NCJ Number
12640
Date Published
1970
Length
507 pages
Annotation
EYEWITNESS ACCOUNTS, CONTEMPORARY REPORTS, AND ANALYTICAL COMMENTARIES OF VIOLENT INCIDENTS IN FOUR CENTURIES OF AMERICAN HISTORY.
Abstract
HERE, AS EXPERIENCED BY MEN AND WOMEN WHO LIVED THROUGH THEM, ARE NOT ONLY THE FAMILIAR, CHILLING ERUPTIONSHARPER'S FERRY, THE CIVIL WAR DRAFT RIOT IN NEW YORK, HOMESTEAD, CENTRALIA, THE DETROIT GHETTO, THE ASSASSINATIONS OF LINCOLN, MALCOLM X, AND ROBERT KENNEDY -BUT ALSO LESS COMMONLY REMEMBERED EPISODES, SUCH AS THE NEW YORK SLAVE RIOTS OF 1712, THE DOCTOR'S RIOT OF 1788, VIGILANTE TERROR IN MONTANA, THE ANTI-CHINESE RIOT IN LOS ANGELES IN 1871, AND THE WHITE LEAGUE COUP D'ETAT OF 1874 IN NEW ORLEANS. IN HIS TNTRODUCTION, THE AUTHOR SHOWS HOW, IN THE FACE OF THE RECORD, AMERICANS HAVE HAD AN EXTRAORDINARY ABILITY TO PERSUADE THEMSELVES THAT THEY ARE AMONG THE BEST-BEHAVED AND THE BEST-REGULATED OF PEOPLES. WITH MORE THAN ONE HUNDRED ENTRIES, THE EDITORS HAVE DOCUMENTED AND PUT INTO PERSPECTIVE THE THREAD OF VIOLENCE IN AMERICAN HISTORY. THE BOOK DEMONSTRATES, THAT AMERICA'S CONSISTENT HISTORY OF VIOLENCE HAS NOT YET BREACHED BEYOND HOPE OF RESTORATION OUR LONG RECORD OF BASIC POLITICAL STABILITY, THAT MOST SOCIAL REFORMS IN THE UNITED STATES HAVE BEEN BROUGHT ABOUT WITHOUT VIOLENCE. (AUTHOR ABSTRACT)