Charles Duff

A Handbook on Hanging is a satiric tribute to that unappreciated mainstay of civilisation: the hangman. With barbed wit, Charles Duff not only writes of hanging, but also of electrocution, decapitation and gassing; of innocent men executed and of executions botched; of bloodlust mobs and the political expedients of the great. A classic satire, admired by Bertholt Brecht and Dylan Thomas, Duff’s polemic makes it clear that whatever else capital punishment may be said to be – justice, vengeance, a deterrent – it is certainly killing.

A Handbook on Hanging is a Swiftian tribute to that unappreciated mainstay of civilization: the hangman. With barbed insouciance, Charles Duff writes not only of hanging but of electrocution, decapitations, and gassings; of innocent men executed and of executions botched; of the bloodlust of mobs and the shabby excuses of the great. This coruscating and, in contemporary America, very relevant polemic makes clear that whatever else capital punishment may be said to be-justice, vengeance, a deterrent-it is certainly killing.

Russian For Beginners by Charles Duff and Dmitri Makaroff is a useful and simplified introduction to grammar, with a 4,000-word vocabulary and 42 lessons in the basic principles of the language. It is the ideal guidebook for anyone who wants to learn Russian--especially the serious student--as well as those interested in classical and contemporary Soviet literature.

This complete, step-by-step introduction to the language enables students to speak, read, and write Spanish with ease. Includes a basic vocabulary of nearly three thousand words, and outlines the essentials of Spanish grammar.