The Faithful Executioner

A surprisingly moving story of brutality and redemption – Dan Jones * Telegraph *
Opens a window on a gruesome world * Daily Express *
This is a marvelous book about a fascinating subject… It is a virtuoso performance… A brilliant microhistory, a triumph of technique and a wonderful read – Peter Marshall * Literary Review *
Who can imagine how an executioner feels about his trade? Joel F. Harrington has written a considered and fascinating book which helps us hear the voice of one such man, a professional torturer (and healer) who, astonishingly, kept a diary – Hilary Mantel
This is a sympathetic, intelligent and surprisingly tender book * The Times *
Harrington does an excellent job at recreating the thoughts and fears of a man whose job is one of the most loathed and caricatured – Ben Wilson * Daily Telegraph *
A vivid window on a fascinating age – Michael Kerrigan * Scotsman *
Fascinating… This is a surprisingly modern, even topical story that poses difficult questions about capital punishment and what Harrington calls ‘the human drive toward retribution’ – Daniel Stashower * Washington Post *
Vividly drawn… Finely researched and crafted – Kat Hill * History Today *
Macabre but fascinating – Simon Griffith * Mail on Sunday Event *

Joel Harrington is Professor of History at Vanderbilt University, specializing in the Reformation and early modern Germany, with a particular interest in social history. His previous publications include A Cloud of Witnesses, Reordering Marriage and Society in Reformation Germany, and The Unwanted Child, which won the 2010 Roland Bainton Prize for History.

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