"This author tells the history of the lynching of a Black man on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Matthew Williams was lynched in Salisbury, Maryland, in 1931. To a greater extent than thousands of others, Williams's lynching influenced local, state, and national history, and yet its history remains largely unknown. This is a work of forensic reconstruction by the author"-- - (Baker & Taylor)

Complicating historical narratives associated with the history of lynching in the city of Salisbury, The Silent Shore explores the immediate and lingering effect of Williams's death on the politics of racism in the United States, the Black community in Salisbury, the broader Eastern Shore, the state of Maryland, and the legacy of "modern-day lynchings." - (Johns Hopkins University Press)