"A deeply reported, searingly honest portrait of the death penalty in Texas--and what it tells us about crime and punishment in America. In 1972, the United States Supreme Court made a surprising ruling: the country's death penalty system violated the Constitution. The backlash was swift, especially in Texas, where executions were considered part of the cultural fabric, and a dark history of lynching was masked by gauzy visions of a tough-on-crime...

"Combining topics such as crime, death, and life inside prison, an award-winning journalist, writing with humanity, empathy and insight, and gaining unprecedented access, traces the interwoven lives of condemned prisoners and the men and women who come to Riverbend Maximum Security Institution to visit them"--