BOOKS: Stories about Executions

“A Meal to Die For” is a short sto­ry by Professor Robert Johnson exam­in­ing cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment through the eyes of a man approach­ing his exe­cu­tion. The sto­ry is part of The Crying Wall and Other Prison Stories, a larg­er col­lec­tion of short sto­ries by a vari­ety of authors. In ​“A Meal to Die For,” Johnson weaves the death row pris­on­er’s last meal with the grad­ual process of lethal injec­tion, result­ing in a painful death.

Robert Johnson is a Professor of Justice, Law and Society at American University in Washington, D.C. He has pub­lished sev­er­al social sci­ence books, includ­ing Death Work: A Study of the Modern Execution Process, which received the Outstanding Book Award of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences. He has also pro­duced a grow­ing body of cre­ative writ­ing. (The Crying Wall and Other Prison Stories, Infinity Publishing Company in asso­ci­a­tion with WilloTrees Press, 2005). See Books and Executions.