The
Hatfields & The McCoys: The Epic Story of Murder & Vengeance HARDBACK
by
Lisa Alther
America’s
most notorious family feud began in 1865 with the murder of a Union McCoy
soldier by a Confederate relative of “Devil Anse” Hatfield. More than a decade
later, Ranel McCoy accused a Hatfield of stealing one of his hogs, triggering
years of violence and retribution, including a Romeo-and-Juliet interlude that
eventually led to the death of one of McCoy’s daughters. In a drunken brawl,
three of McCoy’s sons killed Devil Anse Hatfield’s younger brother. Exacting
vigilante revenge, a group of Hatfields tied them up and shot them dead. McCoy
posses hijacked part of the Hatfield firing squad across state lines to stand
trial, while those still free burned down Ranel McCoy’s cabin and shot two more
of his children in a botched attempt to suppress the posses. Legal wrangling
ensued until the US Supreme Court ruled that Kentucky could try the captured
West Virginian Hatfields. Seven went to prison, and one, mentally disabled,
yelled, “The Hatfields made me do it!” as he was hanged in the Bluegrass
State’s last public execution. But the feud didn’t end there. Its legend
continues to have an enormous impact on the popular imagination and to exact an
onerous toll on the region itself.
With a charming voice, a wonderfully dry sense of humor, and an abiding gift
for spinning a yarn, best-selling author Lisa Alther makes an impartial,
comprehensive, and compelling investigation of what actually happened,
masterfully setting the feud in its historical and cultural contexts, digging
deep into the many causes and explanations of the fighting, and revealing
surprising alliances and entanglements. Here is a fascinating new look at the
infamous Hatfield-McCoy feud.
“The
New York Times best-selling look at the country’s most infamous family feud.
Alther is an expert on the subject.” – Wall Street Journal
“An
exhaustively researched, well written, and beautifully produced volume.” -- Knoxville News Sentinel
“Well
researched…a fever dream of bloody revenge and forbidden romance deep in the
mountains.” –Lexington Herald
“Alther puts a new spin on the legendary
Hatfield and McCoy feud.” –Library Journal