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The Hatfield & McCoy Feud after Kevin Costner: Rescuing History
The story of the Hatfield and McCoy feud is a combination of legends and lies, with a light sprinkling of historical fact. It originated in newspaper stories in 1888.
The original sources used by the reporters were prejudiced, because all of them were either under indictment for murder in Logan County, West Virginia, or stood in immediate danger of being charged with either murder or conspiracy to commit murder.
The story differed markedly from the much shorter story the author heard from eyewitnesses while growing up on Blackberry Creek, where most of the events transpired.
Within three months of the appearance of the 1888 articles in the big city papers, the land owned by the men indicted for the 1882 lynching of the three McCoys had been gobbled up by Eastern capitalists.
The land grab is the real story of the Hatfields and McCoys, as told by an author who grew up in the center of feud country and holds a Cornell MS in labor history. It is what the actual historical records say, with a few chuckles along the way.
The original sources used by the reporters were prejudiced, because all of them were either under indictment for murder in Logan County, West Virginia, or stood in immediate danger of being charged with either murder or conspiracy to commit murder.
The story differed markedly from the much shorter story the author heard from eyewitnesses while growing up on Blackberry Creek, where most of the events transpired.
Within three months of the appearance of the 1888 articles in the big city papers, the land owned by the men indicted for the 1882 lynching of the three McCoys had been gobbled up by Eastern capitalists.
The land grab is the real story of the Hatfields and McCoys, as told by an author who grew up in the center of feud country and holds a Cornell MS in labor history. It is what the actual historical records say, with a few chuckles along the way.
326 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 22, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
August 7, 2024
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.
February 5, 2019
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.
January 22, 2014
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.
January 10, 2018
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.
August 25, 2014
This book is excellent! Antone that really wants to understand the feud, needs to read this one!
November 22, 2014
Enlightening and entertaining, Mr. Dotson has provided a sort of "sequel" to Altina Waller's landmark study of the feud over three decades ago.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews