Arguably the greatest book from America's most heroically ambitious writer, THE
EXECUTIONER'S SONG follows the short, blighted life of Gary Gilmore who became f
amous after he robbed two men in 1976 and killed them in cold blood. After being
tried and convicted, he immediately insisted on being executed for his crime. T
o do so, he fought a system that seemed intent on keeping him alive long after i
t had sentenced him to death. And that fight for the right to die is what made h
im famous.
Mailer tells not only Gilmore's story, but those of the men and wo
men caught in the web of his life and drawn into his procession toward the firin
g squad. All with implacable authority, steely compassion, and a restraint that
evokes the parched landscape and stern theology of Gilmore's Utah. THE EXECUTION
ER'S SONG is a trip down the wrong side of the tracks to the deepest source of A
merican loneliness and violence. It is a towering achievement-impossible to put
down, impossible to forget.
