This book is about murder--in life and in art--and about how we look at it and feel about it. At the center of Wendy Lesser's investigation is a groundbreaking legal case in which a federal court judge was asked to decide whether a gas chamber execution would be broadcast on public television. Our fascination with murder gets its day in court as Lesser conducts us through the proceedings, pausing along the way to reflect on the circumstances of violent death in our culture.

Wendy Lesser is editor of The Threepenny Review.

Read More by Wendy Lesser:

• His Other Half: Men Looking at Women Through Art