THE HATFIELDS AND THE MCCOYS

The feud between the Hatfield and the McCoy families in eastern Kentucky and nearby West Virginia is so steeped in legend that myth is accepted as fact. Historian Otis Rice seeks to cut through the fiction and explore the true story. He shows how the feud likely started—probably over a combination of stolen livestock, a star-crossed love affair, and unresolved lawsuits—and how there weren’t nearly as many deaths as is commonly believed. Dick Hill offers an engaging reading. His tone and accent are exactly right. He comes across like an Appalachian who knows when to get out of the way of the story. Yet he carries the passages of history and social science with a reserved, almost studied, air. R.C.G. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine [Published: AUGUST 2012]