Proximity to Death

"A remarkable book—part historical tract, part political manifesto—that examines one of the most bitter issues of contemporary life."—Boston Globe On a misty September morning in rural Georgia, a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian found himself cast in a role that he had never imagined for himself: an expert witness in the sentencing trial of a convicted kidnapper, rapist, and murderer. His brief testimony that day would ultimately lead him on a personal journey into the criminal justice syst...