VOGUES IN VILLANY Crime and Retribution in Ante-Bellum South Carolina.

Hardback, 1st US edn. A book full of crime and criminals - from misdeed to capture, trial and punishment. One of the striking revelations of this book is that while styles in almost everything have changed since the Confederate War, ante-bellum crime and the law-breaking of 1959, almost could be exchanged intact. In fact there was hardly any difference in the "popularity" of such crimes as murder and thievery in South Carolina before the War between the States and 1959. However, among the changed styles were those of punishment. Gone are the gallows, the whip, the pillory, the stocks and the branding iron, succeeded by more modern jails and prisons - and the electric chair. The subjects of this book murdered, stole, and committed other forms of villainy in a society essentially conservative and staid. But while criminals were being at least discomfited by public branding, whipping or hanging, these same staid conservatives crowded to the scene to be entertained. Illus. + Map, Biographical Notes on Author, Appendix, Notes and Index. 191pp. 8vo. h/back. Vg+ in sl. frayed and torn G++ dw.