Average customer rating:
- Unbelievable In This Day and Age
- Real Life Horror
- No good ending here
- Lack of remorse in Oklahoma
- Had it been a work of fiction I would have given it 1 star...
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The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town
John Grisham
Manufacturer: Doubleday
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0385517238
Release Date: 2006-10-10 |
Amazon.com
John Grisham tackles nonfiction for the first time with The Innocent Man, a true tale about murder and injustice in a small town (that reads like one of his own bestselling novels). The Innocent Man chronicles the story of Ron Williamson, how he was arrested and charged with a crime he did not commit, how his case was (mis)handled and how an innocent man was sent to death row. Grisham's first work of nonfiction is shocking, disturbing, and enthralling--a must read for fiction and nonfiction fans. We had the opportunity to talk with John Grisham about the case and the book, read his responses below. --Daphne Durham
20 Second Interview: A Few Words with John Grisham
Q: After almost two decades of writing fiction, what compelled you to write non-fiction, particularly investigative journalism?
A: I was never tempted to write non-fiction, primarily because it's too much work. However, obviously, I love a good legal thriller, and the story of Ron Williamson has all the elements of a great suspenseful story.
Q: Why this case?
A: Ron Williamson and I are about the same age and we both grew up in small towns in the south. We both dreamed of being major league baseball players. Ron had the talent, I did not. When he left a small town in 1971 to pursue his dreams of major league glory, many thought he would be the next Mickey Mantle, the next great one from the state of Oklahoma. The story of Ron ending up on Death Row and almost being executed for a murder he did not commit was simply too good to pass up.
Q: How did you go about your research?
A: I started with his family. Ron is survived by two sisters who took care of him for most of his life. They gave me complete access to the family records, photographs, Ron's mental health records, and so on. There was also a truckload of trial transcripts, depositions, appeals, etc., that took about 18 months to organize and review. Many of the characters in the story are still alive and I traveled to Oklahoma countless times to interview them.
Q: Did your training as a lawyer help you?
A: Very much so. It enabled me to understand the legal issues involved in Ron's trial and his appeals. It also allowed me, as it always does, to be able to speak the language with lawyers and judges.
Q: Throughout your book you mention, The Dreams of Ada: A True Story of Murder, Obsession, and a Small Town. How did you come across that book, and how did it impact your writing The Innocent Man?
A: Several of the people in Oklahoma I met mentioned The Dreams of Ada to me, and I read it early on in the process. It is an astounding book, a great example of true crime writing, and I relied upon it heavily during my research. Robert Mayer, the author, was completely cooperative, and kept meticulous notes from his research 20 years earlier. Many of the same characters are involved in his story and mine.
Q: You take on some pretty controversial and heated topics in your book--the death penalty, prisoner's rights, DNA analysis, police conduct, and more--were any of your own beliefs challenged by this story and its outcome?
A: None were challenged, but my eyes were open to the world of wrongful convictions. Even as a former criminal defense attorney, I had never spent much time worrying about wrongful convictions. But, unfortunately, they happen all the time in this country, and with increasing frequency.
Q: So many of the key players in this case are either still in office or practicing attorneys. Many family members and friends still live in the same small town. How do you think The Innocent Man will impact this community and other small rural towns as they struggle with the realities of the justice system?
A: Exonerations seem to be happening weekly. And with each one of them, the question is asked--how can an innocent man be convicted and kept in prison for 20 years? My book is the story of only one man, but it is a good example of how things can go terribly wrong with our judicial system. I have no idea how the book will be received in the small town of Ada, Oklahoma, or any other town.
Q: What do you hope your readers will take away from The Innocent Man?
A: A better understanding of how innocent people can be convicted, and a greater concern for the need to reimburse and rehabilitate innocent men after they have been released.
Book Description
John Grisham’s first work of nonfiction, an exploration of small town justice gone terribly awry, is his most extraordinary legal thriller yet.
In the major league draft of 1971, the first player chosen from the State of Oklahoma was Ron Williamson. When he signed with the Oakland A’s, he said goodbye to his hometown of Ada and left to pursue his dreams of big league glory.
Six years later he was back, his dreams broken by a bad arm and bad habits—drinking, drugs, and women. He began to show signs of mental illness. Unable to keep a job, he moved in with his mother and slept twenty hours a day on her sofa.
In 1982, a 21-year-old cocktail waitress in Ada named Debra Sue Carter was raped and murdered, and for five years the police could not solve the crime. For reasons that were never clear, they suspected Ron Williamson and his friend Dennis Fritz. The two were finally arrested in 1987 and charged with capital murder.
With no physical evidence, the prosecution’s case was built on junk science and the testimony of jailhouse snitches and convicts. Dennis Fritz was found guilty and given a life sentence. Ron Williamson was sent to death row.
If you believe that in America you are innocent until proven guilty, this book will shock you. If you believe in the death penalty, this book will disturb you. If you believe the criminal justice system is fair, this book will infuriate you.
Customer Reviews:
Unbelievable In This Day and Age.......2007-09-30
I read this book thinking it had to be another Grisham work of fiction because if the story were true, America is in trouble.
This story is riveting, fast-paced and shows how truly horrible our justice system can be for those who can't afford a "Johnny Cochran".
I couldn't put this book down. The more you read the more you can't believe it really happened. Thank goodness for the pictures of the people in this story, it really brought home the fact that it's a true story.
Excellent job by Mr. Grisham.
Real Life Horror.......2007-09-29
"The Innocent Man" is a chronicle of Ron Williamson (former minor league baseball star), his life and ordeal as he was wrongly accused of murder and sentenced to death row as a result. He was forced to suffer this horror for 11 years until finally the system began to work for him, but only through the diligence and persistence of attorneys assigned to him years later, Mark Barrett and Barry Scheck, his loving mother and persistent sisters, in particular, his sister Annette. The cruelties and disrespect by the officers and District Attorney Bill Peterson that were inflected on him were horrifying. The shabby police work and "junk science," as well as the district attorney's expert witnesses (a majority of them picked from men and women serving time for horrendous crimes themselves) and brought to the stand to testify against Ron, was not only incomprehensible in itself but the fact that the Judge allowed their testimony to stand and control a man's life sentence is abominable. Ron's hometown of Ada, Oklahoma completely turned on him and he was proven guilty without a shred of hard evidence as was his friend, a respected 7th grade Science teacher, Dennis Fritz, merely by association. The book goes on to tell Ron's sad story as only it can be told by such an esteemed author/attorney as John Grisham. I would highly recommend everyone read this true story; it is a real eye opener as to how our justice system can go astray with the wrong people serving in our trusted government positions.
No good ending here.......2007-09-27
I seldom read Grisham but found his first non-fiction work hard to put down. The story of Ron Williamson has no happy ending. Not for Ron nor the young woman who was so brutually murdered.
Grisham does an excellent job of drawing us into the story. If you have never experienced justice (or lack of) in a small town you need to read this book. Had Ron lived in New York City or even Dallas he may have gone unnoticed wandering the streets and babbling like a mad man. But not in Ada, OK.
