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.

'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

Autorentext
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).

Inhalt
The Invention of Lynching Vicksburg and the Nation San Francisco and the Nation The Ku Klux Klan Lynching in the Gilded Age War of Words High Tech Lynchings: Lynching in the Age of National Journalism Epilogue