Matthew G. Schoenbachler's Books

Murder and Madness

The Myth of the Kentucky Tragedy

By: Matthew G. Schoenbachler

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Murder and Madness

The Myth of the Kentucky Tragedy

By: Matthew G. Schoenbachler

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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Page Count

392

Publisher

University Press of Kentucky

Published Date

ISBN 10

0813139422

ISBN 13

9780813139425

Nikita Khrushchev's Journey into America

By: Lawrence J. Nelson,Matthew Schoenbachler

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Nikita Khrushchev's Journey into America

By: Lawrence J. Nelson,Matthew Schoenbachler

When Nikita Khrushchev toured America in 1959 —the first Russian leader ever to set foot in the Western Hemisphere, let alone the United States—the country was enjoying a period of unprecedented prosperity, just as the Cold War and the possibility of thermonuclear annihilation were causing widespread, bone-deep dread throughout the land. This book for the first time fully explores Khrushchev’s journey as a reflection of a critical moment in US life. Deeply researched and deftly written, Nikita Khrushchev’s Journey into America captures that moment in all its complexity and implications, describing not only the Russian leader’s occasionally surreal itinerary (a tantrum at being denied entry into Disneyland, for instance, or a near-riot upon wandering into a grocery store in San Francisco) but also the tenor of the crowds and the country along the way. Following Khrushchev from his arrival in the nation’s capital to the eerily silent greeting of hundreds of thousands of spectators to his tickling of pigs, kissing of babies, and glad-handing of union workers and farm laborers in rural Iowa to his encounter with President Dwight Eisenhower, Nelson and Schoenbachler’s work offers glimpses of the clash between a true believer in the Soviet system and the icons of capitalism and visions of prosperity he repeatedly confronted on his trip. At the same time the book shows us the American people of the time coming to terms with who they were even as they confronted the embodiment of everything they believed they weren’t: atheistic, socialist, and ideological. As the narrative unfolds, Khrushchev’s visit can be understood as easily the most democratic event of the Cold War, one that laid bare the depth of ideological commitments on both sides of the geopolitical divide as well as the key role of religion in shaping Americans’ reactions to the Soviet leader and to the Cold War itself.

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Page Count

296

Publisher

University Press of Kansas

Published Date

ISBN 10

070062788X

ISBN 13

9780700627882

Murder and Madness

The Myth of the Kentucky Tragedy

By: Matthew G. Schoenbachler

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Murder and Madness

The Myth of the Kentucky Tragedy

By: Matthew G. Schoenbachler

Average ratings

N/A

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Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

392

Publisher

University Press of Kentucky

Published Date

ISBN 10

0813139422

ISBN 13

9780813139425

Murder and Madness

The Myth of the Kentucky Tragedy

By: Matthew Schoenbachler

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Murder and Madness

The Myth of the Kentucky Tragedy

By: Matthew Schoenbachler

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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Age

Page Count

394

Publisher

University Press of Kentucky

Published Date

ISBN 10

0813173590

ISBN 13

9780813173597

Book's by Matthew G. Schoenbachler

Murder and Madness

Murder and Madness

Nikita Khrushchev's Journey into America

Nikita Khrushchev's Journey into America

Murder and Madness

Murder and Madness

Murder and Madness

Murder and Madness

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