Lack of remorse in Oklahoma.......2007-09-26
This story had a tremendous impact on me. I support the death penalty but was abhorred to see how flippantly it was applied in Ada Oklahoma. Read this book first and then log onto District Attorney Peterson's web site to read his defense of his actions that were the subject of the book. The first thing he displays on his website is the American flag. Then he has a lengthy and tedious defense of all the minor points in Grisham's novel. He provides statistics on the probability of innocent people being convicted of felonies as if this excuses him for almost sending an innocent person to his death. Peterson tries to blow off Grisham as an anti-death penalty advocate. I truly fear for the soul of Mr. Peterson and the good people of Ada Oklahoma - a bit of remorse and repentance for what they almost did to an innocent man would help them when they meet their Maker. Hiding behind the American flag might help now but certainly not later!
Had it been a work of fiction I would have given it 1 star..........2007-09-18
... but it's not. It only looks like fiction in bad taste. Instead, this truly happened as described.
I'm not summarizing the story as the editorial reviews and most reviewers before me are quite descriptive.
May I just say that I think that every judicial system has its share of faults and flaws, but what's revealed in this book is simply astonishing and unbelievable from beginning to end. I can only hope that it rattles a few consciences whilst increasing awareness to prevent disastrous consequences for those involved.
As it always happens when I read J. Grisham's books, I've appreciated and enjoyed the clear and well structured narrative, even more so on this occasion. Being a real-life story, I'm sure it must have been quite a task to extrapolate all the relevant facts from all the interviews and paperwork generated by this case during the years, in order to present them clearly to the readers.
Unless you already know the epilogue, try not to peek at the photographs published right in the middle of the book. Some are quite revealing for the yet-to-be-read rest of the story. They don't actually "spoil everything" -in fact, whatever unfolded after turning those pages kept me on the alert and as incredulous as ever- but I still think it would have been preferable to print them at the very end of the book.
A part from that, "The Innocent Man" is highly recommendable.
Amazon.com
"In my everyday life over the last fifty years, it has been my curious lot to move among the rich and famous and powerful, always as an outsider, always listening, watching, remembering."
Writing about the crimes of the rich and famous for Vanity Fair with this insider's status, Dominick Dunne has borne witness to the often bizarre personalities who surround high-profile cases and their telling intimacies. Andrea Reynolds, for instance, dressed only in a negligee and jewelry, insists that her jewels are finer than those of the comatose woman in whose apartment she resides and whom her lover, Claus von Bulow, is charged with attempting to murder. The essays in Justice offer a fascinating, disturbing, and wry look at the cast of a half dozen high-profile trials, including Lyle and Erik Menendez, who murdered their affluent parents; Marvin Pancoast, who beat the $18,000-a-month mistress of Alfred Bloomingdale to death with a baseball bat; the multibillionaire banker Edmund Safra, who suffocated in his own bunker-like bathroom in Monaco; and the gossiping members of Los Angeles society during "All O.J., All the Time."
The most moving story by far is the title piece, about the murder of Dunne's daughter, the actress Dominique Dunne, by her ex-boyfriend, who walked away with a pitifully light sentence thanks to the extremes taken by his defense lawyer and the vanity of the judge. While the succeeding stories don't have the same poignancy, Dunne still makes them personal--after all, he knows many of those involved, and justice truly is personal for him. In fact, it is this moral authority that enables him to enter the strange universe of high-society crime and write about it with no pretense of objectivity, but rather with rage toward the short shrift justice is so often given in celebrity cases. The counterpoint to his anger is a delicious irony in the form of fascinating subplots, jet-set gossip, and terrific quotes straight from some of the horses' mouths. Dunne has both a sharp sense of the absurd and a trenchant eye for injustice in any form. --Lesley Reed
Book Description
For more than two decades, Vanity Fair has published Dominick Dunne’s brilliant, revelatory chronicles of the most famous crimes, trials, and punishments of our time. Here, in one volume, are Dominick Dunne’s mesmerizing tales of justice denied and justice affirmed. Whether writing of Claus von Bülow’s romp through two trials; the Los Angeles media frenzy surrounding O.J. Simpson; the death by fire of multibillionaire banker Edmond Safra; or the Greenwich, Connecticut, murder of Martha Moxley and the indictment—decades later—of Michael Skakel, Dominick Dunne tells it honestly and tells it from his unique perspective. His search for the truth is relentless.
With new essay, “Mourning In New York,” about September 11, 2001.
Customer Reviews:
Names galore.......2007-09-14
The man cannot string two words together without name dropping. It is disgusting and so is he.
The reality behind justice.......2007-07-10
A fascinating book into how high priced lawyers can convince any jury your Mother is worse than a serial killer. Essentially that is the conclusion I got from the book.
Some of the stories are too long and complicated with lots of names, so that is why I am giving it 4 instead of 5 stars. It also was not clear to me what exactly happened in some of the murders, particularly the last one on Safre.
Well written, but repetitive.......2007-03-23
Most of these pieces appeared in Vanity Fair, and the overlap in some of them about the O.J. Simpson trial is left in. About 10 minutes worth of editing could have solved that problem. Otherwise, this is a passionate account of Dunne's view of several of the high profile cases he's made a career of covering since exiting the movie business. The most interesting is the case of his own daughter's murderer, but the Menendez stories and the Michael Skakel case make fascinating prose. Definitely worth reading, even now, long after these trials ended.
Human comedy: celebrity trials expose the comedy of human existence .......2007-01-11
Dominick Dunne received a lifeline from a Washington Post reporter seeking to report the story of David Begelman's forgery. Dunne felt he was a Hollywood failure, and so, he admits, the desire for revenge drove him to help the reporter get his story. In 1982 Dunne's daughter, Dominique, was murdered. He felt the trial of her killer was a travesty. The author's first magazine piece for VANITY FAIR concerned that trial. Dunne covered the retrial of Claus von Bulow. Trials can be boring, but people involved in them are not. He had gone to Hollywood to work on PLAYHOUSE 90 with Martin Manulis.
In writing about the trial focusing on Dominique's death, Dunne repeats the adage that the murder victim is always placed on trial. In trials, journalists jockey for position. Trial-going in Hollywood highlights dysfunctions in the criminal justice system. Where the fact-finder fails to be impartial, and/or where the lawyer-teams opposing each other are disproportionate in terms of resources, results are skewed. A trial, of course, is theater. The glare of publicity never seems to serve the ends of justice; but, of course, injustices may also take place in relative obscurity.
What Dominick Dunne brings to trial reportage is his experience as the parent of a murder victim and his knowledge of the customs of the entertainment industry. Dunne reports that in the trial of O.J. Simpson the public sent bouquets of flowers to the participants. Juries don't like female prosecutors but do like female defense attorneys. The author believes an effective defense attorney must possess a mean streak. Most of the book's chapters are devoted to the Simpson case. Monte Carlo has been described as a sunny place for shady people. Edmond Safer, a financier, died there in a fire. A Dunne fiction work, A SEASON IN PURGATORY, was based on the Martha Moxley murder case. When he wrote his novel, that case had not been solved, even after some twenty odd years.
My most unusual review.......2006-11-02
I have never written a review like this before, and feel compelled to share my thoughts, honest and forward, to anyone considering reading this book.
I picked it up and could not put it down.
