In July 1976, 35-year-old Gary Gilmore was found guilty of the crime of two cold-blooded murders. However, it was not the crime itself, but rather Gilmore’s reaction, that transformed him into a media sensation. Refusing to appeal his death sentence, Gilmore instead demanded that the justice system carry out his sentence immediately. In January of 1977, he was shot by a firing squad.

Fascinated by this anti-hero, Norman Mailer spent two years investigating Gilmore’s life, meeting those who knew him and immersing himself in the places he had frequented. The result was The Executioner’s Song, a monumental work of true crime and social portraiture, revealing an America marked by violence, sex, rage, and disillusionment.