A Decent Orderly Lynching: The Montana Vigilantes by Frederick Allen

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Library Journal

A respected former reporter and editor who wrote 1994's well-received Secret Formula on the history of the Coca-Cola Company, Allen here treats quite a different subject: vigilante activities in Montana in 1864. The initial actions of the vigilantes were widely reported and approved at the time, but their subsequent legacy is largely ignored or unknown. A solid addition book to the limited number of histories of this movement, this book is valuable partly for its examination of the legal and cultural underpinnings and circumstances of vigilante activity, such as the limited and often ambiguous powers of the territories and the role of Civil War partisanship. Allen makes interesting connections and comparisons with the contemporary struggle to decide how to respond to terrorists and what legal rights and status to assign to them. The book reads reasonably well and is well grounded in both primary and secondary sources. Of particular interest to libraries in Western states but also to collections strong in Western history or criminal justice.-Charlie Cowling, SUNY at Brockport Lib. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.