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Title details for Murder and Madness by Matthew G. Schoenbachler - Available

Murder and Madness

by Matthew G. Schoenbachler
ebook
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The "Kentucky Tragedy" was early America's best known true crime story. In 1825, Jereboam O. Beauchamp assassinated Kentucky attorney general Solomon P. Sharp. The murder, trial, conviction, and execution of the killer, as well as the suicide of his wife, Anna Cooke Beauchamp — fascinated Americans. The episode became the basis of dozens of novels and plays composed by some of the country's most esteemed literary talents, among them Edgar Allan Poe and William Gilmore Simms. In Murder and Madness, Matthew G. Schoenbachler peels away two centuries of myth to provide a more accurate account of the murder. Schoenbachler also reveals how Jereboam and Anna Beauchamp shaped the meaning and memory of the event by manipulating romantic ideals at the heart of early American society. Concocting a story in which Solomon Sharp had seduced and abandoned Anna, the couple transformed a sordid murder — committed because the Beauchamps believed Sharp to be spreading a rumor that Anna had had an affair with a family slave — into a maudlin tale of feminine virtue assailed, honor asserted, and a young rebel's revenge. Murder and Madness reveals the true story behind the murder and demonstrates enduring influence of Romanticism in early America.

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Publisher: The University Press of Kentucky

Kindle Book

  • Release date: June 29, 2012

OverDrive Read

  • ISBN: 9780813139425
  • Release date: June 29, 2012

EPUB ebook

  • ISBN: 9780813139425
  • File size: 2082 KB
  • Release date: June 29, 2012

Open EPUB ebook

  • ISBN: 9780813139425
  • File size: 2081 KB
  • Release date: June 29, 2012

Formats

Kindle Book
OverDrive Read
EPUB ebook
Open EPUB ebook

subjects

History Nonfiction

Languages

English

The "Kentucky Tragedy" was early America's best known true crime story. In 1825, Jereboam O. Beauchamp assassinated Kentucky attorney general Solomon P. Sharp. The murder, trial, conviction, and execution of the killer, as well as the suicide of his wife, Anna Cooke Beauchamp — fascinated Americans. The episode became the basis of dozens of novels and plays composed by some of the country's most esteemed literary talents, among them Edgar Allan Poe and William Gilmore Simms. In Murder and Madness, Matthew G. Schoenbachler peels away two centuries of myth to provide a more accurate account of the murder. Schoenbachler also reveals how Jereboam and Anna Beauchamp shaped the meaning and memory of the event by manipulating romantic ideals at the heart of early American society. Concocting a story in which Solomon Sharp had seduced and abandoned Anna, the couple transformed a sordid murder — committed because the Beauchamps believed Sharp to be spreading a rumor that Anna had had an affair with a family slave — into a maudlin tale of feminine virtue assailed, honor asserted, and a young rebel's revenge. Murder and Madness reveals the true story behind the murder and demonstrates enduring influence of Romanticism in early America.

Expand title description text
History Nonfiction