Execution: A Guide to the Ultimate Penalty

Abbott, Geoffrey

ISBN 10: 184024433X / ISBN 13: 9781840244335

Published by Summersdale, 2004

About this Item

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Bibliographic Details

• Title: Execution: A Guide to the Ultimate Penalty
• Publisher: Summersdale
• Publication Date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 184024433X
• ISBN 13: 9781840244335
• Binding: paperback
• Condition: Very Good

About this title

Synopsis

Execution is a gruesomely fascinating catalogue of methods of judicial execution from around the world and through the ages. In his own humorous style, Geoffrey Abbott describes in detail the instruments used, past and present, and charts the evolution of their construction, operation techniques and effectiveness. He reveals the macabre origins of familiar phrases such as 'gone west' or 'drawn a blank' and explains the jargon of the underworld. From the preparation of the victim for his fate to the disposal of the body, Execution answers all the questions you are every likely to ask on this grisly subject, and some you would never want to imagine.

About the Author

Geoffrey Abbott served in the RAF for 35 years before becoming a ‘Beefeater’ at the Tower of London. He wrote more than 24 books on torture and execution, appeared in numerous TV documentaries as consultant or executioner and, by invitation, wrote entries on torture and execution for the Encyclopedia Britannica. He once stood on the ‘drop’ trapdoors in the execution chamber of Barlinnie Prison, Glasgow (as a fact-finding author, not a convicted criminal!) and also experienced having a noose placed around his neck by a professional hangman – the late Sydney Dernley, a man endowed with a great, if macabre, sense of humour!