From its settlement in the late 1700s, the Black Patch - an agricultural region of western Kentucky and Middle Tennessee - has been known for its dark-fired, heavy-leafed tobacco, so dark a green that it is called "black." But as the settlers of this region sowed the seeds of tobacco, they also sowed the seeds of violence.

In Violence in the Black Patch of Kentucky and Tennessee, Suzanne Marshall provides a thorough, engrossing depiction of the role played by violence in the development of the Black Patch culture.