PICTURES AT AN EXECUTION An Inquiry into the Subject of Murder

Softcover. 2nd US printing. 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 the author's investigation is a groundbreaking legal case in which federal court judge was asked to decide whether a gas chamber execution would be broadcast on public television. Our grim and seemingly endless fascination with murder gets its day in court as the author conducts us though 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 civilised society - what we make of it in law, morality, and art. Illus. + Notes. 270pp. trade size softcover. Signs of b/plate removal inside fr. cover, small crease across lower r/hand corner of fr. cover. Vg+