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Lynching and Spectacle: Witnessing Racial Violence in America, 1890-1940 (New Directions in Southern Studies) Paperback – February 1, 2011

4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 113 ratings

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Lynch mobs in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century America exacted horrifying public torture and mutilation on their victims. In Lynching and Spectacle, Amy Wood explains what it meant for white Americans to perform and witness these sadistic spectacles and how lynching played a role in establishing and affirming white supremacy. Lynching, Wood argues, overlapped with a variety of cultural practices and performances, both traditional and modern, including public executions, religious rituals, photography, and cinema, all which encouraged the horrific violence and gave it social acceptability. However, she also shows how the national dissemination of lynching images ultimately fueled the momentum of the antilynching movement and the decline of the practice. Using a wide range of sources, including photos, newspaper reports, pro- and antilynching pamphlets, early films, and local city and church records, Wood reconfigures our understanding of lynching's relationship to modern life.

Wood expounds on the critical role lynching spectacles played in establishing and affirming white supremacy at the turn of the century, particularly in towns and cities experiencing great social instability and change. She also shows how the national dissemination of lynching images fueled the momentum of the antilynching movement and ultimately led to the decline of lynching. By examining lynching spectacles alongside both traditional and modern practices and within both local and national contexts, Wood reconfigures our understanding of lynching's relationship to modern life.
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Editorial Reviews

Review

This insightful exploration of lynching's cultural power is a groundbreaking addition to a growing body of scholarship focused on racial violence. . . . Essential."—Choice

Wood succeeds admirably. . . . One of the most enlightening studies of lynching produced in recent years." —
Arkansas Review: A Journal of Delta Studies

Serves as a potent reminder that racial violence was not only condoned but enthusiastically supported by huge numbers of white Americans."—
The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education

[An] insightful study. . . . Her research is impressive, Wood's conclusions are measured and well-documented, and . . . her prose is crisp and clear." —
Journal of Illinois History

Should be required reading for all studying racial violence in the South. . . . Wood is admirably balanced in assessing her evidence and placing it in perspective. . . . In evidence, argument, context, and writing, this is an impressive study that will inspire future scholarship and will offer teachers a rich set of contexts to enliven their discussions of race in the era of lynching." —
American Historical Review

Wood deserves praise for synthesizing the expansive body of scholarship on lynching while offering an insightful cultural analysis of southern white sadism." —
North Carolina Historical Review

Wood's effective contribution refines our understanding of the relationship between lynching and culture. . . . Compelling and insightful. . . . A well-executed book that should be read by all who are interested in the cultural relations of lynching." —
Journal of American History

This thoughtful and amply illustrated monograph shows how photography served first to cast atrocity as civility and subsequently undermined the practice of lynching by reconstructing what had become folk custom as, instead, an outrage."—
Arkansas Historical Quarterly

The public nature of lynching receives heavily researched and imaginative treatment in Wood's readable analysis."—
Journal of Interdisciplinary History

An engaging treatment of the 'spectacle of lynching.'"—
The Alabama Review

Review

Lynching and Spectacle is a work of both impressive analysis and serious historical craft that makes a number of important contributions to our understanding of the American South and violence there. Combining attention to place, time, and context with an acute sensitivity to cultural expression, ranging from photography and film to journalism, Wood has written the most mature, finely grained, and insightful study of the culture of lynching available." —W. Fitzhugh Brundage, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ The University of North Carolina Press; First Edition (February 1, 2011)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 368 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0807871974
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0807871973
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.25 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.12 x 0.82 x 9.25 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 113 ratings

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Amy Louise Wood
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4.7 out of 5 stars
113 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book insightful, thought-provoking, and a fascinating look into the American past. They describe it as a great book worth the time and effort. The visual analysis of the images is impressive and cogent.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

8 customers mention "Insight"8 positive0 negative

Customers find the book insightful and thought-provoking. They describe it as an engaging look into the American past with a well-reasoned thesis. The book provides an excellent analysis of the social, historical, and cultural forces behind lynching.

"...A page turner for history readers. Warning -- man's inhumanity to man will make you simultaneously angry and sad." Read more

"A path-breaking study of lynching as spectacle and the meanings such events produced for the masses who attended them as well as for those who saw..." Read more

"This book explained the rationale for lynching! It was just what I needed for my graduate course!!" Read more

"An informative read that will make you sick as the hanging death of people becomes a spectator sport...." Read more

8 customers mention "Value for money"8 positive0 negative

Customers like the book's value for money. They say it's a great book and worth the time and effort to read through it.

"...of the movie, Birth of a Nation, would by itself make this a valuable book, but the book's central theme is even more important...." Read more

"...Overall, it still was and is worth reading to understand this massive projection of guilt and evil on victims, and the taking of justice into mob..." Read more

"Great book tho disturbing topic" Read more

"excellentt" Read more

3 customers mention "Visual quality"3 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the visual quality and Wood's analysis of the images.

"...Wood's visual analysis of these images is impressive and cogent. Her writing is clear and accessible to a wide audience...." Read more

"Graphic photos real life atrocity" Read more

"...The pictures were well placed to emphasize the points she wanted to make." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on July 24, 2015
    Best book I have yet read on the subject, and I have read many in research for the writing of my second novel. It relentlessly examines specific cases of lynching over time, but it is not a mere narrative of specific lynchings. It is an excellent analysis of the social, historical and cultural forces behind this horrendous practice. The book's discussion of the movie, Birth of a Nation, would by itself make this a valuable book, but the book's central theme is even more important. Its central theme, the public's desire for spectacle as fuel for lynchings, particularly after the abolition of legal public executions, is even more revealing. Also a good look at the social and cultural forces that over time led to the gradual demise of lynching as a phenomenon. A page turner for history readers. Warning -- man's inhumanity to man will make you simultaneously angry and sad.
    21 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on July 6, 2015
    More black men were hanged in America in the twentieth century than were hanged during slavery, the author of this book Miss Amy Louise Wood does an excellent job of revealing who and what group of Americans did this whole scale hanging of black men. Many white people who participated and witnessed these hangings were your everyday run of the mill American citizens as stated on page 80-81 "As visual extensions of the lynching itself, photographs could at times assuage crowds that had missed the opportunity to witness and participate in the violence. In 1934, the posse that captured Claude Neal, accused of raping and killing a young white woman named Lola Cannidy, chose to lynch him in the woods outside Marianna, Florida, rather than bringing him to the Cannidy home, where a large crowd had gathered in anticipation of the lynching. When the waiting crowd had discovered that the mob had lynched Neal privately, they were reportedly outraged. The mob finally arrived with Neal's body in tow, and the crowd, which included Cannidy's family, took out their vengeance on the corpse, kicking and shooting it, tearing it apart, and even driving their cars over it. Neal's mutilated, nude body was then hanged on the courthouse lawn in the center of the town, and hundreds of photographs were taken. he next day, as people congregated in the square to see the body, the photographs were sold to those purportedly still incensed that the posse who lynched Neal had denied them the satisfaction and pleasure of witnessing Neal's lynching. The images acted as visual replications of the actual spectacle, offering them vicarious access to the missed thrill of the lynching. The gratification local viewers derived from the images of Neal's lynched body was directly attached to their outrage over Cannidy's rape and murder, their fears of black criminality, and their desires to assert their racial power and superiority in the face of these threats."
    Another interesting aspect of these mobs is the role religion played in their actions as stated on pages 67 "The performance of a lynching thus created a symbolic representation of white supremacy-a spectacle of demonic and wicked black men against a united and pure white community. That those images coincided with evangelicals' impassioned exhortations against sin gave lynching sacred force and justification. Indeed, the imprint of Protestant language and tropes on lynching rituals and defenses imbued the violence with divine sanction and made it appear familiar and recognizable to a people immersed in Christian beliefs and values. Mobs could thus conspicuously flout the law and perpetrate what otherwise would be considered aberrant and grotesque acts of sadism while considering themselves to be righteous and moral citizens."
    In the twentieth century the hanging of black men was a major festive event for many on looking white people as can be seen in the pictures on page 32 and also on pages 78 and 79, on page 79 you can see a young white man smiling, on pages 95 and 102 there are more pictures of gleeful white spectators, on page 192 there is crowd participation in this picture of a hanging and burning black man I thank this author for writing this very much needed book.
    37 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on April 17, 2018
    A path-breaking study of lynching as spectacle and the meanings such events produced for the masses who attended them as well as for those who saw the photos and postcards afterwards. Wood's visual analysis of these images is impressive and cogent. Her writing is clear and accessible to a wide audience. This is cultural history at its finest!
    3 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on July 14, 2019
    This book explained the rationale for lynching! It was just what I needed for my graduate course!!
    One person found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on November 8, 2021
    It was worth the time and effort to get through this book. It has opened my eyes to the scapegoating of Black victims’ as the evil ones and whites as the religious moral ones.
    That being said, this book was too detailed, making it slow reading.
    Overall, it still was and is worth reading to understand this massive projection of guilt and evil on victims, and the taking of justice into mob rule.
    5 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on November 13, 2013
    An informative read that will make you sick as the hanging death of people becomes a spectator sport. I knew going in I was going to be really angry about this and I was so right. It has been more than a month since I finished it and the horrific cruelty and lawlesness still makes my blood boil.And many times the "supposed law" were guilty of opening the jail or were complicit in letting this happen. It will make you think.
    20 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on June 3, 2014
    This book was insightful yet the stories was shocking but its a dose of reality. I like the product and its great for my library.
    3 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on March 4, 2019
    Graphic photos real life atrocity
    One person found this helpful
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