Review: Herrin: The Brief History of an Infamous American City

Herrin: The Brief History of an Infamous American City by John Griswold
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I hadn't heard of Herrin, except as a "big" town the county over from where my Dad grew up. But you don't often find books covering recent history in Southern Illinois, so I downloaded this from the library. I found it quite excellent. Herrin didn't have 15 minutes of fame, but it has had 15 minutes of infamy a few times, covered by this book. You get some very early history of the area to start the book, laying out the early growth of the city and county. The author includes an anecdote concerning John James Audubon dealing with Herrinites wanting to steal his watch, which contains one of the pithiest comments I've ever read as a punchline, something like "and he was a watercolorist". Funny, and well written. The book then covers the rise and fall of the coal industry in the county, as well as the battles between the pro-Prohibition KKK and the anti-Prohibition bootleggers that involved government officials on both sides, and regular callouts of state troops. Interesting was the use of the town hospital as a hangout for the bootleggers, which was at one point the subject of a shootout. The author also covers the rise and decline of the unions. Note that the author's family was involved in the union, and the writing tends to highlight the union cause. The end of the book covers much of the lawlessness of battling bootleggers, including a mention of an early aerial bombing of a gang bar/hangout in the county. Through most of the anecdotes, people, usually county residents, are killed. There are as many people killed in the stories in this book as in a typical war movie. Amazing. Interesting, colorful, and nicely written.

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