In the lexicon of American violence, the defi­nition of lynching has evolved over time, a point Christopher Waldrep makes abundantly clear in this important study. Less concerned with the social motivations or collective be­havior of the mob, Waldrep sets as his interest "a history of how the people who championed their cause, or fought against it, manipulated the meaning of lynching" (p. 4) in public discourse about collective violence. This problem of language and nomenclature is at the heart of The Many Faces ofJudge Lynch.... The Many Faces of Judge Lynch defines its own niche in the blossoming literature on ra­cial violence. By drawing attention to the problem of language in public discourse on collective violence, Christopher Waldrep has made an important contribution to our understanding of an enduring American di­lemma.
Dennis B. Downey Millersville University Millersville, Pennsylvania
Journal of American History 90 (2004): 1484-1485.