| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 89.4

You have not been recognized as a subscriber to JAH online. About 233 words from this article are provided below; about 372 words remain.

If you are a individual member of the Organization of American Historians, you may:: • login here if you have already registered for online access.; • Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.
• Set up your online account for the first time.
If you are not a member of the Organization of American Historians, you can:: • Join the OAH and receive many member benefits including print and electronic issues of the Journal of American History.
• Purchase a research pass to gain two-hour access to the entire History Cooperative web site. You will have full access to current issues of the Journal of American History (86.1-present). Note: the Research Pass does not provide access to JSTOR's holdings of the Journal of American History.
Instititutions can:: • Subscribe to this journal and receive print and electronic issues.
• Activate your existing subscription so that we recognize your IP number ranges.

| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 89.4 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Rebel and a Cause: Caryl Chessman and the Politics of the Death Penalty in Postwar California, 1948-1974. By Theodore Hamm. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001. xii, 209 pp. Cloth, $45.00, ISBN 0-520-22427-2. Paper, $16.95, ISBN 0-520-22428-0.)

More than any other single case, California's gas chamber execution of Caryl Chessman in 1960 undermined public support for capital punishment in the United States and eventually contributed to a political and legal moratorium on capital punishment that lasted for more than a decade. 1

Chessman's plight registered with many Americans and others throughout the world because during his nearly twelve-year incarceration on death row he somehow managed to publish four books--even though he and other convicts were forbidden to write for publication and all of his manuscripts had to be smuggled out like the works of some dissident author from the Soviet gulag. 2

Through his prison writings, Chessman established himself as a human being; he also articulated the case against capital punishment better than any religious leader, scholar, lawyer, or journalist of his day. Many people did not like him or completely trust that he was innocent, yet they still did not support his being put to death. Thus the deliberate, protracted, and brutal taking of his life by the state fueled the rising movements of nonviolence and civil rights more than it validated the continued use of the death penalty. . . .

There are about 372 more words in this article. Please log in (or, if you are not yet an authorized user, please go to the User Setup page) to gain full access rights. Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.