'THE PENALTY IS DEATH'. U.S. Newspaper Coverage of Women's Executions

Hardback. The author examines the shifts in press coverage of women's executions over the past 150 years. Since the colonies' first execution of a woman in 1632, about 560 more women have had to face the death penalty. Newspaper responses to these executions have ranged from massive national coverage to limited regional and even local coverage. Throughout the years the press has been guilty of sensationalism, stereotyping, and marginalizing of female convicts, making prejudicial remarks, trying these women in the media and virtually ignoring or simply demeaning African American women convicts. This thoroughoy researched book studies countless episodes that serve to illustrate these points. The author's use of reconstructed stories, gleaned from hundreds of newspaper articles, gives readers a deeper understanding of the ways these dailies reported on the trials and imprisonment of women and how these reports reflected the cultural norms of the times. A book that fills a void in the literature on capital punishment that has long been neglected. Works Cited + Index. 336pp. 8vo. h/back. From the library of true crime writer, Wilfred Gregg, with his personal b/plate. F. in f. dw. Review copy with tipped-in slip.