"A well-researched work of creative scholarship . . . Waldrep's book is an important contribution to our understanding of economic relationships, rural life, and violence in the late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century South."--George C. Rable, Anderson University

Illustrations ix
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction 1
1. The Black Patch 5
2. The Tobacco Trust 19
3. Farmers Respond 36
4. Local Problems, Federal Help 52
5. "Hillbillies" and "Possum Hunters" 63
6. Night Riders 79
7. Local Law 102
8. State Law 114
9. Federal Law, Local Order 130
10. "Shirt-Tail" Night Riders 140
11. "No Longer the Cockey Gentleman of Yore" 161
Epilogue 183
Notes 189
Bibliography 231
Index 255