CrimeSong: True Crime Stories from Southern Murder Ballads by Richard H. Underwood

New paperback edition with new materials including an Addendum and Reading Group Guide A 2016 Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Award Winner (True Crime) and a 2017 IPPY Book of the Year Awards Silver medalist in Southeast Best Regional Non-Fiction and a Bronze medalist in National Cover Design Nonfiction CrimeSong plunges readers into a world of violence against women, murders, familicide, suicides, brutal mob action, and many examples of a failed justice system. This compelling investigation of the gripping true crimes behind American ballads dispels myths and legends and brings to life a cast of characters both loathsome and innocent, shadowy history, courtroom dramas, murders, mayhem and music. Although these ballads and stories are set in specific times, cultures, and places, they present timeless, universal themes of love, betrayal, jealousy, and madness through true-life tales that are both terrifying and familiar stories that could be ripped from today's headlines. In CrimeSong, law professor and authentic storyteller Richard H. Underwood recreates in engaging and folksy prose the true facts behind twenty-four Southern murder ballads. Underwood has resurrected these stories and shares them with the reader through his old lawyer trifocals. Read more