The Feud

March 4, 2013
The late 19th-century feud between two families in southern Appalachia has taken on near-mythic proportions—it’s spawned numerous TV shows and films, it’s been immortalized in song by Waylon Jennings, and the phrase “fighting like the Hatfields and McCoys” has become common. In this fast-paced tale, journalist King (Skeletons on the Zahara) draws on previously unseen materials to recreate the fascinating and lurid tale (“squirrel meat and white lightning” are traded at least once for sex) of the star-crossed families and their colorful patriarchs, Devil Anse Hatfield, who kept bears as pets, and Randall McCoy. Antebellum relations between the clans were harmonious, but the declaration of Civil War loyalties set the scythe swinging. King points out that many factors likely contributed to the feud, among them a Hatfield killing young Harmon McCoy near the war’s end, the accusation of hog theft leveled at a Hatfield by Randall, and Devil Anse’s son Johnse’s romance with Roseanna McCoy. Ultimately, the dispute would claim a dozen lives—the last a result of a Supreme Court decision that led to the execution of Ellison “Cotton Top” Mounts for his role in the murder of Alifair McCoy several years prior. King’s entertaining chronicle sheds new light on a legendary chapter in American history. 20 b&w photos, 1 map. Agent: Jody Rein, Jody Rein Books.

October 15, 2012

King here takes a big leap from the subject of his best-selling Skeletons of the Zahara, about 12 early 1800s American sailors dragged into slavery and then trapped in the Sahara after a shipwreck. But the subject is just as exciting: the bloody post-Civil War feud in Appalachia between the Hatfields and the McCoys that ultimately left 13 family members dead and attracted national attention. Part of our history; a big purchase.

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 15, 2013

The feud between the Hatfields and McCoys has been clouded by a century of yellow journalism, contradictory accounts by participants, and the development of a national myth. King (Skeletons on the Zahara) draws on a range of sources to dispel those fables and reconcile the differing versions of the events that tore two families apart for a generation. The result is a riveting yet nuanced retelling, discussing the two families, their neighbors, their allies, and the state governments, detectives, and lawmen who tried to stop the bloodshed. Though the book aims at objectivity, it does read as sympathetic to the McCoys. The large cast of participants may at times confuse readers (a biographical list of all major players would have been helpful). VERDICT This readable, engrossing book is for those with an interest in the events leading up to, during, and after the feud. Less biased than Lisa Alther's Blood Feud, it also breaks some ground that Otis K. Rice couldn't when he wrote The Hatfields and McCoys 30 years ago. Highly recommended, especially for those whose interest in the topic has been piqued by the recent TV series.--Claire Houck, New York

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 1, 2013
A featured voice on the recent History Channel series Hatfields & McCoys offers a detailed and generally dispassionate account of America's most notorious feud. Popular historian King (Unbound: A True Story of War, Love, and Survival, 2010, etc.) obtained the cooperation of both extended families and maintains a disinterested stance throughout his account of the feud that raged from 1865 to 1890. The author begins with a snapshot of the 1890 hanging of Cotton Top Mounts, a Hatfield, then traces the conflict back to the 1850s and slowly guides us through the ensuing decades. Useful family trees show the intermarriages between the two Appalachian families, and King periodically reproduces the trees with names of the victims crossed out. Dominating the Hatfields throughout was "Devil" Anse Hatfield, who somehow managed to avoid death and prosecution throughout the decades and died an old man. The McCoys suffered more grievous losses and never really managed to exact on the Hatfields the pervasive revenge they sought. King shows that there were multiple causes of the conflict and describes the spreading ripples of the interstate bloodshed. Lawmen, lawmakers and bounty hunters on both sides of the border kept busy. King highlights two of the most celebrated/reviled (depending) of the private and public lawmen--Dan Cunningham and Bad Frank Phillips. The author describes in detail the ambushes, night attacks and horrors that these families visited upon one another. He quotes contemporary newspaper accounts, takes us inside jails, up into the hollows, and into the minds and hearts of the participants, bystanders and victims. Near the end, King tells us that the families--both huge--unite for an annual reunion. An informed account--both reasoned and reasonable--of the irrational.

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Starred review from April 1, 2013
More than a century after the violence ended, the feud between the Hatfields and McCoys still evokes images of snaggletoothed rustics with a gun in one hand and a jug of moonshine whiskey in the other. The recent dramatized series on the History Channel attempted to present a more realistic view while regenerating interest in the affair. King, who served as an advisor on that series, goes much further in this well-written, superbly researched, but depressingly grim chronicle. The two families lived in relative harmony for generations astride the Tug River, which forms the current boundary between Kentucky and West Virginia. The families traded with each other and even intermarried. The roots of the conflict, according to King, are found in the political and military tensions generated by the Civil War. After the war, the tensions quickly escalated into violence, which intensified as economic factors, family loyalty, and outside interference complicated matters. King paints an unrelentingly sad portrait of families locked in a tragic struggle from which even moderating members seemed unable to withdraw. This is an outstanding reexamination of a mythic but all too real and savage story.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)