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Podcast: New Books in American Politics
Episode: Secrets of the Killing State
Description: In the popular imagination, lethal injection is a slight pinch and a swift nodding off to forever-sleep. It is performed by well-qualified medical professionals. It is regulated and carefully conducted. And it provides a âhumaneâ death. In reality, however, not one of those things is true. Secrets of the Killing State: The Untold Story of Lethal Injection (NYU Press, 2025) presents the view of lethal injection that states have worked hard to hide. The story told here is bigger than the executions themselves. Fake science, torturous drugs, inept executioners, prison problems, and decades of state secrecy have created an execution method h...