Killing McVeigh : : The Death Penalty and the Myth of Closure / / Jody Lyneé Madeira.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter New York University Press Backlist eBook-Package 2000-2013
• VerfasserIn: Madeira, Jody Lyneé,
• Place / Publishing House: New York, NY : : New York University Press, , [2012]; ©2012
• Year of Publication: 2012
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource

On April 19, 1995, Timothy McVeigh detonated a two-ton truck bomb that felled the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people. On June 11, 2001, an unprecedented 242 witnesses watched him die by lethal injection.In the aftermath of the bombings, American public commentary almost immediately turned to “closure” rhetoric. Reporters and audiences alike speculated about whether victim’s family members and survivors could get closure from memorial services, funerals, legislation, monuments, trials, and executions. But what does “closure” really mean for those who survive-or lose loved ones in-traumatic acts? In the wake of such terrifying events, is closure a realistic or appropriate expectation? In Killing McVeigh, Jody Lyneé Madeira uses the Oklahoma City bombing as a case study to explore how family members and other survivors come to terms with mass murder. As the fullest case study to date of the Oklahoma City Bombing survivors’ struggle for justice and the first-ever case study of closure, this book describes the profound human and institutional impacts of these labors to demonstrate the importance of understanding what closure really is before naively asserting it can or has been reached.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- The Oklahoma City Bombing -- Preface -- PART I: BLOOD RELATIONS -- 1 “A Rude Awakening” -- 2 “He Broke into My Life” -- 3 Opening Up “Closure” -- PART II: TRAUMAS AND TRIALS -- 4 “We Come Here to Remember” -- 5 “God Bless the Media” -- 6 “Making Sure Justice Was Served” -- PART III: THE ROAD TO EXECUTION -- 7 Emotion on Trial -- 8 Reaching Law’s Limits -- 9 The Storm before the Calm -- 10 The Weight of an Impossible World -- 11 Done to Death -- Conclusion -- Appendix: Methodology -- Notes -- Index -- About the Author