This book is the first full account of anti-death penalty activism in America during the years since the ten-year moratorium on executions ended in 1976. It traces the successful assault on capital punishment during the 1960s and the struggle of abolitionists against the backlash that has steadily gained momentum since the mid-1970s, and diagnoses the reasons for their inability to mobilize widespread opposition to executions. Finally, it assesses the prospects for the future of the death penalty in the United States.