Description
Book SynopsisExamines the roles violence and terrorism have played in the exercise of democratic ideals in America. This book explores how crowds, rallying behind the principle of popular sovereignty and desiring to make law conform to justice, can disdain law and engage in violence.
Trade Review"Kirkpatrick's study is rich in history and suggestive in its pursuit of other models for thinking about law's social meanings... Kirkpatrick's book is worth reading and pondering for the ways that it makes one connect American legal history to these pressing issues."--Jon Goldberg-Hiller, Law and Politics Book Review "The book features adept forays into jurisprudence at the same time that it captures the cultural diversity and local character of political violence in the US. Here the challenges posed by Thoreau and Rosa Parks become a platform from which to jump into the bloody world of John Brown and Timothy McVeigh. Kirkpatrick warns that conventional treatment of violence as outside of law is a sort of denial that leaves us vulnerable."--J. Brigham, Choice "[O]ne of the great strengths of this book is its ability to relate illuminating historical examples of uncivil and civil disobedience to a wider tradition of political and legal theory...This is an original, highly readable, and rewarding book."--April Carter, Perspectives on Politics "This well-written book not only provides significant insights into the motives of southern lynch mobs and others but also raises necessary and troubling questions about the nature of democracy in America. It is an important work that should be widely read."--Brent J. Aucoin, Journal of Southern History
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix Introduction Warts and All 1 Chapter One: Violence, American Style 17 Chapter Two: Frontier Vigilance Committees 39 Chapter Three: Southern Lynch Mobs 62 Chapter Four: Militant Abolitionists 91 Conclusion: A Nation of People or Laws 110 Sources Cited 119 Index 133