I wish I had never read it.
It is a book that is so terribly sad, especially with the story of the author's daughter's murder, and it is written with a skill that is not often seen: a combination of honesty, pithy expressions, pain, joy, and a constellation of emotions that all masterfully come together.
Why do I wish I had never read it?
If you have any connection to the court system, you already know that lying is so common place that it is frightening. People swear an oath and lie with impunity, but reading of the injustice, for instance, that this man suffered in his daughter's murder, or all the spin that OJ's "dream team" used, in short clips to reporters, feeding the public red herrings; deliberate lies, knowing that public influence will reach even a sequested jury, is just horrible to read. The glam of hollywood is sickening and reading about how terribly hated white people were by blacks supporting OJ...knowing that this woman, who was brutally murdered along with an innocent bystander, only to hear that a male black juror could say, "she got what she deserved" is sickening. It brought back all those terrible emotions as race relations in 1994 revealed a black on white hatred that I was, quite frankly, ignorant of its depth.
Reading of wealthy scoundrels like Johnnie Cochrin and others is very difficult. You wonder whether or not these talented men possessed a conscience. The only comforting thought it that in the afterlife, Providence will decree justice. The man with the long record of violence against women, of which record the judge (wink, wink to the defense attorney he was buddies with) would not allow to be admitted, served 2 1/2 years for the murder of a bright and wonderful young woman is almost more than the reader can bear. Dunne brings you into this pain; perhaps as close as a stranger can come to feeling the maddening frustration that he and his family felt during this trial. How Dunne was able to do this, is beyond me, but he did it. Don't read the book if you cannot bear to be that close to pain.
It reminds me of the story of Bob Dylan, giving an interview in 1974, after many years of not talking to the press. The woman interviewing him starts off with, "I just want to say that I really enjoy your new album, Blood on the Tracks". Dylan says, "I can't understand anyone enjoying that much pain" and gets up and walks out.
I wanted to stop reading, quite often, but continued.
Reader: proceed with caution. It is not about race, as people of decency, no matter what race, will be terribly upset by what they read.
Customer Reviews:
Capitalistic Exploitation of the Holocaust.......2001-11-22
I read this book about 6 years ago when I was still in college. I bought it for a quarter at a fund raising book sale the english dept had put together. Always interested in history, particularly WWII, I found I couldn't put this book down. Written in a style which can be enjoyed by academics and casual readers both, the book gives insight into the little known capitalistic aspects of the holocaust. I, for one, was well read on WWII but knew nothing of the gross injustices of the private sector in regards to the Holocaust. Especially, surprising was learning that some concertration camps were built and run not by Nazis but by a privately owned corporation.
Truly an intense and eye-opening read.
Book Description
As a brand-new lawyer, Polly Nelson was offered serial-kiiler Ted Bundy's case as a pro bono project for her prestigious Washington, DC law firm just weeks before he was scheduled to be executed. Defending the Devil is a unique and candid look at the Bundy case and at Nelson's three-year personal battle to balance her duties as a lawyer, her compassion for human life, and the inhuman crimes her client had committed.
Through the obstacles and setbacks faced by Nelson there was Ted Bundy himself. While his crimes show the extremely violent side of his personality, there were many other sides --many other extreme sides--that the public never saw. Ranging from shy and defensive to a narcissistic performer, Bundy professed his innocence by day while offering confessions to the police and helping the FBI at night. His own worst enemy, Bundy seemed never to understand the severity of his crimes, the punishment, or the public's reaction to them. Through it all stood Nelson, defending him from both the system and himself.
Customer Reviews:
The last and closest look at America's most nororious killer.......2006-05-25
Just as Ann Rule's The Stranger Beside Me gave us an eyewitness account of the beginnings and middle of Ted Bundy's gruesome career, "Defending the Devil" covers the end. Think of it as a companion piece.
Informative & Insightful--An Excellent Book!.......2001-06-12
Defending The Devil is an excellent book. Polly Nelson provides a detailed account of the struggle involved in being Ted Bundy's last lawyer. I deeply appreciated her straightforward sharing of her emotions, the criminal 'justice' system, and her knowledge of Ted Bundy. Here is a rare insightful look at an intelligent man who sadly took a path into darkness...yet Nelson sees also his humanity... I learned an incredible amount from this book--about the legal procedures & difficulties in defending such a notorious capital case, about the evils of a society which executes its own citizens in the name of justice, and details about a man most wish to view only as a 'monster,' but whom Nelson provides a more in-depth look at based on her own experiences. I commend Polly Nelson for having the courage to fight the case to save his life...and I thank her for sharing her experiences and thoughts in her excellent book! This book is well written, provocative, thought-provoking...and I highly recommend it to all with an interest in law (criminal defense), psychology, and social justice...I recommend it to all with an open mind who care about learning the truth in several areas this book explores.
A very good behind-the-scenes look.......2001-05-23
In early 1986, a young attorney named Polly Nelson took on a case that would catapult her name into the headlines. Yet because the job was to save Ted Bundy from Florida's electric chair, the publicity wasn't favorable. Reporters would invariably ask "what about the victims?" and Nelson would have no answer. In the end, Nelson and her colleagues would fail to persuade the courts that Bundy deserved to live, and he would be put to death in January 1989. Even staunch death penalty foes refused to protest at the prison as Bundy, the very personification of evil, died in Old Sparky.
This is much more than a sob story for Ted Bundy, however. Nelson's book has an agenda, but it really doesn't involve deifying Bundy. Rather, Nelson believes that the American justice system is unfair to convicts facing death sentences, and her passion is clearly not for Ted Bundy but instead for justice. Keep in mind that she was a neophyte attorney with very little experience -- she didn't even know who Ted Bundy was when she took the case. Her story isn't just about a horrible serial killer; it's about the judges and court clerks and prosecutors and public defenders who together held a man's life in their hands. She does put forth some questionable theories, such as Bundy's being mentally ill (manic depressive) and being forcibly tranquilized on the day of his critical May 1979 plea hearing, but to her credit she appears to simply be acting as a good lawyer who is exploring all the evidence -- not as someone who thinks Bundy got a raw deal and should go free.
If you are a true crime fan who also has an interest in jurisprudence, this book will probably interest you. If instead you are primarily interested in Bundy himself, this book still has plenty of relevant information to offer. For example, Nelson exposes the role of Diana Weiner as being more than just Bundy's civil attorney. She discusses Bundy's meetings with psychiatrist Dr. Dorothy Lewis. And she offers a great deal of insight into Bundy's Florida trials where Bundy sometimes acted as his own counsel, essentially signing his own death warrant with his grandstanding. This book is a very good supplement to the other books on Ted Bundy.
Kinda creepy.......2001-02-24
What got to me most about this book is how attached Nelson becomes to Bundy. Being passionate about your opposition to the death penalty is one thing; speaking of a monster like Bundy as "my Ted" and buying him a Mickey Mouse watch when you go to Disneyland is something else. However, this does give a detailed look at Bundy's case from the judicial perspective, which hasn't been covered much before. Most people seem to want to read about the details of Bundy's gruesome crimes; if you've read all those books and want a new perspective, this is a worthwhile read.
