SKU: 39246003386

Proof of Guilt: Barbara Graham and the Politics of Executing Women in America

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Proof of Guilt: Barbara Graham and the Politics of Executing Women in AmericaBarbara Graham might have been a diabolical dame in a hard boiled detective story beautiful, sexy, and deadly. Charged alongside two male friends in the murder of an elderly widow during a botched robbery attempt, "Bloody Babs" became the third woman executed in California after a 1953 trial that played out before standing room only crowds captured the imaginations of journalists, filmmakers, and death penalty opponents. Why, Kathleen A. Cairns asks,

Barbara Graham might have been a diabolical dame in a hard-boiled detective story--beautiful, sexy, and deadly. Charged alongside two male friends in the murder of an elderly widow during a botched robbery attempt, "Bloody Babs" became the third woman executed in California--after a 1953 trial that played out before standing-room-only crowds captured the imaginations of journalists, filmmakers, and death penalty opponents. Why, Kathleen A. Cairns asks, of all the capital cases in the twentieth century, did Graham's have such political resonance and staying power?

Leaving aside the question of guilt or innocence--debated to this day--Cairns examines how Graham's case became a touchstone in the ongoing debate over capital punishment. While prosecutors positioned the accused woman as a femme fatale, the media came to offer a counternarrative for Graham's life highlighting her abusive and lonely beginnings. Cairns shows how Graham's case became crucial to the abolitionists of the time, who used instances of questionable guilt to raise awareness of the arbitrary and capricious nature of death penalty prosecutions. Critical in keeping capital punishment in the forefront of public consciousness until abolitionists homed in on a winning strategy, Graham's case illustrates the power of individual stories to shape wider perceptions and ultimately public policies.

Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
Published: 05/01/2013
ISBN: 9780803230095
Pages: 204
Weight: 0.95lbs
Size: 8.76h x 5.93w x 0.91d

Review Citations: Shelf Awareness 05/14/2013

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SKU: 39246003386

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Big Jim
San Leandro, US
★★★★★ 5
good deal
Format: Paperback
It was the book my Daughter needed for a course...saved money
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Reviewed in the United States on October 8, 2015
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Laura Kerber
Chelsea, US
★★★★★ 5
Wow, this book was so useful
Format: Paperback
This book is so practical, so clearly laid out, so full of useful things. I am honestly in awe that someone took the time to make a book that is this helpful-- I can't imagine how many hours it must have taken to distill all of this knowledge and then present it in a readable way. I am a geologist but not a petrologist, and I had to become a petrologist in a real hurry for a project that I was doing. I was really stumbling through the dark there until this book turned on the light. Never knew I could feel so grateful and indebted to a book about geochemistry.
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Reviewed in the United States on September 2, 2021
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VIcaballero
Birmingham, US
★★★★★ 5
Excelente guía
Format: Paperback
El contenido y la presentación es excelente para mi trabajo, cubre tanto geoquímica de rocas duras como geoquímica sedimentaria, para mi es muy util este último tema y como utilizar la data para interpretar cambios y correlacionar
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Reviewed in the United States on March 1, 2022
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Luis Soto
Lexington, US
★★★★★ 5
Good price on a textbook
Format: Hardcover
New and in good condition
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Reviewed in the United States on September 16, 2025
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Yesenia Gamboa
Houston, US
★★★★★ 5
Good Rental
Format: Hardcover
Quick delivery and they let me highlight so long as it was a reasonable amount and not excessive. And highlighting was a necessity for me.
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Reviewed in the United States on December 14, 2022

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