Narrative Nonfiction Book Club: Bloody Williamson

This month we discuss Bloody Williamson: A Chapter in American Lawlessness by Paul M. Angle.

Williamson County in southern Illinois has been the scene of almost unparalleled violence, including the Bloody Vendetta between two families in the 1870s, the Herrin Massacre of 1922, Ku Klux Klan activities that ended in fatalities, and the gang war of the 1920s between the Charlie Birger and Shelton Brothers gangs. Paul Angle is fascinated by this more-than-fifty-year history, and his account of this violence has become a classic.