Defending the devil over innocents.......1999-10-19
Nelson's book is easily the worst of the seven books written to date about Bundy and his crimes. In it, she tries to make Bundy into some sympathetic character deserving of society's forgiveness, and clearly tries to salvage a wreck of a legal career by sacrificing her objectivity on the altar of a cause celebre. Nelson is truly Bundy's final victim; at least she lived to tell.
Book Description
Bill Kurtis, anchor of the popular true-crime TV series Cold Case Files and American Justice, used to support the death penalty. But after observing the machinations of the justice system for thirty years, he came to a stunning realization that there can be no real justice in America until it is abolished.
In Death Penalty on Trial, Kurtis revisits two harrowing murder scenes, studies the evidence, and explores the tactical decisions made before and during trial, which sent two innocent men to death row. Through these cases, we encounter the eight main reasons why the wrong people are condemned to death, and we see why new forensic science techniques could touch off a revolution of reform. Ultimately we come to a remarkable conclusion: The possibility for error in our justice system is simply too great to allow the death penalty to stand.
Customer Reviews:
If You Care About Justice, You Will Read This Book.......2007-04-29
I remember Bill Kurtis from when I was a teenager living in Chicago and watching him report the local news every night. I didn't know then that he had a law degree or a sharp-as-a-tack mind. Now I know both, and I'm thankful that he has put both to use in researching and writing this book.
The two case histories he profiles make for an engrossing read. They sound the alarm that something is definitely wrong in this country when it comes to our justice system.
This is a must-read for anyone who cares about the American justice system or the death penalty. The compelling case that Kurtis makes for abolishing the death penalty cannot be ignored.
Essential Reading!.......2005-12-27
Kurtis, an attorney and crime reporter, formerly supported the death penalty. However, Kurtis reports reversing his position upon learning of Illinois'Governor Ryan's decision to commute all the State's death sentences to life in prison after learning that 13 death row inmates had been subsequently found innocent. The book also summarized a nationwide study of 23 years of capital cases and found reversible errors in about 70%. (Similar findings from other studies were also briefly mentioned.)
Kurtis then provides details of how two death row inmates had been wrongly convicted. The first involved a fellow Phoenix-area resident - Ray Krone, found guilty in 1992 of murder on the basis of bite marks on the victim that supposedly matched Krone's teeth. Krone was sentenced to death. (There were no supporting fingerprints, and Krone had an alibi via a friend.)
Fortunately for Krone, a cousin who worked with dentists took interest in the case, and showed the bite-mark evidence to a forensic expert who immediately concluded that there was no match. Starting with an affidavit to that effect, the cousin then began efforts for a new trial, which was granted on the basis that the first trial's "bite-mark expert video" had been introduced too late for adequate defense review. In the subsequent retrial it was also brought out that the original prosecution bite-mark "expert" was actually a novice, and that his mentor had also concluded that Krone's teeth did not match. (This information had been kept from Krone's defense.) Nonetheless, Krone was again convicted, though this time the judge had doubts and sentenced him to life in prison.
Finally, after additional defense efforts, new DNA testing techniques were brought to bear on a previously untested piece of the victim's clothing. This time the results completely exonerated Krone, and identified the real killer (already in prison).
The "good news" is that Ray became the 100th person freed from death row since 1973; the "bad news" that he had spent about ten years in prison, and it required the strong efforts of relatives and about $120,000 from them for legal research.
Other common major problems cited in the book include inexperienced defense lawyers, prosecutors who lied or suppressed evidence, unreliable eyewitnesses, jailhouse informants trading "information" for leniency, and coerced confessions obtained by disreputable interrogation means.
The "bottom-line" for Kurtis is that our legal system is too unreliable for imposing the death penalty.
Very logical and thought out!.......2005-11-04
Whether or not you agree with the death penalty, this is a good book to check out. Kurtis gives eight solid reasons why one should be against the death penalty, and then uses two cases to back those reasons (he gives different examples on the video he has on the same subject for those who believe that only two examples are cursory).
Once a death penalty advocate himself, Kurtis changes his mind after Gov. George Ryan commutes the sentence of 164 men after DNA evidence exonerated 13 men (not 2 like the previous reader who couldn't stand it when people falsify info in book reviews said, haha). After hearing about these events, Kurtis looked deep into the judicial system to discover why so many men on death row were found innocent. The flaws he found are listed in the book.
A good read for someone who likes to strengthen their own ideas or find out what the opposition is saying. The language is easy to understand and interesting as opposed to technical. If this book doesn't make you at least think a little, you don't think! :)
Bill Kurtis has done it again.......2005-10-21
It's Bill Kurtis.....what else do I need to say?
Analyzing the System.......2005-07-28
I regularly tune into "American Justice" on A & E, so I was interested in reading this book by producer Bill Kurtis on the death penalty. Make no bones about it, Kurtis is adamantly against capital punishment. In this examination of two examples of wrongfully imprisoned men on death row, he shows why he feels so strongly about his conviction, rather than simply preaching his opinion.
The only annoying part of reading this was the narration. I'd be willing to gamble a week's wages that he dictated all of the content. It reads in the exact cadence that Kurtis speaks in: choppy sentences, and lots of colons. I could "hear" his distinct speech patterns, which is wonderful as a televised voice over, but a strange way to write in print.
That said, Kurtis' argument is solid and convincing. He carefully explains his own change of attitude regarding capital punishment; that the death penalty does nothing to deter killers, and that one person wrongly executed is one too many. Having America on the roster of countries who do implement this harsh form of punishment is not on par with the enlighted philosophy of liberty. Life in prison with no possibility of parole, especially a life in solitary confinement, is the most appropriate sentence for convicted murderers. Even if I didn't agree with the author, this examination of the American justice system is food for thought. The message comes through loud and clear, and I applaud Kurtis for tackling it.
Book Description
Evans, E.P. The Criminal Prosecution and Capital Punishment of Animals. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1906. x, 384pp. Reprinted 1998 by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. LCCN 98-12801. ISBN 1-886363-52-8. Cloth. $75.
* This pioneering work in English brings together an amazing assemblage of court cases in which animals have been named as defendants--chickens, rats, field mice, bees, gnats, and (in 34 recorded instances) pigs, among others--providing insight into such modern issues as animal rights, capital punishment, and social and criminal theory. Evans suggests an intriguing distinction between trials of specific animals or particular crimes (the ""murder"" of an infant by a pig, for example) and trials of animals for larger, catastrophic events such as plagues and infestations. In the latter case, Evans suggests a parallel to witchcraft.
Customer Reviews:
Astonishing, disturbing and subversive..........2000-12-31
Forgot to add this to my Amazon list of "The Most Subversive Works Imaginable" (so check those out too!). This book is just mind blowing. I read it while taking a "History of Witchcraft" class in college. Anyone interested in animal rights, the tyranny of the courts and the solopsistic nature of "civilized" religion will be intrigued. It will make you seriously question the current practice of putting to death circus elephants who run amok, or pit bills who kill children. Very chilling to think that we have not, in some basic sense, escaped our mediaeval antecedents. Written in 1906, the text is a bit footnote-stodgy scholarly, but Evans brings the thoughts of philosophers, religious reasoners, and scientific pundits to bear on Europe's animal trials and how these slaughtered sparrows, garetted geese, and hung horses helped humans distinguish themselves from the animals. FASCINATING!
