Ever thought that the United States is a more violent
country than other ‘Western’ nations? And, if so, have you ever wondered
why?
On Episode 18 of American History Too! we
are joined by the University of Edinburgh’s Rian Sutton (@riansutton) to
discuss America’s more violent nature by looking at what one historian terms
its ‘homicide problem’ (n.b. it’s more complicated than guns and
cowboys!).
The reasons for the US’s higher murder rate than Europe
since the mid-nineteenth century remain disputed and Rian, discussing her
research on women and murder, illuminates this ongoing debate. Rian also outlines
how women have murdered in the US, why some women have escaped
prosecution despite damning evidence, and how the public have often
reacted to such crimes.
Finally, if you want to hear a whole lot of grizzly
anecdotes – mostly featuring a woman wielding an axe – then this is the podcast
for you!
--
We hope you enjoy this podcast and we’ll be back next month
with our next episode on ‘The President and The King’
Cheers,
Mark and Malcolm
@ahtoopodcast
Reading:
Britton,
Dana M. ‘Feminism in Criminology: Engendering the Outlaw.’ American
Academy of Political and Social Science 571, no. Sept (2000): 57-76.
D'Cruze,
Shani, Sandra Walklate, and Samantha Pegg. Murder: Social and Historical
Approaches to Understanding Murder and Murderers. London: Routledge,
2011.
Filetti,
Jean S. ‘From Lizzie Borden to Loren Bobitt: Violent Women and Gendered
Justice.’ Journal of American Studies 35, no. 3 (2001): 471-484.
Halttunen,
Karen. Murder Most Foul: The Killer and the American Gothic
Imagination. London: Harvard University Press, 1998.
Lane,
Roger. Murder in America: A History. Columbus: The Ohio
University Press, 1997.
Lane,
Roger. ‘Murder in America: A Historian’s Perspective.’ Crime and Justice
25, (1999): 191-224
Linders,
Annulla, and Alana Van Gundy-Yoder. ‘Gall, Gallantry, and the Gallows:
Capital Punishment and the Social Construction of Gender,
1840-1920.’ Gender and Society 22, no. 3 (2008): 324-48.
Monkkonen,
Eric H. Murder in New York City. London: University of California
Press, 2001.
Monkkonen,
Eric H. ‘AHR Forum: Homicide: Explaining America’s Exceptionalism.’
American Historical Review 111, (2006): 76-94.
Roth,
Randolph. American Homicide. Harvard: Harvard University Press, 2009
Shipman,
Marlin. The Penalty Is Death: U.S. Newspaper Coverage of Women's
Executions. London: University of Missouri Press, 2002.
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