Summary
Ivan Janković: On White Bread: The Death Penalty in Serbia and Yugoslavia 1804–2002
Following the history of the death penalty in Serbia and Yugoslavia, Ivan Janković in the new, updated edition of the book On White Bread creates not only the most comprehensive overview of its execution, but also gives an extremely specific account of the social life of those areas.
The book reveals how the methods of execution changed, for which crimes the death penalty was prescribed. and what role it played in different eras - from the Principality and the Kingdom of Serbia, through the Yugoslav states, all the way to the modern period.
An exhaustive analysis of the death penalty as a legal institution over two centuries is combined with an abundance of data on what it actually looked like, who the convicts were, and the executioners. Thus, an interesting gallery of characters is revealed before us, from political convicts, through hanged rulers, cruel bandits and brutal serial killers, executioners with gloves and top hats, all the way to tragically condemned innocent people.
Comprehensive and thorough, at the same time clearly and drinkably written, Ivan Janković's book Na bijelom hlebu reveals an unexplored part of our past, but also raises major topics about the boundaries of the relationship between the state and the citizen, as well as the right to life, which have been updated again today by returning the idea of the death penalty.
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