Book Description
"This book is an excellent primer on a subject that Americans are likely to debate for the foreseeable future." --Bimonthly Review of Law Books Unlike every other western democracy in the world, capital punishment is an active part of the criminal justice system in the United States. By the end of 1992, 2,700 men and 41 women were living under the sentence of death in America. Executing the Mentally Ill examines the compelling case of Florida death-row inmate Alvin Ford, which led the U.S. Supreme Court to rule that executions of severely psychotic death-row inmates are in violation of the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishment. But how should mental illness be defined for purposes of exemption from execution? How should mental health professionals evaluate competence for execution? What happens when the professionals disagree among themselves about the defendant's mental health? How strong should doubts about mental status be before the execution is stopped? And what should be done with the prisoner who is found incompetent? In telling the powerful story of Ford's history, crime, mental state, and how he was handled by the criminal justice system, the authors confront questions about modern capital sentencing and the administration of the death penalty in America today. Executing the Mentally Ill provides a thought-provoking read for students and professionals in mental health, criminal justice, and legal fields, as well as policymakers and others concerned with capital punishment. "Those seeking a clearer context for the ambiguities and dilemmas that characterize the ongoing debate over exemption of the mentally ill from execution will find valuable historical and cross-cultural references here. The case of Alvin Ford provides a new perspective for measuring the gaps between the vagueness of the criteria used by mental health professionals in determining competence and its various legal definitions. . . . An underlying message for the reader is that questioning whether mentally ill or mentally retarded death-row inmates should be executed implies questioning the use of the death penalty for anyone." --Readings: A Journal of Reviews and Commentary in Mental Health "The case of Alvin Ford, a Florida man convicted of killing a police officer during a bungled armed robbery, provides a specific focus for Miller and Radelet's wide-ranging discussion of mental illness and the death penalty. . . . Miller is a psychologist and longstanding student of mental disability issues; Radelet is a leading contemporary authority on the death penalty. Their combined expertise provides readers with a thorough exploration of the "competence to die" issue, and they also touch on other death penalty issues such as proportionality and racial bias. . . . This book cannot, of course, decisively resolve all the issues involved in the death penalty debate, but it is a worthwhile contribution to the literature. Advanced undergraduates and above." --Choice "The life of Alvin Ford and his 17-year odyssey through Florida's complex capital-punishment process is the subject of Executing the Mentally Ill. In telling this fascinating and often macabre story, professors Miller and Radelet expose an inherent and often ignored moral dilemma with capital punishment. The book provides compelling empirical support for the dictum that 'though the justice of God may indeed ordain that some should die, the justice of man is altogether and always insufficient for saying who these may be' (Black, 1974, p. 96). The authors also use the Ford case to examine other important issues about the death penalty in the United States including racism and ineffective assistance of counsel. This well-documented volume should appeal both to an academic audience and to the general public." --Robert M. Bohm, Ph.D., University of North Carolina "Over the last five years, I have reviewed about a dozen books, mostly for university presses, and found this particular piece to be the most well-written and well-researched document to date. The scholarship is sound and 'workmanlike.' I was impressed with the authors' scholarship and ability to apply a wide range of data (e.g. psychiatric testimony, appellate decisions, interviews, and personal letters) to a critical social issue that will continue to haunt our society: the execution of the mentally ill offender. This book makes a very important contribution to the literature in psychology and the law. The book could be used as a supplementary text in criminal justice programs, sociology, psychology, law, and public policy. This book should be read by every appellate-level judge, felony district-court judge, prosecutor, and defense attorney in America. It leads the way in clarifying the practical, moral, and ethical issues. Legislators should also read this account." --James W. Marquart, Ph.D., Sam Houston State University "It is an important book, addressing an area that has only recently become the focus of much attention for mental health professionals. Miller and Radelet have undertaken a comprehensive and carefully articulated look at the issue of competency for execution and the way in which it affects mental health professionals, interwoven as it is with the politics of capital punishment." --Kirk Heilbrun, Ph.D., Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation, and Substance Abuse Services, Central State Hospital, Virginia
Customer Reviews:
One of a kind masterpiece!.......2000-04-26
This book is very informative and provides the reader with amazing detail of how the justice system works.
Amazon.com
Closing arguments in the infamous O.J. Simpson trial hadn't even been made when the first O.J. book--the defendant's own, I Want to Tell You--hit the stands, and the ink wasn't even dry on newspaper accounts of the jury's verdict when Johnnie Cochran, Christopher Darden, Mark Fuhrman, members of the Brown and Goldman families, detectives concerned with the case, and even journalists covering the trial hurried into the fray with their own tell-all versions of this latest "trial of the century." So perhaps Marcia Clark, the chief prosecutor in the Simpson case, is a little late to the dance with her offering, Without a Doubt, cowritten with Teresa Carpenter. After all, what more is there to say? Plenty, according to Clark.
In Without a Doubt Clark painstakingly recounts the trial proceedings, from jury selection to final summation, and concludes that nothing could have saved her case, given the prominent role of race in the defense's strategy and the hostile jury who heard it. In Clark's opinion, the prosecution's mountain of evidence should have convicted Simpson 20 times over; that it did not, she says, attests to a judicial system wracked by race and overly impressed by celebrity. Amidst war stories from the trial, Marcia Clark sprinkles plenty of details about her private life before and after O.J., from a teenage rape to her ex-husband's custody suit. Followers of the O.J. case will want to add Without a Doubt to their collection.
Book Description
Without a Doubt is not just a book about a trial. It's a book about a woman. Marcia Clark takes us inside her head and her heart with a story that is both sweeping and deeply personal--and shocking in its honesty. Her voice is raw, disarming, unmistakable. She tells us how a woman, when caught up in an event that galvanized an entire country, rose to that occasion with singular integrity, drive, honesty, and grace. How did she do it, day after day? What was it like, orchestrating the most controversial case of her career in the face of the media's relentless klieg lights? How did she fight her personal battles--those of a working mother balancing a crushing workload and a painful, very public divorce? Who stood by her and who abandoned her? As Clark shares the secrets of her own life, we understand for the first time why she identified so closely with Nicole Brown Simpson, in a way no man ever could. Sparing no one in this unflinching account--least of all herself--Clark speaks frankly about the mesmerizing and controversial personalities in the Simpson case: Lance Ito, Kato Kaelin, Johnnie Cochran, Mark Fuhrman, and Christopher Darden, among others. She also takes on her critics, the "armchair warriors" who scapegoated her after the verdict, and tells us why they were wrong. In a case that tore America apart, and that continues to haunt us as few events in our recent history have, Marcia Clark emerges as the one true heroine, because she stood for justice, fought the good fight, and fought it well.
Also available as a Penguin Audiobook
A bestseller in The New York Times, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, San Francisco Chronicle, The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Publishers Weekly, and New York Newsday
TV movie rights sold to CBS
Customer Reviews:
WITHOUT A DOUBT...O. J. IS GUILTY..........2006-10-09
Any reasonable person who listened to the evidence at the so-called "trial of the century" knows without out a doubt that O. J. Simpson killed his ex-wife Nicole Brown and Ronald Goldman, the hapless waiter who was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Anyone who watched the announcement of the verdict and saw the shock and disbelief on O. J. Simpson's own face, as the not guilty verdict was read, would know that even the defendant knew he was guilty.
