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Rituals of Retribution: Capital Punishment in Germany 1600-1987
Rituals of Retribution Capital Punishment in Germany 1600-1987 Author:Richard J. Evans, Oxford University Press, Oxford Univ Pr The state has no greater power over its own citizens than that of killing them. This book examines the use of that supreme sanction in Germany, from the seventeenth century to the present. This remarkable and startling book casts new light on the history of German attitudes to law, deviance, cruelty, suffering and death, illuminating many aspec... more »ts of Germany's modern political development. Rituals of Retribution tells the stories of the men and women who went to the block; the politicians, philosophers, and officials who debated whether they should be sent there; and the executioners whose job it was to kill them. Using sources ranging from folksongs and ballads to the newly released government papers from the former German Democratic Republic, eminent historian Richard Evans scrutinizes the ideologies behind capital punishment and comments on interpretations of the history of punishment offered by writers such as Foucault and Elias. He has made a formidable contribution not only to scholarship on German history but also to the social theory of punishment, and to the current debate on the death penalty.« less