The 34 book chapters primarily contain interviews, although several chapters also cover such topics as the execution of juveniles, retarded individuals and Vietnam veterans, ineffective legal counsel and racist criminal justice systems, botched executions, and executions carried out despite the contrary wishes of prosecutors and victims' families. In the first part of the book, an individual considered for the Nobel peace prize for his fight against capital punishment tells how he became involved in trying to stop the death sentence. He has visited most death rows across the United States and has met hundreds of inmates. Another individual recounts his findings on more than 15,000 executions he has documented over the past 17 years. Other presentations discuss the financial cost of capital punishment and the experience of an attorney for a retarded black man executed in Georgia. The second part of the book deals with the inmates themselves. They tell their stories truthfully and with remorse. Some are probably innocent of the crime for which they were convicted and hope for relief in the appeals process. All are poor, some come from broken homes, and some were abused as children. Nearly all had court-appointed attorneys who were overworked and underpaid. The third part of the book examines families of condemned inmates who talk about the pain and heartbreak they have gone through since their loved one was sentenced to die.