Episode · Behind the Bastards · 2025-11-08
Books mentioned on It Could Happen Here Weekly 207
All of this week's episodes of It Could Happen Here put together in one large file.
Michael Phillips discussed Secrets of the Killing State by Corinna Barrett Lain, Gruesome Spectacles by Austin Sarat, The Death Penalty on the Ballot by Austin Sarat and others, and The executioner's song by Norman Mailer.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
-
Secrets of the Killing State
Discussed“As University of Richmond law professor Brena Lane, the author of recently published book Secrets of the Killing State: The Untold Story of Lethal Injection told us, What I've come to conclude is that lethal injection only does one thing well, only one, and that is it hides what the death penalty is.”
Where to get it
-
Gruesome Spectacles
Discussed“As the political scientist Austin Serat noted in his book, Gruesome Spectacles, botched executions, and America’s death penalty. Quote, capital punishment was precisely about the right of the state to kill as it pleased.”
Where to get it
-
The Death Penalty on the Ballot
Discussed“As the political scientist Austin Serat noted in his book, Gruesome Spectacles, botched executions, and America’s death penalty. Quote, capital punishment was precisely about the right of the state to kill as it pleased.”
Where to get it
-
The executioner's song
The Executioner's Song by Norman Mailer is a sweeping, Pulitzer Prize-winning true crime masterpiece that details the final months and execution of convicted murderer Gary Gilmore in Utah, alongside the profound fallout felt by those around him.
Discussed“The extreme violence of Gilmore's execution, which inspired a 1979 Pulitzer Prizewinning journalism based novel called The Executioner Song, sparked a renewed debate over the brutality of capital punishment and whether it's compatible with modern society.”
Where to get it
