The Hanging Tree by V A C Gatrell

The Hanging Tree by V A C Gatrell

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Summary

This social history explores how the English people felt about public execution during its heyday. Drawing on letters, diaries, ballads and other documentation of the time, the book analyzes responses to the scaffold at all social levels, from politicians and judges to the condemned themselves.

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The Hanging Tree by V A C Gatrell

This social history explores how the English people felt about public execution during its heyday. Drawing on letters, diaries, ballads and other documentation of the time, it analyzes responses to the scaffold at all social levels: from the crowds who gathered to watch executions; to the literary commentators such as Boswell and Byron; to judges, politicians and monarchs who decided who should die and who should be reprieved. The text also surveys the changing attitudes towards death and suffering, and demonstrates that the retreat from public hanging owed less to the growth of humane sensibilities than it did to the development of new methods of punishment and law enforcement, and the public's deepening fear of the scaffold crowd.

V.A.C.Gatrell is a Caius Fellow and a University Lecturer at Cambridge University's Faculty of History.

SKU Unavailable
ISBN 13 9780198204138
ISBN 10 0198204132
Title The Hanging Tree
Author V A C Gatrell
Condition Unavailable
Binding Type Hardback
Publisher Oxford University Press
Year published 1994-09-01
Number of pages 653
Cover note Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.