"For nearly a quarter of a century Albert Pierrepoint was called upon by the state to hang people. After the Second World War he was the public face of British justice, paid to hang Nazi war criminals quickly and efficiently. In the 1950s he executed Timothy Evans, Derek Bently and Ruth Ellis. The job was always the same, but England was changing. His career as an executioner ended at the moment when the abolition of capital punishment was becoming a political reality and the chief executioner was becoming a political liability." "Leonora Klein enters the murky world of execution memorabilia to explore the contradictions of a man who believed that to execute was his 'sacred' duty, but later in life declared himself an abolitionist; who valued discretion, but sold his story to the highest bidder; and who was proud to be an Englishman, but outlived the England that he knew and understood."--Jacket.