Summary of Harold Schechter's Deviant

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 Wisconsin is a garden state, and the scenery along the highway from Madison to the north is picturesque. However, as you travel further north, the landscape changes, and you begin to feel as if you have entered a different, and far less hospitable, world. #2 The town of Plainfield, Illinois, was named after Elijah Waterman, one of its founding fathers. It was a small, neighborly place where old-fashioned values prevailed. #3 The town of Plainfield experienced a lot of tragedy and disaster, but it was also the site of a particularly vicious killing that occurred in 1853. A local squatter known as Firman was on a trip to Milwaukee, where he met a New Yorker named Cartwright, who was looking to migrate with his family to the Midwest. The territory around Plainfield desperately needed more settlers, so Cartwright accepted the offer of forty acres of land. #4 The lynch mob eventually dragged Cartwright’s body back to his house and threw it inside. His wife and children were horrified.