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The U.S. is the most violent industrialized country in the world, and lynching - that is, murder endorsed by the community - may be a key to understanding America's heritage of violence and perhaps point to solutions that can eradicate it. While lynchings are predominantly racial in tone and motive, Christopher Waldrep's sweeping study of the meaning and uses of lynching from the colonial period to the present reveals that the definition of the term has shifted dramatically over time, and that the victims and perpetuators of lynching were as diverse as its many meanings. By examining lynching from a comparative and temporal perspective, Waldrep teaches us important lessons not only about racial violence in America, but about the ways in which communities define and justify crime and the punishment of its criminals.
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Table of contents (10 chapters)
Reviews
'Waldrep's widely researched work provides an excellent overview of a horrendous practice in American society.' - Library Journal
'...an insightful and impressive new study...' - David J. Garrow, Los Angeles Times
'...speak[s] powerfully to a general educated audience, alerting them to the ability of language to manipulate.' - P.F. Field, Choice
'Waldrew has made an important contribution to our understanding of an enduring American dilemma.' - Journal of American History
'Extralegal violence has been a part of American legal history since the inception of the United States. In this sweeping study Christopher Waldrew offers us the first comprehensive examination of Judge Lynch from the American Revolution to modern times.' - Paul A Gilje, University of Oklahoma, USA
About the author
CHRISTOPHER WALDREP is Jamie and Phyllis Pasker Chair in History at San Francisco State University. He is the author of numerous articles and three books: Night Riders: Defending Community in the Black Patch, 1890-1915 (1993); Roots of Disorder: Race and Criminal Justice in the American South, 1817-80 (1998); and Local Matters: Race, Crime, and Justice in the Nineteenth-Century South (edited with Donald Nieman, 2001).
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: The Many Faces of Judge Lynch
Book Subtitle: Extralegal Violence and Punishment in America
Authors: Christopher Waldrep
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781403982711
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan New York
eBook Packages: Palgrave History Collection, History (R0)
Copyright Information: Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Nature America Inc. 2002
Hardcover ISBN: 978-0-312-29399-4Published: 02 May 2003
Softcover ISBN: 978-1-349-38764-9Published: 11 November 2015
eBook ISBN: 978-1-4039-8271-1Published: 08 November 2002
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: X, 265
Topics: US History, Ethnicity Studies, History of the Americas, Social History, Cultural History, Sociology, general