Goat Castle: A True Story of Murder, Race, and the Gothic South
Language: English
Published by The University of North Carolina Press, 2017
- Hardcover
- Used

Seller: World of Books (was SecondSale), Montgomery, IL, U.S.A.World of Books (was SecondSale)
AbeBooks seller since December 20, 2007
Condition: Used - Fair
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Add to basketItem description from seller
In 1932, the city of Natchez, Mississippi, reckoned with an unexpected influx of journalists and tourists as the lurid story of a local murder was splashed across headlines nationwide. Two eccentrics, Richard Dana and Octavia Dockery?known in the press as the ""Wild Man"" and the ""Goat Woman""?enlisted an African American man named George Pearls to rob their reclusive neighbor, Jennie Merrill, at her estate. During the attempted robbery, Merrill was shot and killed. The crime drew national coverage when it came to light that Dana and Dockery, the alleged murderers, shared their huge, decaying antebellum mansion with their goats and other livestock, which prompted journalists to call the estate ""Goat Castle."" Pearls was killed by an Arkansas policeman in an unrelated incident before he could face trial. However, as was all too typical in the Jim Crow South, the white community demanded ""justice,"" and an innocent black woman named Emily Burns was ultimately sent to prison for the murder of Merrill. Dana and Dockery not only avoided punishment but also lived to profit from the notoriety of the murder.In telling this strange, fascinating story, Karen Cox highlights the larger ideas that made the tale so irresistible to the popular press and provides a unique lens through which to view the transformation of the plantation South into the fallen, gothic South.…
Seller Inventory # 00109583986
- Title
- Goat Castle: A True Story of Murder, Race, and the Gothic South
- Author
- Karen L Cox
- Publisher
- The University of North Carolina Press
- Publication year
- 2017
- Condition
- Fair
- Binding
- Hardback
- Language
- English
- ISBN 10
- 1469635038
- ISBN 13
- 9781469635033
In telling this strange, fascinating story, Karen Cox highlights the larger ideas that made the tale so irresistible to the popular press and provides a unique lens through which to view the transformation of the plantation South into the fallen, gothic South.
"Synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Review
A detailed, thoughtful exploration of race and crime in the Jim Crow South through a case that was nationally covered, capturing a country in the throes of the Great Depression.--ALA Booklist
Provides a definitive look at the 1932 murder of Jennie Merrill.--Publishers Weekly
Strange, fascinating and sobering, Goat Castle tells the story of [a] local feud, killing, investigation and trial, showing how a true crime tale of fallen Southern grandeur and murder obscured an all too familiar story of racial injustice.--Deep South Magazine
This engrossing tale of murder, injustice, and racial inequality will interest lovers of regional history as well as true crime buffs.--Library Journal
Cox dives deeper than the headlines, through excellent historical and journalistic investigation, to bring to light a horrible injustice.--Lemuria Books Blog
Never pedantic, this book is hard to put down.--The Journal of American History
The book is well researched and written.--Arkansas Review
Drawing on extant personal papers, correspondence, legal case files, prison reports, extensive contemporary newspaper coverage, and recently recovered photographs and oral accounts, Cox makes evident her diligence and resourcefulness.--The Journal of Southern History
A terrific read.--American Historical Review
"About the title" may belong to another edition of this title.
World of Books (was SecondSale)
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