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The story of a rope a symbol and rough justice in AmericaThe hangmans knot is a simple thing to tie just a rope carefully coiled around itself up to thirteen times But in those thirteen turns lie a powerful symbol one that is all too deeply connected to Americas pastand presentThe last man to be hanged in the United States was Billy Bailey who was executed in Delaware in for committing a double murder Even today hanging is still legal in certain situations in New Hampshire and Washington And the noose remains a potent cultural symbol An incident in Jena Louisiana in in which nooses were used to menace black students made national news Yet little has changed according to author Jack Shuler there have been nearly noose incidents just in the last two yearsThe Thirteenth Turn unravels these stories from Judas Iscariot perhaps the most infamous hanged man to the killing of Perry Smith and Richard Hickock the murderers at the heart of Truman Capotes In Cold Blood and beyond In his travels across America Shuler traces the evolution of this dark practice As he investigates the death of John Brown or the lynching that inspired the song Strange Fruit he finds that the very places that perpetrated these acts now seek to forget themShulers account is a kind of shadow history of America a reminder that vigilantes and hangmen play a crucial role in our national story The Thirteenth Turn is a courageous and searching book that reminds us where we come from and what is lost if we forget.