The prosecution never had much of a chance, because the presiding judge, Lance Ito, was a bumbling idiot who could not control his courtroom and make sound evidentiary rulings. . Instead, Lance Ito allowed his courtroom to become a three-ring circus. As a career prosecutor, I was appalled at the time at what went on in that courtroom, and Lance Ito's courting of the media was reprehensible. It was also clear that he was awed by and enthralled with the celebrity of the defendant appearing before him. One need only look to the civil trial in the matter to see how an effective judge controlled his courtroom. There, Judge Hiroshi Fujisaki made sound rulings on evidentiary matters and remained in control of his courtroom at all times. Consequently, justice was obtained in the civil case.
This tell all, no holds barred book is a well-written, engaging behind-the-scenes account of the "trial of the century". While Ms. Clark does include some personal information about herself, it is in the context of why she became a prosecutor and makes for a more fully fleshed account of how and why she may have acted as she did under the circumstances. She admits to some mistakes, and probably one of the biggest was having been lulled into a false sense of complacency about the competence of the criminalist assigned to the case, rather than going with her gut instinct to get whom she thought would be the best person for the job. Consequently, she was saddled with criminalist Dennis Fung, who for his incompetence in such a high profile case should have been summarily fired thereafter.
As for the defense "Dream Team", having watched their antics on court TV during the course of the trial, it was clear that they were playing to the media for all it was worth, and the media was lapping it up. So much of what the defense did went beyond what was sanctioned by evidentiary rules and the rules of professional conduct that I was both amazed and appalled. That they got away with this kind of behavior was reprehensible. The only one able to call them on it, however, was Judge Lance Ito, and he failed to do so. The blame, therefore, for all the shenanigans that went on during the course of the trial lies squarely on Lance Ito's shoulders. He definitely gets the prize for one of the greatest failures in American jurisprudence.
Still, one cannot forget prosecutor Chris Darden's ill-advised decision in proceeding to have O.J. try on the bloodied, weathered gloves found at the scene and at his home, rather than waiting for an exact duplicate pair to be delivered by the manufacturer. In light of the fact that the manufacturer had advised the prosecution that the original gloves would have shrunk as much as fifteen percent due to repeated exposure to dampness and extremes of heat and cold, it was downright stupid for Chris Darden to proceed to have the defendant try them on. While Ms. Clark had counseled Chris Darden not to proceed with this demonstration, but rather, to wait for the new duplicate pair, he did so anyway with disastrous results. As the lead prosecutor in the case, however, the fault for this debacle lies squarely with her on this issue, rather than Mr. Darden, because when you are the lead prosecutor, the buck stops with you. Ms. Clark need look no further than herself for this major faux pas and for the ensuing creation of Johnnie Cochran's famous, catchy sound bite, "If the glove doesn't fit, then you must acquit". Never mind that the new, duplicate glove fit O. J. to perfection!
Notwithstanding the glove debacle, the forensic evidence against the defendant was overwhelming, despite the bungling of criminalist Dennis Fung. Unfortunately, the painstaking forensics case put together by the prosecution was lost under the smokescreen set off by the defense. The "Dream Team" played the race card to perfection to a sound bite crazed media that helped create a public frenzy, no doubt aided by the celebrity of the defendant. The defense team's cries of police mis-conduct and the Fuhrmanizing of the trial was a pulp journalist's dream come true. It was also a travesty of justice, as all the hoopla and media distortion masked what the trial was really about, the savage and wanton murders of two innocent human beings. Moreover, while much has been said about this being a crime of passion that the prosecution tried as dispassionately as possible, one must keep in mind that Judge Ito tied the prosecution's hands in large part, while giving the "Dream Team' an unprecedented free rein.
This book will keep courtroom junkies enthralled with its war stories and sneak peak into the "trial of the century". Ms. Clark gives an excellent analysis of what went wrong, and while some of it may be a bit self-serving, she is right on the money for the most part. This is a riveting, page turning account, and she doesn't hold back any punches. Ms. Clark painstakingly goes through the evidence that was presented at the trial, as well as that evidence that Judge Ito, in his infinite wisdom, did not allow the prosecution to present. Anyone who reads this book will be outraged by the obvious miscarriage of justice, as it will be clear as a bell why O. J. Simpson is, without a doubt, guilty of the murders of Nicole Brown and Ronald Goldman.
A No Win Situation - But A Good Book.......2006-07-16
I read four books after the trial. I read the Schiller 1000 page saga, Outrage, the present book and a book on Johnny Cochrane. Each book was different and gives us different insights.
I think it is clear to any reasonable and unbiased thinking person that O.J. did in fact kill Nicole and Ron and it is just as it is clear that Lee Harvey Oswald shot JFK. Also it is clear from the other reviewers that Marcia Clark evokes a certain emotional response that colors their view of the book. If you still think O.J. is innocent then I think that is a personal problem or internal devil that you must deal with but it is not related to reality. As the title says "Without a Doubt" he was guilty.
Johnny made buckets of money as a criminal attorney. Both he and Shapiro could make sums of money in hours that only the rest of us can dream about. Johnny drove a Rolls and Shapiro rubbed elbows with the LA movers and shakers.
Marcia is more like the average citizen, working for the DA's office, probably driving a Chevrolet or Honda. She was a single divorced mother that commutes to work. After the trial she had decided enough was enough, and she wrote the book along with everyone else. And I say good for her! Make a buck or two! Its America.
Now for the book. It is what you might expect. It is the story of her involvement with the trial. It presents some prior background on her life and earlier trials and then goes in detail through the O.J. saga and what it was like from her perspective. I think is a well written book and for the most part entertaining. "Outrage" is a bit more gripping and Schiller's "American Tragedy" longer and more comprehensive. But this book is what we would expect. It deals mainly with her role and it is a solid job. She was basically a civil servant and she was the front "man" facing a raft of America's most famous lawyers including the above mentioned plus F. Lee Bailey. Then to complicate things, the whole mess was presided over by the star blinded Judge Ito. Together they faced essentially 12 black female jurors who loved Johnny and O.J.
Could she win? "Without a Doubt" she could not win, but it was nothing to do with her.
Recommend. 4 stars.
Race Decided This.......2005-06-26
It wouldn't have mattered who prosecuted this case. The jury were never going to convict OJ after the race card was played.
Pretty good account of the trial, and an interesting insight into the author's ordeal in handling such a nightmarish case. She lays into Judge Ito & the cyncical tactics of Cochrane.
You come away doubting that the jury system really delivers justice.
Self Serving and not Informative.......2004-04-18
I have read most of the books written about the O.J. Trial. All have been more about setting forth that particular author's personal/ or political agenda and not about true analysis.
What I fail to find in any of these books is what role did the media play in turning a simple crime of passion into the racial mess that this trial came to symbolize?
