A Festival Of Violence
An Analysis of Southern Lynchings, 1882-1930
Uncovering the causes behind lynching
Paper – $25
978-0-252-06413-5
Publication Date
Paperback: 01/01/1995
About the Book
This finely detailed statistical study of lynching in ten southern states shows that economic and status concerns were at the heart of the violent practice. Stewart Tolnay and E. M. Beck empirically test competing explanations of the causes of lynching, using U.S. Census and historical voting data and a newly constructed inventory of southern lynch victims. Among their surprising findings: lynching responded to fluctuations in the price of cotton, decreasing in frequency when prices rose and increasing when they fell.About the Author
Stewart E. Tolnay is Professor Emeritus of sociology and S. Frank Miyamoto Endowed Professor at the University of Washington. He is the author of Lynched: The Victims of Southern Mob Violence and The Bottom Rung: African American Family Life on Southern Farms. E.M. Beck is Professor Emeritus of Sociology and Josiah Meigs Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Georgia. He is a coauthor of Industrial Invasion of Nonmetropolitan America: A Quarter Century of Experience.Also by this author
Reviews
"A Festival of Violence is a first-rate piece of research and analysis on a topic of considerable historical importance. It represents a model exercise of using the historical and sociological literature to develop hypotheses and then analyzing them with social science tools to present the results in a broad historical, social scientific context. This is an important work of scholarship, of interest to historians and social scientists, as well as to those concerned with the study of African Americans and the U.S. South."--Stanley L. Engerman, University of RochesterAwards
• Commended, Gustavus Myers Award, 1995Related Titles
