Helen Prejean Knihy

"Sister Helen Prejean's stirring spiritual journey is less widely known than her work as the nation's foremost leader in efforts to abolish the death penalty and as an activist nun. In her fiercely honest and moving account of her formative years, Sister Helen tells of an awakening that shattered her insulated life as a nun. In inner-city New Orleans of the 1980s, she learned about her neighbors' daily struggle against racism and recognized her own white privilege. This awakening catapulted her into abolitionist mission and toward a faith that fuels and sustains her work for human rights to this day. Along the way, she navigated close friendships, including one with a priest intent on marrying her, who challenged her vocation in 'the new territory of the heart.' Written in lighthearted, luminous prose, River of Fire captures how one woman, set on a life of prayer and teaching, was summoned from passive obedience and dreamy ideas of a better world to fierce intellectual critique of society. Sister Helen's story will galvanize those who are likewise seeking to lead a passionate and spiritual life that is wide awake to the struggles and creative opportunities of our world." -- From back cover

The book explores the harrowing reality of capital punishment through the cases of Dobie Gillis Williams and Joseph Roger O'Dell, both executed despite questionable evidence and appeals. Sister Helen Prejean, who witnessed their final moments, presents a compelling critique of the moral and legal justifications for the death penalty. By highlighting the possibility of executing innocent individuals, she challenges readers to confront the implications of such irreversible actions, making a powerful case against the practice.

When Helen Prejean is invited to write to a prisoner on Death Row who brutally killed two teenagers, she has little idea how much it will change her life. Although she abhors his crime, she befriends one man as he faces the electric chair. Dead Man Walking is Helen Prejean's gripping true story, which formed the basis for a major motion picture event. As powerful an indictment of the death penalty as has ever been written, her book was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.