Life for Death

by Michael Mewshaw

Book Overview

Spine has a piece out of the top side edge and cover has a tear in same area. Cover has slight soiling and a few tear. Price on inside front page and page "215" has a dog-ear. Intact and good copy for... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385145055
• ISBN13: 9780385145053
• Release Date: January 1980
• Publisher: Doubleday Books
• Length: 281 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Primitive Justice

On January 7, 1961, Michael Mewshaw, author of LIFE FOR DEATH, who was 17 at the time, received a call from 14 year old Lee Dresbach telling him that Lee's 15 year old brother, Wayne, had shot and killed Lee's and Wayne's parents, Harold and Shirley Dresbach. LIFE FOR DEATH is the story of the events of Wayne's life which led up to the killings and of his subsequent treatment at the hands of what can only be described as a feudal system of justice in early 1960s Maryland. Wayne's parents were verbally, emotionally and physically abusive to each other and to their sons, but particularly to Wayne. He was constantly belittled in front of others - in fact often required to stand in front of company specifically so Harold could humiliate him - compared negatively to Lee, and beaten. His father was a well known, well off, and politically connected attorney. He was also a cruelly sadistic drunk. And both parents were into group sex, which they practiced regularly in their home, and if not in front of the boys, without regard to their presence in the home. As a result, both boys were well aware of the activities. Wayne's role in the family was basically to provide a victim for his father's off the charts cruelty. And one day he finally snapped. The remainder of the book deals mainly with Wayne's unbelievable treatment after his arrest, trial, and incarceration. Today, given the total dysfunction in which he lived, Wayne would be remanded to the juvenile justice system, but he was tried as an adult and his attorneys were not permitted to present what would now be basic informtion in his defense. For example, Wayne, who had attempted to run away from home five times, was known to the system and had undergone psychiatric evaluations. In a cruel irony, his lawyers were not allowed to present any of the results as it was privileged due to its having been obtained when he was a juvenile and therefore considered private, even though he was now being tried as an adult and needed his own information for his own defense. Wayne's learning to cope with life in prison - where at first virtually every inmate was older, tougher, and meaner than he was - is presented in considerable detail. Mewshaw intersperses in the narrative segments dealing with his feelings as relates to the Dresbach boys, both of whom had been his friends, and how the murders impacted the lives of his entire family who supported Wayne over the years he was in prison. These interludes are honest and moving, but are infrequent enough that they never become the main focus of the story. And as a conclusion Mewshaw provides updates on Wayne's life after his eventual release from prison. Mewshaw writes beautifully. There is no repetition, no filler, and no melodrama. The result is a book which combines true crime, a scathing indictment of a justice system with little concern for justice, and a personal memoir. I highly recommend LIFE FOR DEATH.

Life for Death

This is a horrifingly wonderful book showing the life of Wayne Dresbach. It is well written, portraying the feelings Wayne felt as his horrible childhood turns into a tragic adulthood. I believe this book shows just how life can be unfair and how you always have to take care of yourself. That means doing whatevers necessary. I couldn't put the book down, the way it was written makes you fell as if he were talking to YOU. My advice, read it, love it, remember it.