Pictures at an Execution

Download or read book Pictures at an Execution written by Wendy Lesser and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 1998-07-21 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is about murder - in life and in art - and about how we look at it and feel about it. At the centre of Wendy Lesser's investigation is a legal case in which a federal court judge was asked to decide whether a gas chamber execution would be broadcast on public television. Lesser conducts us through the proceedings, pausing along the way to reflect on the circumstances of violent death in our culture. Her book is also a meditation on murder in a civilized society - what we make of it in law, morality and art.