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The Autobiography of an Execution |  | Author: David R. Dow
Publisher: Twelve
Category: Book
List Price: $24.99
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Seller: a1books
Rating:  40 reviews
Sales Rank: 8356
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Pages: 288
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 9 x 6.1 x 1.1
ISBN: 0446562068
Dewey Decimal Number: 345.7640773
EAN: 9780446562065
ASIN: 0446562068
Publication Date: February 3, 2010
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| • | ISBN13: 9780446562065 | | • | Condition: NEW | | • | Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark. |
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Product Description
Near the beginning of The Autobiography of an Execution, David Dow lays his cards on the table. "People think that because I am against the death penalty and don't think people should be executed, that I forgive those people for what they did. Well, it isn't my place to forgive people, and if it were, I probably wouldn't. I'm a judgmental and not very forgiving guy. Just ask my wife."
It this spellbinding true crime narrative, Dow takes us inside of prisons, inside the complicated minds of judges, inside execution-administration chambers, into the lives of death row inmates (some shown to be innocent, others not) and even into his own home--where the toll of working on these gnarled and difficult cases is perhaps inevitably paid. He sheds insight onto unexpected phenomena-- how even religious lawyer and justices can evince deep rooted support for putting criminals to death-- and makes palpable the suspense that clings to every word and action when human lives hang in the balance.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 40
 Inadvertently represents both sides of the argument March 11, 2010
Mary Jo DiBella (Rochester, New York USA)
The author, David R Dow, is a death penalty lawyer. This mean that he works for the worst of the worst, convicts whose execution dates have been set. Mr Dow's firm works to save these people from execution on the principle that they believe the death penalty is wrong.
It's hard to review a book like this, especially at a time when, every day, we read news stories about innocent people killed by known predators. Mr Dow's principles often cause him to put his family's needs on hold, forgetting promises made to spend time with his son, sending them on vacations without him. I felt a lot of sympathy for the feelings of his wife, who often must feel abandoned in favor of some truly awful people who have committed heinous crimes. Mr Dow himself seems frequently conflicted by the compulsion to work to save people he clearly abhors.
The case at the center of this book is one in which the convicted person may very well be innocent. There is considerable evidence of a false conviction, and I do believe that laws need to be changed to ensure that innocent people are not executed on mere legal technicalities such as the timing of their appeals (filed too late, it seems even a valid appeal can be rejected).
The problem is, though, that the vast majority of Mr Dow's clients are guilty, horribly guilty, and are such dreadful people that it is hard to imagine why anyone would risk his family relationships in order to help them.
The book itself is written without the use of quotation marks, which makes it hard to read. It's a minor problem but it's an odd choice and I wonder why the author made it.
 The Grim Reaper of Capital Crimes in Texas March 4, 2010
Carlos Butterfield
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is the most frustrating and richly-felt memoir I have read since Philip Roth's "Patrimony." I could not put this book down. Other reviews, both good and mixed, found this book "unfocused." But that misses the point. Without getting to know Professor Dow's immediate family and colleagues, their idiosyncrasies and appetites, we would lose the sense of love and respect, the raw life we need to appreciate the dissonance in the lives of the people he defends. Without its discourses, The Autobiography of an Execution would simply be a technical journal about capital punishment in Texas.
Dow tells the story of a boy who pushes his son, Lincoln, at Little League practice. Lincoln let a grounder go past him, provoking the pushing incident. While Dow predicts that the instigator will ultimately become a bully and one day be convicted of a serious offense, he will never murder. This boy has what most murderers do not: a middle class existence, a home in a middle class neighborhood, and a mother and father who love him. People who kill do not know what it is like to be loved. The father of one death row inmate used to beat his son with a stick every chance he had. He said he used a stick instead of his fists because he didn't want to hurt his hands.
So here is a book filled with nuance and sin: corrupt prosecutors and judges, a state board of pardons philosophically in bed with the governor who appointed them, and a sea of public defenders too lazy and stupid to give their clients a decent defense. There is also the citizenry of Texas, Bible-thumping fundamentalists who cannot see the forest through the trees.
And there is one convict sentenced to die, whom Dow believes to be innocent. Just one of seven in hundreds he has represented on death row over the years that he believes was wrongly convicted. This man's life is the hook that hurls us to the end with high octane drama that keeps you turning the pages non-stop until you utterly feel everything Dow and his legal team feel -- the suspense, elation, setbacks and legal maneuvering they employ to save this man's life. The Autobiography of an Execution reads like a steam locomotive barreling full throttle into the death chamber at Huntsville.
 Good story but... March 1, 2010
D. Tillson (Berkeley, CA)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Mr. Dow is a committed and excellent lawyer. The passion he brings to his work is evident in this book. However, the essential elements of this book would have made an excellent long format magazine article in either, say, Esquire or Rolling Stone. The unfolding store of death row inmate "Henry" is gripping and the trials and tribulations that Mr. Dow goes through to help him is moving while teaching the reader a lot about the legal process.
But Mr. Dow fills 2/3's of his book with musings about his family that have little or no relationship to the book's central theme. While his relationships with his wife and son appear top notch, the annectodes and asides about their daily lives are a distraction to the book's importance. In addition, the writing style includes the decision to omit all use of quotation marks. There is a lot of reporting of dialogue in this book and without the proper use of quotes, the reading is combersome and awkward. Not sure the benefit of this...maybe to seem "stream of conscienceness"????????
Amazing wisdom, amazing story March 1, 2010
Sarah A. Tramontana (San Francisco, CA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I think this is the best book I have read all year. Amazingly thoughtful, insightful with so much simple wisdom I found myself reading many of the pages three and four times.
The fact that our country is still participating in the barbaric act of sentencing and commiting people to death is absolutely appalling and outright ignorant. To punish death by death is an unethical and unjust human principle. Yes, human beings do incredibly evil, disgusting acts, some so horrible it makes you feel ill just reading the words describing them. But how did these "evil" people learn to do these evil things? What happened to them, where did they come from? I personally do not believe that humans are born evil. So who raised them, who taught them, who loved/or didn't love them, where did they live, did they have a home, who hurt them? Humans are creatures of instinct and do what they have learned and ultimately have one goal in mind....,to survive and be loved. What else do we all want more than those two things? So for the government of a very powerful, "Free country" who prides itself on free speech , free thought, equality, etc.., to kill a man is a true hypocrisy to me.
This book will make you think, make you feel, and leave a sense of relief that there are people who fight for the right thing.
Using logic against atavism March 1, 2010
S. R. Schnur (ME USA)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Lawyers, by their nature, use logic to convince people of things. This lawyer knows that logic doesn't work against the throwback to tribalism that some aspects of our justice system still have. "Deuteronomy trumps the Sixth Amendment every time...and the lonely lawyer declaiming about proper procedures is a shouting lunatic in the asylum whom people look at curiously and then pass by."
Probably the only thing that saves this poor lawyer from going mad are the instances where perfect strangers thank him for what he is doing. Such as the Texas State Trooper who had stopped him while he was speeding to try to save his client from execution. (In this case the man was innocent, but the author's point is that we shouldn't be killing people.) The trooper said, "After you kill the bad guys, you are just as angry as you were before, but there ain't no one left to hate." (I might add that it doesn't bring back the loved one either.)
The book flashes back and forth between the author's normal family life and the race to save the lives of his clients. (By the way, I wonder if he realizes his son is stunningly brilliant.)
I have to warn you that I was in tears at the end of the book. How awful it was to be one of the people who executes a man they all know is innocent.
I heartily recommend this beautifully written book.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 40
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