Book Reviews
”Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed.” Francis Bacon (d. 1626)
Book Reviewed
by Gregory S. Butler, New Mexico State Univ.
Abortion, Execution, and the Consequences of Taking Life
James D. Slack
Transaction Publications, 2009
An extraordinary book of profound relevance for our time. The work will be of interest to scholars and students alike seeking an understanding of the manner in which the core values of Western civilization intersect with the most compelling public policy issues in American politics today. Slack has managed to produce a concise, well-researched volume that is at once scholarly and highly readable. His analysis of the central theoretical and practical issues at stake in contemporary debates over abortion and capital punishment is particularly impressive. The sensitivity and humaneness that is a welcome departure from the cold utilitarianism that marks to many treatments of the subject.
