Killings: Folk Justice in the Upper SouthThe "State Line Country" of this book is a rugged area of small farms on the Kentucky-Tennessee border. Historically the area has had a homicide rate more than ten times the national average. In this gripping and penetrating study of violence and death in the State Line Country, Lynwood Montell examines the local historical and social conditions, as well as the prevailing attitudes and values, that gave rise and support to rowdy behavior and homicidal acts from the Civil War to the 1930s. The area fostered, he thinks, a culture of violence. Drawing from vivid oral accounts, which he recorded from present-day residents, Montell describes more than fifty killings that took place in the area, locating them against a background of farming, moonshining, and sawmilling activities common in that country. In addition to reconstructing the homicides, he analyzes their key features, including the circumstances under which they took place, the relationships of the persons involved, the presence of precipitating factors (such as deadly weapons and alcohol) in the culture, and attitudes toward law enforcement officers and the courts. This close examination of homicide in the State Line Country, which views the tradition from regional and national perspectives, adds a significant dimension to the study of homicide in the South. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 19
... valley floors, while pressing closely against the narrow strips of fertile ... Bear in Tennessee. Both rivers have carved deep channels in some places ... River, a larger stream that loops around the area and drains it from the north and ...
... Bear River Valley in 1845, very soon after the national temperance movement began; and the formation of a Masonic lodge there before 1850.” The pioneers who settled the State Line ... River The old church and cemetery in Bear River Valley.
... Bear River Valley become virtually nonexistent as they trail northward into the interior of Rutherford Mountain, where a dozen or so families—the Talbots, Nesbitts, Panningses, Baylanches, and Parrigans, among others—lived until the ...
... valley land that afforded agricultural potential, as well as portions of Rutherford Mountain on both sides of the ... river or fairly large creek. These are, along with a listing of some of the places found in each, the Bear River Valley ...
... Bear River Valley, corroborated the notion of a relative calm across the region in his published diary, which chronicled the period from 1844 to 1892. His first mention of violence and killing in the area occurred in August, 1858, when ...
Contents
1 | |
2 The SelfSufficient Years | 23 |
3 A Changing Culture | 65 |
4 Violence between the World Wars | 86 |
5 A New Generation | 126 |
Conclusion | 144 |
Notes | 167 |
Works Consulted | 173 |
Index | 181 |