Waller exposes the social conflicts within the Tug Valley. For instance, she finds that Anderson Hatfield, former Confederate and leader of the Tug Valley home guard, began to threaten traditional ways when he entered the timber business. People considered that enterprise "risky, speculative, and conducive to dishonesty," and a challenge to the value system and way of life. "Devil" Anse forged an economic niche for himself and his family while he alienated many of his neighbors. He used the legal system to acquire timber land, thus making enemies of such men as Perry Cline from whom he won thousands of acres in a law suit. Later, in the second phase of the feud, the cantankerous Ranel McCoy no longer led the attack on the Hatfields. The vengeful foe was none other than Cline and his new powerful allies.
Cline's personal vendetta against Hatfield could only be successfully waged during the second phase of the feud when he could ally with Pikeville merchants, who sought outside investors and catered to the timber and coal interests, and the governor of Kentucky who planned to attract capitalists to the eastern mountain country. In fact, Waller argues, "Cline and the governor literally recreated the feud in order to suppress it." By doing so, Kentucky would be seen as a strong law and order state that could suppress the violent tendencies of its inhabitants and thereby attract capitalists.
http://beck.library.emory.edu/southernchanges/article.php?id=sc12-4_005
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