Always for the Underdog: Leather Britches Smith and the Grabow War Metadata

Title

• Main Title Always for the Underdog: Leather Britches Smith and the Grabow War

Creator

• Author: LeJeune, Keagan
  Creator Type: Personal

Publisher

• Name: University of North Texas Press
  Place of Publication: Denton, Texas
  Additional Info: Web: http://untpress.unt.edu/

Date

• Creation: 2010-12-15

Language

• English

Description

• Content Description: Louisiana’s Neutral Strip, an area of pine forests, squats between the Calcasieu and Sabine Rivers on the border of East Texas. Originally a lawless buffer zone between Spain and the United States, its hardy residents formed tight-knit communities for protection and developed a reliance on self, kin, and neighbor. In the early 1900s, the timber boom sliced through the forests and disrupted these dense communities. Mill towns sprang up, and the promise of money lured land speculators, timber workers, unionists, and a host of other characters, such as the outlaw Leather Britches Smith. That moment continues to shape the place’s cultural consciousness, and people today fashion a lore connected to this time. In a fascinating exploration of the region, Keagan LeJeune unveils the legend of Leather Britches, paralleling the stages of the outlaw’s life to the Neutral Strip’s formation. LeJeune retells each stage of Smith’s life: his notorious past, his audacious deeds of robbery and even generosity, his rumored connection to a local union strike—the Grabow War—significant in the annals of labor history, and his eventual death. As the outlaw’s life vividly unfolds, Always for the Underdog also reveals the area’s history and cultural landscape. Often using the particulars of one small town as a representative example, the book explores how the region remembers and reinterprets the past in order to navigate a world changing rapidly.
• Physical Description: xix, 220 p. : col. ill.

Subject

• Library of Congress Subject Headings: Smith, Leather Britches, d. 1912.
• Library of Congress Subject Headings: Outlaws — Louisiana — Biography.
• Library of Congress Subject Headings: Outlaws in popular culture — Louisiana.
• Library of Congress Subject Headings: Grabow Riot, Grabow, La., 1912.
• Library of Congress Subject Headings: Grabow (La.) — History.
• Library of Congress Subject Headings: Brotherhood of Timber Workers — History — 20th century.
• Library of Congress Subject Headings: Labor disputes — Louisiana — History — 20th century.
• Library of Congress Subject Headings: Lumber trade — Louisiana — History — 20th century.
• Library of Congress Subject Headings: Neutral Ground (La.) — Social life and customs.
• Library of Congress Subject Headings: Folklore and history — Louisiana.
• Keyword: Outlaw
• Keyword: Louisiana
• Named Person: Smith, Leather Britches

Coverage

• Place Name: United States - Louisiana

Collection

• Name: University of North Texas Press
  Code: UNTP

Institution

• Name: UNT Press
  Code: UNTP

Rights

• Rights Access: unt
• Rights Holder: LeJeune, Keagan
• Rights License: copyright
• Rights Statement: All rights reserved.

Resource Type

• Book

Format

• Text

Identifier

• ISBN: 978-1-57441-288-8
• Library of Congress Control Number: 2010030471
• OCLC: 644642341
• Archival Resource Key: ark:/67531/metadc271418