moving tale shines a sharp light on a negligent and flawed justice system. The Christian Science Monitor
An inspiring story of growth and redemption. . . . Cahill has achieved something grander than straight biography here: an intervention in public memory. Texas Observer
An affecting book. . . . Cahill stimulates deep thought about good and evil, and he is an intelligent, engaging historian. The Dallas Morning News
Intensely powerful. . . . A case history of the failures of society. . . . There is so much in this meticulously researched and clearly explained book to make you think. Washington Lawyer
Powerful. . . . [A] story of redemption and forgiveness. . . . In patient detail, [Cahill] captures a young street kid responding to [the death penalty] with such growing equanimity, grace, and saintliness. . . . [An] excellent book. Baltimore City Paper
Remarkable. . . . Cahill s book stimulates deep thought about good and evil. . . . Readers could count themselves foolish to pass by any book he writes. . . . An affecting book. The Tampa Bay Times
Moving. . . . A powerful challenge to any notion that all is more or less OK with the administration of criminal justice in the US. . . . Once you ve gotten to know [Dominique Green] in Cahill s pages, [he] is not likely to slip very quickly from your memory. Richard Bernstein, The Daily Beast
Everyone who reads [A Saint on Death Row] will be touched by it. . . . Dominique s shining example of a rehabilitated life, indeed a rebirth within a living death, will surely stand as silent witness against the continued employment of the death penalty. www.curledup.com
Compelling. The Miami Herald
Cahill reveals the stomach-knotting circumstances of Dominique s childhood years with great sensitivity. . . . This is not merely an academic account of miscarried justice. [Cahill is] lending [his] voice to someone who has been dehumanized, debased. . . . Cahill s central question lingers like the burn of stomach acid in the back of one s throat: What did we gain what? by killing him? Paste Magazine
An inspiring example of human development on Death Row. America Magazine"

"This book is a life-changer. Thomas Cahill has shown--through the extraordinary life of one man--that God works everywhere and can bring the most beautiful soul to maturity in even the most horrifying circumstances. If you read his story you will never forget Dominique Green, nor will you ever feel the same way about our courts, our prisons, and our criminal justice system." --Sister Helen Prejean, author of Dead Man Walking

"Though this is a book that ends in death, it does not end in despair. Read it and discover how even the obscenity of capital punishment can be transformed into an occasion of light and peace." --Desmond Tutu, Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town, South Africa

"A deeply moving narrative about a man transformed as he faced an unjust execution." --James H. Cone, author of Black Theology and Black Power

"I expect A Saint on Death Row to become a classic in the growing struggle to cleanse this nation finally of the sin of the death penalty." --Jonathan Kozol

"Riveting. . . . [A] poignant tribute. . . . Cahill's moving tale shines a sharp light on a negligent and flawed justice system." --The Christian Science Monitor

"An inspiring story of growth and redemption. . . . Cahill has achieved something grander than straight biography here: an intervention in public memory." --Texas Observer

"An affecting book. . . . Cahill stimulates deep thought about good and evil, and he is an intelligent, engaging historian." --The Dallas Morning News

"Intensely powerful. . . . A case history of the failures of society. . . . There is so much in this meticulously researched and clearly explained book to make you think." --Washington Lawyer

"Powerful. . . . [A] story of redemption and forgiveness. . . . In patient detail, [Cahill] captures a young street kid responding to [the death penalty] with such growing equanimity, grace, and saintliness. . . . [An] excellent book." --Baltimore City Paper

"Remarkable. . . . Cahill's book stimulates deep thought about good and evil. . . . Readers could count themselves foolish to pass by any book he writes. . . . An affecting book." --The Tampa Bay Times

"Moving. . . . A powerful challenge to any notion that all is more or less OK with the administration of criminal justice in the US. . . . Once you've gotten to know [Dominique Green] in Cahill's pages, [he] is not likely to slip very quickly from your memory." --Richard Bernstein, The Daily Beast

"Everyone who reads [A Saint on Death Row] will be touched by it. . . . Dominique's shining example of a rehabilitated life, indeed a rebirth within a living death, will surely stand as silent witness against the continued employment of the death penalty." --www.curledup.com

"Compelling." --The Miami Herald

"Cahill reveals the stomach-knotting circumstances of Dominique's childhood years with great sensitivity. . . . This is not merely an academic account of miscarried justice. [Cahill is] lending [his] voice to someone who has been dehumanized, debased. . . . Cahill's central question lingers like the burn of stomach acid in the back of one's throat: What did we gain--what?--by killing him?" --Paste Magazine

"An inspiring example of human development on Death Row." --America Magazine

About the Author

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THOMAS CAHILL is the author of five volumes in the Hinges of History series: How the Irish Saved Civilization, The Gifts of the Jews, Desire of the Everlasting Hills, Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea, and Mysteries of the Middle Ages. They have been bestsellers not only in the United States but also in countries ranging from Italy to Brazil. He and his wife, Susan, also a writer, divide their time between New York City and Rome.

About this edition

• Publisher: Nan a Talese
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0385520190
• ISBN 13: 9780385520195
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 144