Last Words of the Executed

Robert K. Elder has written for the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Salon, and many other publications. He teaches journalism at Northwestern University and is the author or editor of several books.

“This is a dangerous book. Who knows how we will emerge from the encounter? It makes me want to live, use my energies in soul-sized pursuits like justice, like love. One of the psalms says that God collects our tears in a flask—so too does this collection of last words from human beings before they were killed.”

“This is a powerful, haunting book. Whether you favor or oppose the death penalty, you won’t think about it the same way after reading the last words of the condemned—some remorseful, some spiteful, some humorous, all tragic. Most horrifying is the realization that some of those who claimed innocence until the end probably were telling the truth.”

"Knowing something of the deficiencies of the American justice system is useful for leafing through Last Words of the Executed, the final statements of hundreds of Americans who have been condemned through the centuries. . . . The last words are remarkable for their remorse, humour, hatred, resignation, fear and bravado. 'I wish you’d hurry up. I want to get to hell in time for dinner,' a 19th-century Wyoming murderer told his hangman. Some rambled; others were concise. Several blamed the drink; others reasserted innocence, or (especially in recent years) railed against the death penalty. Some accepted their fate. 'If I was y'all, I would have killed me. You know?' said a Texan, who had murdered his son’s former girlfriend and her sister, as he readied himself for lethal injection. America’s diverse heritage is stamped even onto its killers’ final moments."

"The quotes are often poignant or funny (one man before the firing squad requests a bulletproof vest) and often don't register as much more than interesting historical documents from centuries past. But read in aggregate, all that pain piles up. Essentially, Elder has amassed a collection of what people say when they know they are going to die, the final product of what could be seen as psychological torture."

“If the book is intellectually engaging as a historical document, then it is emotionally immersive as a series of psychological snapshots.”