---
title: 'BOOKS: David Dow''s "The Autobiography of an Execution"'
description: 'A new book by David Dow, The Autobiography of an Execution, captures the author’s personal and legal experiences in representing over 100 inmates on death…'
canonical: 'https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/books-david-dows-the-autobiography-of-an-execution'
section: news
date: '2010-02-12T17:18:17-05:00'
updated: '2025-03-14T14:27:40-04:00'
source: 'Death Penalty Information Center'
---

! A new book by **David Dow**, ***The Autobiography of an Execution***, captures the author's personal and legal experiences in representing over 100 inmates on death row. The book is a personal memoir of Dow’s encounter with the death penalty system, as he represents defendants and witnesses their executions. **Publisher’s Weekly** called the book “sobering, gripping and candid." Dahlia Lithwick of *Slate* said it is "a powerful collage of the life of a death penalty lawyer," in a *NY Times* book review (Feb. 14, 2010).

Dow, a former death penalty supporter, is a professor of law at the University of Houston Law Center and an internationally recognized defense attorney. He is the founder and director of the Texas Innocence Network.

(D. Dow, "The Autobiography of an Execution," Twelve Publishers 2010). Click [here](https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/imprint/grand-central-publishing/twelve/) for a list of author's appearances, including Politics & Prose in Washington, DC, on Feb. 27. See also [**Books**](/books-death-penalty?did=130&scid=20).