Promotions - Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles 2023 -

Ghosts Over The Boiler : Voices From Alabama's Death Row
 ISBN: 9780826505293Price: 24.95  
Volume: Dewey: 810.80054Grade Min: Publication Date: 2023-03-15 
LCC: LCN: PS508.P7Grade Max: Version:  
Contributor: Project Hope To Abolish The Death PenaltySeries: Publisher: Vanderbilt University PressExtent: 344 
Contributor: Owens-Murphy, KatieReviewer: Mary M. VeenemanAffiliation: North Park UniversityIssue Date: October 2023 
Contributor:     

"The reason why I continue to fight for the men and women on death row is because some are actually innocent; some change, and would never harm another person again; and the death penalty is wrong." So writes Gary Drinkard, an Alabama death row exoneree, in Ghosts over the Boiler. Edited by Owens-Murphy (English, Univ. of North Alabama), this collection of writings and artwork comes from Alabama's death row via Project Hope to Abolish the Death Penalty (PHADP), an organization primarily led by individuals living on Alabama's death row. These writings reveal not only the hard work of advocating against injustice that PHADP has done but also the community that PHADP has managed to build, which provides material, emotional, and legal support to those living on death row, despite the horrors of their circumstances. One of the significant problems with the carceral system broadly and capital punishment particularly is that their mechanisms function primarily behind concrete walls, and the citizens in whose name they are done are largely unaware of the specifics. Ghosts over the Boiler gives readers a clearer view of death row in one state while also pointing out the specific issues of injustice that PHADP seeks to address. Everyone should read this book.Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers.