The Hatfield & McCoy Feud after Kevin Costner: Rescuing History

by Thomas Dotson

For a century we read in books and newspapers and saw on screen, the legend of what is the most famous feud in American history: the Hatfields and the McCoys. What we had was legend, and not history, mainly because the story consisted of a few historical events inside several layers of tall tales and fables reported by the yellow journalists of the late nineteenth century. The same moneyed interests who owned the newspapers also wanted the vast mineral riches underlying the land occupied by the Hatfields and McCoys, and their reporters’ depictions of the people of Tug Valley as immoral and violent barbarians helped to make the swindle more palatable to the public. In the 1980s, the historians Otis Rice and Altina Waller, published their well researched books, placing the feud in the proper economic and political context. Those books (especially Waller) took the feud out of the fiction category and laid the foundation for serious historical study of the events of that period in the Tug Valley. Since fiction can be made just as exciting as the screenwriter or author desires, the 2012 TV epic, Hatfields & McCoys, and the recent fictional ‘history’’ books are great entertainment, but they set back the study of actual feud history many years by claiming to be “The True Story.” The TV show was followed by several books, some of which contain an even greater ratio of fable to facts than did the movie. One recent book cites the yellow journalists of the 1880s more than two hundred times. With a rare combination of facts and humor, this author calls them all to task. Tom E. Dotson, holder of an Ivy League graduate degree, and descended from both the Hatfields and McCoys, asks the question: “When only nine of the thirty-six men who supported Devil Anse were Hatfields, and only eight of the forty who rode with the Phillips posse were McCoys, why is it called ‘The Hatfield and McCoy feud’?” With solid research and a unique insight, Dotson answers that question.

366 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 22, 2013

Reviews

[Katie Mcfarland · Rating 1 out of 5]

Couldn’t finish this. The author spends more time making petty and rude comments about everyone else who’s ever written about the two families and doesnt actually give you any facts or story. This book is nothing more than an angry Yelp review.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lost interest. Some good background information on the family but the overwhelming sense of need to dispute everything related to the movie left me with a distaste for the book.

[Gary · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a McCoy, I hoped someone would test the veracity of the recent books and movie on this subject. Mr. Dotson raises some valid points. I, too, subscribe to the idea that moey was a motivating force from outside the families.

[Hannah Vanderpool · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would give this book a higher rating except it needed a good line editor. Also, the author repeated himself often. Ultimately, I found his arguments compelling and believe he's right--there was no such thing as a Hatfield and McCoy "feud"--at least not in the way we've been led to believe.

[Wilma Steele · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is excellent! Antone that really wants to understand the feud, needs to read this one!

[Brandon Kirk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enlightening and entertaining, Mr. Dotson has provided a sort of "sequel" to Altina Waller's landmark study of the feud over three decades ago.