When the state of Massachusetts electrocuted Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti on August 23, 1927, it concluded one of the most controversial legal cases in American history. In the eight decades since, debate has raged over what was probably a miscarriage of justice. This case still haunts the American imagination. In the first full-length narrative of the case in thirty years, journalist Watson unwinds a tale that opens with anarchist bombs going off in a posh Washington, D.C., neighborhood and concludes with worldwide outrage over the execution of the "good shoemaker" and the "poor fish peddler." Watson mines deep archives and new sources, unveiling fresh details about these naïve dreamers and militant revolutionaries.--From publisher description.