Ox-Bow Incident: Amazon.ca: Walter Van Tilburg Clark, Wallace Earle Stegner: Books

Product Description

Set in 1885, The Ox-Bow Incident is a searing and realistic portrait of frontier life and mob violence in the American West. First published in 1940, it focuses on the lynching of three innocent men and the tragedy that ensues when law and order are abandoned. The result is an emotionally powerful, vivid, and unforgettable re-creation of the Western novel, which Clark transmuted into a universal story about good and evil, individual and community, justice and human nature. As Wallace Stegner writes, [Clark's] theme was civilization, and he recorded, indelibly, its first steps in a new country. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Ingram

Novel about the lynching of three innocent men on the western frontier. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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First Sentence
Gil and I crossed the eastern divide about two by the sun. Read the first page

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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt

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Customer Reviews

35 Reviews

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

Average Customer Review

3.7 out of 5 stars (35 customer reviews)

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4.0 out of 5 stars Mob justice in the Old West, Sep 6 2003

By	gac1003 "gac1003" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Ox-Bow Incident (Paperback)

Walter Van Tilburg Clark's classic novel begins like many Westerns: two ranchers, Art Croft and Gil Carter, ride into the town of Bridger's Wells. They stop at the saloon, have a few drinks after which a poker game begins followed by a fight. Things change quickly when a young man storms into town with a tale of murder and cattle rustling. Though he hasn't actually seen any of the events he's describing, the young man's tale is strong enough to insense the men in the bar. They form a lynch mob and go after the murderers and rustlers.

"The Ox-Bow Incident" is told through the eyes of Art Croft. From him, we see and hear Farnley who is dead set on forming the mob to exact justice; of Osgood and Davies, who both try to convince the group that justice can only be handled properly by the law; and Art himself who has doubts about the lynch mob but goes along, like every other man.

This is a story about who determines what is right and wrong and how justice should be determined with all the facts instead of partial truths and one-sided ideals. It deals with the mob mentality and its consequences. Not your typical fare with a Western. Clark expertly handles the subject matter, and as I was reading, I felt as though I were part of the mob, knowing the mob is not right but powerless to do anything to stop it, swept along for the ride and the outcome. A definite classic.

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3.0 out of 5 stars The Ox-Bow Incident, Jan 22 2003

By	jessica (california) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Ox-Bow Incident (Paperback)

This book was overall and okay book. In a way it reminded me of a book called Mice and Men, there was alot of scenery in this book and the author had the same writing style. I though that this type of book was already covered in literature in high school because of the kind of book it was so i would not agree with it being put on the list

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5.0 out of 5 stars An outrageous book, Jan 21 2003

By	varun yadav (Dublin, Ca) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Ox-Bow Incident (Paperback)

Basically talking about this book is not a challenge to me because I loved this book and the plot and the ending was a key factor to that. From the beginning the characters were very truthful and it felt like that you could compare to some of the characters because this kind of thing could happen to any town. This story has a great story about a mob who takes matter of justice into its own hands. But some people were against it and some were with it. This book shows us all how matter of time can change a person's life in a matter of seconds.

An emotional situation in this book was the feelings that young Tetley got out of him. Those feelings could be compared with me that we were bunch of people who just wanted to fight stones with stones and just went in too much of a hurry. I think Walter is a very good writer because of course if he wrote this book he is a brilliant man because it really exposes a man's feeling towards something even though he acts tough. Yes I would recommend any young adult to read it because this can show an outlook to a brand new life and how it can change your feelings.

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Most recent customer reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars The Ox-Bow Incident
I thought that overall this book had a good story in it but, i found it hard to get through all the scenery that they talked about,it was an interesting book but i don't think... Read more

Published on Jan 21 2003 by jessica

4.0 out of 5 stars A good novel
This book shows the violence that comes from a mob. It is a great example of how when men get angry, their judgement is distorted. Read more

Published on Nov 25 2002 by Jared McCowan

4.0 out of 5 stars A Western With Big Ideas
Walter Van Tilburg Clark's The Ox-Bow Incident stands as a classic and has earned that standing. It is peopled with all the usual characters of a western novel but this time the... Read more

Published on Mar 10 2002 by Ricky Hunter

5.0 out of 5 stars Spellbound
I was so enthralled by this book I read it in one day. I was so spellbound I had trouble putting it down at all. Clark's description and dialogue are superb. Read more

Published on Feb 6 2002 by Paul Miller