Synopses & Reviews
Policing the Elephant, the companion volume to Law for the Elephant, examines criminal activity and its consequences among travelers on the overland trail in the early nineteenth century. Reid consulted hundreds of primary sources to discover how justice was meted outand#151;without police, attorneys, or courts. Separating fact from fiction, he explores how emigrants dealt with spousal abuse, homicide, robbery, organized crime, and larceny. He also looks into famous episodes of executions. Introducing real people and real incidents, his book shows that Americans have been far more law abiding than television, the movies, and pulp fiction would often have us believe.
Synopsis
"This volume makes as significant a contribution to scholarship as did the first book,
Law for the Elephant, and will, I predict, force scholars to reassess the role of law in nineteenth-century America."and#151;Walter Nugent, Notre Dame University
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 245-289) and index.
About the Author
John Phillip Reid, Russell D. Niles Professor of Law at New York University School of Law, is the author of Law for the Elephant, Chief Justice: The Judicial World of Charles Doe and A Law of Blood: The Primitive Law of the Cherokee Nation, among many other works.