Author Roberta Senechal de la Roche draws from a wide range of sources to describe the riot, identify the rioters and their victims, and challenge previous interpretations that attribute rioting to interracial competition for jobs, housing, or political influence. Written in a direct and clear style, In Lincoln’s Shadow documents a violent explosion of racial hatred that shocked the nation and reveals the complexity of white racial attitudes in the early twentieth century.
Roberta Senechal de la Roche is a professor of history at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia. She has written several works on various forms of collective violence, such as lynching, rioting, and terrorism.