Current Series Catalogue

Justice By Death
A Watching Books Series
(available only during the Spring)

Revenge is a kind of wild justice, which the more a man's nature runs to, the more ought law to weed it out.
- Sir Francis Bacon

Is there a distinction between law and justice? Does revenge play a part in justice? Is death a fair punishment? Explore historical notions of “right” and put your feelings on the death penalty and vigilantism in perspective. Using classic stories told through the written word and the visual medium of film, this series captures concepts of American justice in the news today.

Walter Van Tilburg Clark, The Ox-Bow Incident
This western classic examines the social issues that give rise to vigilantism and provides insights into vigilantism’s effects on both its victims and on the vigilantes themselves.

The Ox-Bow Incident a film by William A. Wellman
The 1943 western starring Henry Fonda and Dana Andrews.

Truman Capote, In Cold Blood
This documentary account of the murder of the Clutter family in Kansas in 1959 allows the reader to know both victims and murderers intimately.

In Cold Blood a film by Richard Brooks
The disturbing 1967 film starring Robert Blake and Scott Wilson.

Watching Books programs are presented in partnership with the Rehoboth Beach Film Society (incorporated 1998), a 501(c)(3) organization whose mission is to promote film as an art form through community outreach and educational film initiatives for all ages. Correspondingly the Film Society connects diversified audiences to the cinematic arts by presenting thought-provoking, educational, and entertaining films through a broad scope of community-based programs. www.rehobothfilm.com

Request this series online.