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The Body in the Reservoir: Murder and Sensationalism in the South

Online ISBN:
9781469604374
Print ISBN:
9780807831786
Publisher:
University of North Carolina Press
Book

The Body in the Reservoir: Murder and Sensationalism in the South

Michael Ayers Trotti
Michael Ayers Trotti
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Published:
14 April 2008
Online ISBN:
9781469604374
Print ISBN:
9780807831786
Publisher:
University of North Carolina Press

Abstract

Centered on a series of dramatic murders in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Richmond, Virginia, this book uses these gripping stories of crime to explore the evolution of sensationalism in southern culture. In Richmond, as across the nation, the embrace of modernity was accompanied by the prodigious growth of mass culture and its accelerating interest in lurid stories of crime and bloodshed. While others have emphasized the importance of the penny press and yellow journalism on the shifting nature of the media and cultural responses to violence, this book reveals a more gradual and nuanced story of change. In addition, Richmond's racial makeup (one-third to one-half of the population was African American) allows the book to challenge assumptions about how black and white media reported the sensational; the surprising discrepancies offer insight into just how differently these two communities experienced American justice.

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