The Ox-Bow Incident
Categories: Literature & Fiction
The Ox-Bow Incident (1940) is Walter Van Tilburg Clark's Western novel set in Nevada in 1885 and narrated by the cowhand Art Croft. When word reaches Bridger's Wells that a rancher has been murdered and his cattle stolen, a posse forms and, urged on by the Confederate veteran Tetley, tracks down three strangers driving the herd. As a few men argue for a trial, the novel becomes a study of mob justice, conscience and cowardice. This Modern Library edition has an introduction by Wallace Stegner.
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- Bill Gates: “the Lynch mod at the heart of the Oxbo incident made me consider the ethics of the US actions in Vietnam ... these books all shaped who I am today”