The body in the reservoir : murder & sensationalism in the South / Michael Ayers Trotti.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Trotti, Michael Ayers.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Sensationalism in journalism--Virginia--Richmond--History--19th century.

Sensationalism in journalism.

Sensationalism in journalism--Virginia--Richmond--History--20th century.

Murder--Press coverage--Virginia--Richmond--History--19th century.

Murder.

Murder--Press coverage--Virginia--Richmond--History--20th century.

History.

Virginia--Richmond.

Physical Description:

ix, 301 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Chapel Hill : University of North Carolina Press, [2008]

Summary:

Centered on a series of dramatic murders in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Richmond, Virginia, The Body in the Reservoir 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. But 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, Michael Trotti 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 Trotti 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.

An engaging look at the connections between culture and violence, this book gets to the heart-or perhaps the shadowy underbelly-of the sensational as the South became modern.

Contents:

Introduction - Discovering the Body 1

1 The Origins of Virginia Crime Sensationalism 13

2 Sensational Crime Comes of Age: The Cluverius Case of 1885 43

3 The Disenchantment of Sensational Murder 79

4 African American Sensations: Jim Crow Justice and the Richmond Planet 111

5 Images of Murder: The Visual Revolution of the Halftone 145

6 The Public Suspense Is Over 181

Epilogue - Mass Culture's Search for Disorder 207.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [217]-294) and index.

ISBN:

9780807831786

0807831786

9780807858424

0807858420

OCLC:

180204958