Michael J. Pfeifer is professor of history at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and the CUNY Graduate Center. He is the author of Rough Justice: Lynching and American Society, 1874-1947 and The Roots of Rough Justice, and editor of Lynching Beyond Dixie: American Mob Violence Outside the South and Global Lynching and Collective Violence, Volume 1: Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.