Réflexions sur la peine capitale

This volume brings together two arguments against the death penalty: Réflexions sur la potence (Reflections on the Gallows) by Arthur Koestler and Réflexions sur la guillotine (Reflections on the Guillotine) by Albert Camus. Koestler’s text is also fascinating from a historical standpoint: it offers a well-documented account of the use of the gallows in Britain over the centuries, describing it as “the most obscene symbol of that tendency peculiar to the human species which drives it toward its own moral destruction.” Camus’s text extends a struggle he had pursued throughout his career, echoes of which appear in all his writings, whether essays or fiction.

Spine faded.