A review by casieb
The Faithful Executioner: Life and Death, Honor and Shame in the Turbulent Sixteenth Century by Joel F. Harrington

adventurous challenging dark informative reflective fast-paced

5.0

This book was so incredibly fascinating!! It was such a surprise. I really enjoy books in the morbid non-fiction genre but wasn't sure about this one. It wnded up being so good! The author pulls from personal journals of father and son executioners in 15th and 16th century Nuremberg. It tells the life story of the son. He fills in holes from local court documents, newspapers and then offers speculation based on the culture and how people lived in this time frame. He indicates when he is speculating and the why behind it. You become completely immersed in what it would be like to live in Nuremberg during this time and it is so fascinating and truly wild to imagine. To me this reads like fiction. It reminded me of the book The Indifferent Stars Above by Daniel James Brown about the Donner Party. Brown also used speculation based on research about what it was like to live at that time. As you read it takes you back in time as part of a story rather than a purely academic study. But then he writes about the executions and interrogations in an academic way(I promise although I say academic I dont mean boring). The result being that this isn't an emotionally hard or grotesque read even though with the subject matter you would think it would be. It is so interesting! Highly, highly recommend to anyone! Give it a try even if isn't something you would normally go for. I think you will be surprised. I read this through double immersion (I read the  physical book as I listened to the audio). If you can I also highly recommend this. The book has illustrations pulled from court documents and local newspapers that add so much to the story and the narrator does a wonderful job telling the story.