American History Too!

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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