Ronald Ryan was hanged in Melbourne on February 3, 1967, following his conviction for the shooting murder of a prison warder during his daring escape from the maximum-security Pentridge prison. Following Ryan's death, date governments moved to abolish the death penalty, and he became the last man to be hanged in Australia. Today, more than 30 years later, the Ryan case still prompts spirited debate about the guilty finding against the condemned man, the merits of capital punishment in general, and the politics behind the execution. Mike Richards' original, comprehensive research and persuasive insights have produced a definitive account of the life and death of the man whose execution stopped a nation.