This story is simple. Man and woman have a very sick/tormented relationship, where many sick games are played. One day man loses his head and murders woman and the poor guy who comes to her rescue. Man goes to trial. Man goes to jail for a crime of passion. End of story.
Instead the SCLM (So Called Liberal Media) as described in the Eric Alterman's book, "What Liberal Media," enters the picture driven by the almighty dollar and turns this simple crime into the trial of the century simply for the profit margin.
We still trust the media to inform us and they failed miserably as they have done in every important story of our generation. There is no liberal media bias. It's all about the money and polarizing the country to fuel the tragic story of the Simpson case was more important to the Media than actually telling the real story.
They forgot that Nicole and O.J. loved each other and created two very lovely kids together. Race had nothing to do witth it until the media focussed on it.
Marcia Clark lost her case, because she drank the Kool Aid from the media and followed their narrative as opposed to trying the case for what it was a crime of passion.
Excellent and Informative.......2004-02-17
I just finished reading Without a Doubt, couldn't put it down. It is the first book about the Simpson trial that I have been able to read all the way through. It felt truthful and real, there was no exaggeration or grandstanding for effect. If anyone has been involved in the court system at all then they will really appreciate the intensity and importance of this book. Marsha is not self serving or whiny......I enjoyed her honesty about the case and about herself. If she had not written about herself, people would be accusing her of hiding things. I found the book very affirming, as I have been involved in the Victim advocacy system for 13 years and have just left the 'justice' system for work where I can offer my skills without having to be belittled and bashed by the attorneys appointed by the system for the criminals and the abusive parents. Thank you Marsha.
Average customer rating:
- Very good legal mystery
- Axelrood Outdoes Himself!
- Developing Chicago series and writer
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Death Eligible
Larry Axelrood
Manufacturer: Cumberland House Publishing
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The Advocate: A Novel
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ASIN: 1581823924 |
Book Description
Death Eligible is the story of two death penalty cases. Both of them involve rape and murder, and though the defendants are as different from each other as night and day, the similarities of the two cases are uncanny. As Darcy Cole defends both men, the twists and turns their cases take as they proceed to the courtroom make for compelling and electrifying reading.
Darcy Cole¹s life has become a bit more complicated than it was in previous books, both by his caseload and by the fact that his love interest, Dr. Amy Wagner, is about to turn fifty. This milestone makes her want to celebrate with more than cake and ice cream, and she plans to travel to a developing country to help sick and starving people in need. Darcy is afraid for her safety, but also afraid for their relationship. Where does he fit in?
Meanwhile, a young attorney with an odd nickname joins Darcy¹s team and seems to fit right in. A crisis in one of the cases threatens to undermine his confidence, but Darcy comes to his rescue and teaches him an important lesson.
Just as in his previous two Darcy Cole novels - The Advocate and Plea Bargain - Larry Axelrood skillfully brings the complex threads of several plots together to form an exciting, riveting courtroom drama with generous doses of lightness and humor. Fans of Darcy Cole and new readers alike will not be able to put down Death Eligible until its thrilling conclusion.
Customer Reviews:
Very good legal mystery.......2006-04-04
Mr. Axelrood is yet another attorney who writes extremely well and in my opinion doesn't get the readership he deserves. All three of his Darcy Cole books are very good - arguably this may be his best. Cole runs his own private, (small but lucrative), criminal defense firm in downtown Chicago and finds himself defending two rapists/murderers - both facing the death penalty - and individually from decidedly different "sides of the tracks". The author presents all the legal (and moral) issues involved in these crimes,(the justice system, the individuals involved, the recent political circumstances of trying such cases in Illinois), in a coherent, objective and human way. Not easy to do with this issue. The author has also written a very engaging mystery to boot. If there is a fault in this book, it's the rushed courtroom/trial resolution in the last 25-30 pages of the book. That said, the plot, characters, dialog, setting, balancing and writing are all excellent. If you are a fan of Buffa, Rosenfelt, Lescroart or Tapply you will enjoy this author's books.
Axelrood Outdoes Himself!.......2004-05-21
This third installment in the Darcy Cole series is easily Axelrood's best yet. In a non-judgmental manner which lets the reader make up his or her own mind, the author lays out compelling circumstances in a compelling narrative that point up the weaknesses in a system that has capital punishment, and at the same time reveals in a realistic manner those special circumstances that cry out for the ultimate punishment.
Darcy Cole continues to be an intriguing literary character whose age and experience bespeak a persona too often lacking in cookie cutter characters going blithely through cookie cutter plots so common in today's legal fiction. Instead, Axelrood has given us a character (and similarly engaging supporting characters) in whose fate we genuinely care about, and at the same time has crafted a page-turning good yarn. It also has a distinct "Chicago" feel, without the obligatory cheap references to Michael Jordan or machine politics. Instead, that "feel" comes from one who has apparently lived what he is talking about.
Developing Chicago series and writer.......2004-05-05
All the moral and legal complexities pertinent to the death penalty are on display in this nicely crafted third novel in Mr. Axelrood's legal series featuring criminal defense attorney Darcy Cole. Axelrood has gotten stronger with each successive novel, and I look forward to future installments in the series. In my opinion, the criminal legal world is accurately represented as being largely disinterested in JUSTICE, the grand concept, and far more susceptible to political considerations than any of us would hope to be the case. Especially enjoyable to me are the prose snapshots of life in Chicago in the series, with many familiar locales popping up.
Customer Reviews:
Hell is real, universalism is not.......2006-08-09
This book is really a wonderful book; I realize how oxymoronic this sounds given that the subject in discussion is hell. Hell is never a fun topic to approach and it never should be- to think of people suffering should bring a heavy burden on any person and especially any self-professed Christian. Why not do away with the doctrine, as seems to be the current trend in "evangelicalism" to weed out any doctrines that impose ideas that seem stark contrast to the seeker-friendly approach (sin, et al). I believe this book is very necessary not to "scare people into following Christ" but as my pastor said one Sunday that "only with the depth of depravity can the fullness and freeness of grace be understood". So only with the gravity of hell can the goodness of Heaven be measured in its fullness.
As this book states in numerous times that it would be cruel god who would create a hell and offer either no remedy or way out, or if he created it in such a way as to not make the offer of heaven absolutely free. I believe the train of thought prior to this book would be something in the sense that Jesus is the way, truth and life and only through him can you come to a working (salvivic) knowledge of God. In other words the necessity of Christianity EXCLUDED Universalism (the believe that all will ultimately be saved), so Universalism and Christianity cannot be reconciled except in the sense that under Universalism everyone will be saved (even Christians who do not believe in it) so Christian and Universalist cannot be applied consistently to the same person either a person is one or the other. If there is no hell, then there is no need of a sacrifice- what is Christ saving us from? Ergo again Christianity and universalism are mutual exclusive. In that sense then, Christianity states that those who are NOT Christians will not attain salvation we must ask what happens next, which I believe is the purpose of this book to consistently state what Orthodoxy is. I realize the humor in the word orthodoxy which is very similar to the term fundamentalist (or orthodoxist) - both negative connotations for those who refuse to accept the current trend in political correctness, in other words ways in which those who disagree create more hate in attempt to dismantle the so called hate that hell seems to spurn (or the God is only love type of mentality- as if one attribute of God can remove his justice and wrath?).
