"The Valley of Fear" is about the only Sherlock Holmes I've read since
childhood. I visited that part of Pennsylvania a few years ago and got
interested in the history. I read an excellent book called "Making Sense of
the Molly Maguires" by Kevin Kenny on the subject of the history, then
re-read "The Valley of Fear", because all the secret society stuff I half
remembered had suddenly been illuminated. It's a short book; I found it
perfectly readable and quite interesting. I don't know how it's regarded by
Holmes fans.
Stephen
On Thu, Jul 9, 2009 at 12:14 PM, sonny <sforstater@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> i never even heard of 'the valley of fear'. is it any good?
>
> --- On Thu, 7/9/09, Stephen Burridge <stephen.burridge@gmail.com<stephen.burridge%40gmail.com>>
> wrote:
>
> > From: Stephen Burridge <stephen.burridge@gmail.com<stephen.burridge%40gmail.com>
> >
> > Subject: Re: RARA-AVIS: Re: western vs noir, cowboy vs private eye
> > To: rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com <rara-avis-l%40yahoogroups.com>
> > Date: Thursday, July 9, 2009, 11:59 AM
>
> > As I recall there's no significant
> > western content in "The Valley of Fear."
> > It is based on the Molly Maguires, but not transplanted
> > west.
> >
> > Stephen
> >
> > On Thu, Jul 9, 2009 at 11:57 AM, Joy Matkowski <jmatkowski1@comcast.net<jmatkowski1%40comcast.net>
> >wrote:
> >
> > >
> > >
> > > That's a lot of fictionalizing. The Molly Maguires
> > weren't a union, let
> > > alone a corrupt union, and, more important, they were
> > in Pennsylvania.
> > > Was the whole kit and caboodle reset somewhere in the
> > Wild West?
> > >
> > > Joy
> > > now reading Connelly: Echo Park
> > >
> > > Patrick King wrote:
> > > >
> > > > A case could be made that A STUDY IN SCARLET is
> > the very first
> > > western/mystery cross-genre piece.
> > > >
> > > > *******************************
> > > >
> > > > THE VALLEY OF FEAR also had its motive set in the
> > American west. The
> > > villains in that was a gangster-run union rather than
> > Mormons. Both stories
> > > are based on fact. THE STUDY IN SCARLET take for its
> > premise the Mountain
> > > Meadow massacre of 1857 in which a group of high-level
> > Mormons instigated an
> > > attack on an emigrant wagon train, attempting to make
> > it look like a Paiute
> > > native attack. THE VALLY OF FEAR fictionalizes the
> > exploits of Pinkerton
> > > mole, James McParland who famously infiltrated the
> > mine workers union, The
> > > Molly Maguires.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
> > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> >
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------------
> >
> > RARA-AVIS home page: http://www.miskatonic.org/rara-avis/
> > Yahoo! Groups Links
> >
> >
> > mailto:rara-avis-l-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com<rara-avis-l-fullfeatured%40yahoogroups.com>
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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