Book description
To many antebellum Americans, Appalachia was a frightening wilderness
of lawlessness, peril, robbers, and hidden dangers. The extensive media
coverage of horse stealing and scalping raids profiled the region's
residents as intrinsically violent. After the Civil War, this
characterization continued to permeate perceptions of the area and news
of the conflict between the Hatfields and the McCoys, as well as the
bloodshed associated with the coal labor strikes, cemented Appalachia's
violent reputation. Blood in the Hills: A History of Violence in
Appalachia provides an in-depth historical analysis of hostility in the
region from the late eighteenth to the early twentieth century. Editor
Bruce E. Stewart discusses aspects of the Appalachian violence culture,
examining skirmishes with the native population, conflicts resulting
from the region's rapid modernization, and violence as a function of
social control. The contributors also address geographical isolation and
ethnicity, kinship, gender, class, and race with the purpose of shedding
light on an often-stereotyped regional past. Blood in the Hills does not
attempt to apologize for the region but uses detailed research and
analysis to explain it, delving into the social and political factors
that have defined Appalachia throughout its violent history. Bruce E.
Stewart, assistant professor of history at Appalachian State University,
is the author of Moonshiners and Prohibitionists: The Battle over
Alcohol in Southern Appalachia. He lives in Boone, North Carolina.
