The Roots of Violent Crime in America: From the Gilded Age through the Great Depression

Criminologist Barry Latzer's book "The Roots of Violent Crime in America" challenges conventional thinking about violent crime in the United States from the 1880s through the 1930s by suggesting that cities enjoyed low rates of violent crime despite overcrowding and poverty, and that cultural predispositions and subcultures of violence led some groups to participate more frequently in violent activity. He also argues that the prohibition on alcohol in the 1920s did not drive up rates of violent crime.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 418 pages
Publication date: 07 September 2022
Publisher: Louisiana State University Press

The Roots of Violent Crime in America is a comprehensive analysis of crimes of violence, including murder, assault, and rape, in the United States from the 1880s through the 1930s, written by criminologist Barry Latzer. Combining the theoretical perspectives and methodological rigor of criminology with a synthesis of historical scholarship, original research, and analysis, Latzer challenges conventional thinking about violent crime during this era. While scholars have traditionally portrayed American cities in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as dreadful places, Latzer suggests that, despite overcrowding and poverty, U.S. cities enjoyed low rates of violent crime, especially when compared to rural areas. The rural South and the thinly populated West experienced much higher levels of brutal crime than the metropolises of the East and Midwest. Latzer deemphasizes racism and bigotry as causes of violence during this period, noting that while many social groups faced significant levels of discrimination and abuse, only some engaged in high levels of violent crime. Cultural predispositions and subcultures of violence, he posits, led some groups to participate more frequently in violent activity than others. He also argues that the prohibition on alcohol in the 1920s did not drive up rates of violent crime. While the bootlegger wars contributed considerably to the murder rate in some of America's largest municipalities, Prohibition also eliminated saloons, which served as hubs of vice, corruption, and lawlessness.

The Roots of Violent Crime in America stands as a sweeping reevaluation of the causes of crimes of violence in the United States between the Gilded Age and World War II, compelling readers to rethink enduring assumptions on this contentious topic.

Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780807178195