David R. Dow is professor of law at the University of Houston Law Center and an internationally recognized figure in the fight against the death penalty. Nominated for a National Book Critics Circle Award for The Autobiography of an Execution, he is also the founder and director of the Texas Innocence Network and has represented more than one hundred death row inmates in their state and federal appeals. He lives in Houston, Texas.
PRAISE FOR THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF AN EXECUTION
"David Dow's extraordinary memoir lifts the veil on the real world
of representing defendants on death row. It will stay with me a
long time."
--Jeffrey Toobin, author of The Nin
"A riveting and compelling account of a Texas execution written and
narrated by a lawyer in the thick of the last minute chaos. It
should be read by all those who support state sponsored
killing."--John Grisham, author of The Innocent Man
"Chilling . . . authentic and heartfelt . . . He will transfix
you."--Los Angeles Times
"David Dow is a lawyer who writes like an angel."--Steve Weinberg,
Dallas Morning News
"David R. Dow has delivered a profound and penetrating meditation
on the end of life-through the deaths of his father-in-law to
cancer, a death row inmate he was representing to lethal injection,
and his family's beloved dog to liver failure. The writing is
clear-eyed and intimate, as he exquisitely weaves the stories of
these staggering losses together. Better still, along the way he
reveals the lessons for living that come from them."--Dick Lehr,
author of Whitey, the Boston Globe bestseller The Fence, and the
New York Times bestseller and Edgar Award-winning Black Mass
"David R. Dow's stories are always compelling. His observations are
unflinching and true. Death is a part of daily routine, and in this
remarkable book he takes us to the grave and back."--John
Grisham
"Dow's lyrically written prose shimmers as he traces life's final
moments for his death-row client, father-in-law, and dog Winona.
Its exploration of the elusive line between life and death will
leave readers speechless."--Library Journal
"Gracefully told.... Dow weaves elegantly each person's story into
a colorful and emotionally wrenching narrative that covers his
fiercely honest struggle to make sense of life and
death."--Publishers Weekly, starred review
"He is a gifted storyteller. And regardless of your opinion on the
death penalty, he sounds like good company."--St. Louis
Post-Dispatch
"His prose is captivating."--Christian Science Monitor
"In clear, powerful prose, David R. Dow reminds us of an essential
truth: that human life remains cheap to the state, and for the rest
of us, it is precious, momentary, and wholly fulfilling when
embraced."--Bryan Mealer, author of Muck City, All Things Must
Fight to Live, and the New York Times bestseller The Boy Who
Harnessed the Wind
"In terse, spare prose, David Dow mines the shadows between dying
and death, work and family, law and justice, love and pain. A
stunning meditation on all the ways in which irreversible endings
can make us whole."--Dahlia Lithwick, Supreme Court correspondent,
Slate.com
"Powerful . . . a brilliant, heartrending book."--New York Times
Book Review
"Sooner or later, death touches every life. Sometimes, though, it
comes in legions. This is the story of a death penalty lawyer from
Texas who simultaneously watched his father-in-law die of cancer
and defended a convicted murderer who didn't deserve to be
executed. Few of us can begin to imagine such a shattering
coincidence, and fewer still could ever hope to come to terms with
it. But David R. Dow did, and has now written a profoundly
poignant, singularly wise memoir of his experience. In the midst of
death he was-and is-in life."--Terry Teachout, drama critic, Wall
Street Journal
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