This book tackles some of the heresy of universalism, annihilationist (which while heresy can still be believed by Christians), and finally eternal punishment (this is in essence a primer on the subject but nonetheless well done). It should be no shock that the authors interpretation is that their is an eternal punishment. He shows both consistently and exegetical while this view only out of the three is one that can hold water. Annihilationist run the risk of an inability to interrupt certain verses (c.f: Rev 14:11, 2 Thess 1:9, Matt 18:8, Dan 12:2, Jude 1:7 which all attest to either the eternality of hell or hell-fire) while universalism is contra-Christianity. Peterson also shows that consistent (historic, orthodox) Christianity has also held this view, which is no surprise since they intern follow the Bible.
The argument I would also levy is that we see God eternal (Duet 33:27), Heaven eternal (John 3:16, 36; 6:27; 17:3, Dan 12:2, Heb 9:12) and we have verses directly speaking towards the eternality of hell (see above), what other proof is necessary for a proper hermeneutical interpretation of scripture? This book deals well with other arguments necessary to defend this doctrine which again is at the core of Christianity - again not to scare people into it, but to make them realize that this is what the Bible speaks of, how could we as human beings not seek to warn people of this? Would we be the man in the burning building that quietly walks out leaving the rest to perish or as the Church has been seeking to warn those of life and death without our great God and savior Jesus Christ?
What this book leaves you with is a nice slice of Systematic Theology that is a great helps on a tough topic that should intern spur us as a Church towards missions and evangelism, to realize that Christianity is not politically correct- and it is not universalism and my own person growth has shown me that the "comfortable" doctrines are those most needed to change in my sinful nature. God is sovereign, God is just, and Christ will reign and judge all. But we have hope in Christ who is our perfect sacrifice.
I would heartily recommend this book even if you disagree because it is one in which those who honestly disagree with have to reconcile with the Biblical truth stated, and only through that can we have an honest and open dialog amongst Brothers and Sisters of Christ.
An important book to read concerning the truth of Hell.......2006-07-31
Hell is a subject that is hard to deal with. This is the kind of subject most people just don't want to read in the Bible. This is the kind of subject most people seem to run screaming from because they think it is "mean" and "hard" to speak about what is true, that Hell is true. Even churches have done their best to white out all messages of the Bible concerning Hell. On the one hand, you want to know that there is some sort of justice in the universe we live in. On the other hand, you fear the idea that there will be a place for those who go into eternity lacking something. Hell is the subject that many ministers, sadly, fear studying and exploring in case of "scaring off" members of the church or "being intolerant" by members of the church. But Hell is a very important subject because it is a very real place. To read the Bible and not realize that there is a place of sentencing and judgment for those who choose to turn their backs on the Truth, you are then failing in your readings. Hell on Trial by Robert A. Peterson is an important book that all church leaders, church members, and even seminary students need to read. The book explores the very real truth that the Bible shows that there are those who will go to Hell when they die...why? Because they fail to go into eternity without trust in Yahweh through Yeshua, I say this as we are living in the Church Age heading toward to the Last Days as found in both Testaments.
The point that so many people who do not believe in hell, much less not believe in the truth of Lucifer and demons and fallen angels, fail to truly comprehend what and who Yahweh is, especially what and who Yahweh is through the Son, Messiah Yeshua. On the one hand yes, GOD is love, on the other hand, GOD is also Holy. That means that GOD loves us so much that He has given us the Free Will to choose Him... remember we are a fallen race, fallen with our first father Adam and first mother Eve. He loves us so much that He makes us choose the choice: Are we going to follow the LORD? Or are we going to turn away from the LORD? If we turn toward the LORD, Yahweh, then we are accepting the Way, the Truth, and the Life. We are accepting life here and life eternal with the LORD. If we turn away from the LORD, Yahweh, then we are not accepting the Way, the Truth, and the Life. We are not accepting life here and life eternal with the LORD. On the one hand, we have Messiah Yeshua as our Savior, on the other hand, we fail what is true.
Remember Messiah Yeshua is the one who taught us most about Hell. Again and again He warns us that if we do not follow Him, if we do not take up our cross, if we do not place our trust in Him, then we face everlasting Hell...remember the story of Lazarus and the Rich Man...remember the story of the faithless servant...remember the story of the wise virgins and the foolish virgins. Again and again Messiah Yeshua, who is the very visible truth of Yahweh, for He is Yahweh, tells us that in our free will we either accept Heaven with the LORD or Hell without the LORD. Furthermore, remember what Messiah Yeshua shows to the Apostle John as we read the truth in the Book of Revelation. We see that there will be a judgment for those who come into eternity without the LORD, those who think they can go into eternity and be blessed based only on their good works and not the blood of Christ. The Great White Throne of Judgment shows that there will certainly be judgment for all those, great and small, rich and poor, "wise" and "foolish" will face the very judgment of Messiah Yeshua. And they will be condemned. Why? Because all religions do not lead to the same GOD. Because all the good works we do cannot save us. Because we are sinners, plain and simple, and GOD must judge those sins of ours (if we go into eternity without the blood of Christ) because if He doesn't, then He is not a GOD of good, then He is not a GOD of holiness.
Hell Yes!.......2006-01-21
This is as sober, balanced and SCRIPTURAL a discussion of this vital but hated (especially by arrogant pagans on their way there) truth, as you will find anywhere. Many (like the reviewer C Penn Reader) are so brainwashed by modern and post-modern mythologies that they dismiss such truths out of hand. But the teaching will always be true. Hell is and ever will be a reality. Those who think not will have "empirical" proof soon enough. But I'd much rather they be cured of their false epistemologies and rationally indefensible philosophies (about which they are equally "dogmatic") and enter into the joy of the Lord with His people. A good place to begin is the apologetic writings of Cornelius Van Til and/or Gordon H. Clark. While I can't recommend hell itself, I do recommend Peterson's fine study. People need to be warned. The Triune God would have it so.
Give 'Em Hell..........2004-12-13
It's bad enough that young children who don't know any better are subjected to teachings of a literal hell in Sunday School. But to continue such a bombastic, silly, holy rant clear into adulthood thanks to ignorant points of view like Petersen's just turns my stomach.
The trouble with the Christian Fundamentalists is they truly believe that the entire world is entitled to their opinion.
The Fundamentalists operate under the assumption that everyone needs to be scared into following Christ when this is simply not the case. There are a hundred ways to read the Bible and a hundred ways to interpret it.
If this were the only book every written about Christianity and the Heaven and Hell issue, I would walk away disappointed, realizing that this is not a God I would care to serve or love.
If there is a literal hell, it's flames are reserved for the likes of Petersen and his Flock of Self-Righteous Idiots.
Read Randy Klassen's "What Does the Bible Really Say About Hell?" instead. That is, if you want an educated and intelligent treatment of the subject.
Read Petersen's Tome of Hogwash if you want something that holds its own against the likes of Grimm's Fairy Tales.
Hell of a book.......2002-02-28
I found this book to be very useful and informative, well written and insightful. Strongly answers challenges to current debate in Christian circles to traditional view of Hell, showing why both Universalism and Conditionalism are not biblically compatible
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