Books by "J. Alexander PATTEN (of New York.)"
2 books found
This eye-opening and well-researched companion to the first volume of Executing Democracy enters the death-penalty discussion during the debates of 1835 and 1843, when pro-death penalty Calvinist minister George Barrell Cheever faced off against abolitionist magazine editor John O’Sullivan. In contrast to the macro-historical overview presented in volume 1, volume 2 provides micro-historical case studies, using these debates as springboards into the discussion of the death penalty in America at large. Incorporating a wide range of sources, including political poems, newspaper editorials, and warring manifestos, this second volume highlights a variety of perspectives, thus demonstrating the centrality of public debates about crime, violence, and punishment to the history of American democracy. Hartnett’s insightful assessment bears witness to a complex national discussion about the political, metaphysical, and cultural significance of the death penalty.
Allowing us to eavesdrop on the past, The Sounds of Slavery is a fascinating, innovative, and accessible account of the aural dimension of slavery. Through vivid anecdotes and firsthand accounts, White and White expand our historical ear from the 1700s through the 1850s, showing how profoundly slaves shaped the American soundscape. From the quotidian sounds of a plantation at dawn to the baying of hounds on the trail of runaways to whistling in Richmond, Virginia, in the 1850s, this book is the closest we' ll ever get to imagining and re-creating the diverse sounds of slavery. Enhancing the experience with an 18-track CD compilation-- with most of the tracks recorded in the 1930s-- White and White enable us to hear a complex history that for too long has been silent.