American Homicide1. What Does the Evidence Mean for Theories of Violence and Society?

Randolph Roth’s American Homicide is an impressive book which has been long awaited among specialists in historical violence. It is based on an enormous research effort matched only by the amount of reading in secondary literature that has gone into this study. Even historians disagreeing with Roth’s overall thesis will learn much about American history or, for example about the character and circumstances of intimate homicide. All in all, his quantitative evidence, covering much of the terri...