Violence - (New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture) by Amy Louise Wood & Charles Reagan Wilson (Paperback)

About the Book

New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture: Volume 19: Violence

Book Synopsis

Much of the violence that has been associated with the United States has had particular salience for the South, from its high homicide rates, or its bloody history of racial conflict, to southerners' popular attachment to guns and traditional support for capital punishment. With over 95 entries, this volume of The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture explores the most significant forms and many of the most harrowing incidences of violence that have plagued southern society over the past 300 years.

Following a detailed overview by editor Amy Wood, the volume explores a wide range of topics, such as violence against and among American Indians, labor violence, arson, violence and memory, suicide, and anti-abortion violence. Taken together, these entries broaden our understanding of what has driven southerners of various classes and various ethnicities to commit acts of violence, while addressing the ways in which southerners have conceptualized that violence, responded to it, or resisted it. This volume enriches our understanding of the culture of violence and its impact on ideas about law and crime, about historical tradition and social change, and about race and gender -- not only in the South but in the nation as a whole.

Review Quotes

[A] multi-year, multi-dimensional, and unprecedented series.--"Library Journal"


A new take on southern exceptionalism as it relates to violence.--"Louisiana History"


Perfect for libraries and archives who collect information about the South and would like short succinct information about various topics dealing with violence in the South and its context within all of the United States. It is a great source for Southern pop-culture as well.--"Tennessee Libraries"


With well written and insightful entries, this volume adeptly navigates various forms of violence to illustrate the unique and complex culture of the American South.--"Florida Historical Quarterly"


"Perfect for libraries and archives who collect information about the South and would like short succinct information about various topics dealing with violence in the South and its context within all of the United States. It is a great source for Southern pop-culture as well."--"Tennessee Libraries"

"[A] multi-year, multi-dimensional, and unprecedented series."--"Library Journal"


"With well written and insightful entries, this volume adeptly navigates various forms of violence to illustrate the unique and complex culture of the American South."--"Florida Historical Quarterly"

About the Author

Amy Louise Wood is associate professor of history at Illinois State University and author of Lynching and Spectacle: Witnessing Racial Violence in America, 1890-1940.
Charles Reagan Wilson is Kelly Gene Cook Sr. Chair in History and Professor of Southern Studies at the University of Mississippi. He is coeditor, with William Ferris, of the original Encyclopedia of Southern Culture.