Vandal also compares the situation in rural areas with that in New Orleans, the states largest city. He examines the motivations for criminal violence and provides an explanation for the emergence of lynching as an acceptable form of punishment, especially against African Americans. This study points to a clear dichotomy between the general lawlessness of whites and the relatively nonviolent attitude of blacks during Reconstruction. Finally, Rethinking Southern Violence shows how black intraracial homicides became an important component of the general atmosphere of lawlessness in the South as the degradation of social, legal, and political conditions which characterized the Reconstruction period increasingly alienated blacks.

The quantity of data analyzed, the issues raised, and the methodological approach used takes Vandals work beyond the traditional study of violence in southern society. Not only does he deal with issues and subjects rarely addressed by historians, but he also opens new paths for understanding the roots of violence in twentieth-century America.