Description
Book SynopsisAnalyzes the foundations of lynching in American social history. Scrutinizing the vigilante movements and lynching violence that occurred in the middle decades of the nineteenth century on the Southern, Midwestern, and far Western frontiers, this book offers insights into collective violence in the pre-Civil War era.
Trade Review"Outlines just how barbaric civilizations can be, how barbarism is in fact institutionalized as a putative means of preserving civilization from barbarism."--
Canadian Journal of History
"Provocative prequel to Michael Pfeifer's important comparative portrait of lynching in America, Rough Justice."--The Annals of Iowa
"A must read for anyone interested in lynching and vigilantism, the development of law and criminal justice, and the antebellum period."--
Southern Historian"Pfeifer's keenly focused book builds on work that he did in Rough Justice: Lynching and American Society, 1874-1947 (Urbana, 2004). He excels in exploring Anglo-American thought and practice regarding extralegal justice from the colonial through the antebellum period."--The Journal of Southern History
"Thoughtfully written and adds new levels of complexity by placing lynching in a larger historical and global context."--
The Journal of American History "It is not hyperbole to assert that Pfeifer guides historians to higher levels of sophistication in scrutinizing the history of American lynching in a global context. . . . Pfeifer stands on solid ground by demonstrating with power and clarity, the persisting racial dimensions of lunching from a comparative perspective. . . . The book is endlessly fresh, unceasingly sharp, and always clear and persuasive."--
Louisiana History "A valuable, thoughtful, concise, and long overdue contribution to the burgeoning scholarship on lynching. Michael J. Pfeifer extends the historical treatment of lynching back in time and ties the history of mob violence to the broad currents of nineteenth-century American history. His work will be foundational to all subsequent scholarship on lynching, both before and after the Civil War."--W. Fitzhugh Brundage, author of
Lynching in the New South: Georgia and Virginia, 1880–1930"Michael J. Pfeifer's research is impressive, covering both an extensive period of time and many geographic regions. The vast majority of work on mob violence takes place after 1880, and there has been a great need for careful scholarship like this on the earlier period."--William D. Carrigan, author of
The Making of a Lynching Culture: Violence and Vigilantism in Central Texas, 1836–1916
