The principle revealed in "Death by Installments" is that the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment does not guarantee protection to black men who kill whites. Reading the carefully researched and well-told story of Willie Francis offers a four-decade-old view of both the society's commitment to this principle, and the Supreme Court's unwillingness then and now to challenge it.

"Derrick Bell, Harvard Law School"

...not just a good' but a splendidly written, expertly researched, grippingly told, and passionately presented tome that can proudly take its...