Missouri Books

A Conservative Classic

Like many great books, this book has gone largely unnoticed by the current establishment. History, however, will correct this, I believe, as this is probably the best work in political philosophy in the last 45 years. People definitely will be reading and discussing this book 300 years from now.

This book can be appreciated by both layman and academic alike, and while naturally appealing to conservatives it will also will please learned liberals and thoughtful environmentalists.

I saw a review of this book in a conservative publication and was intrigued enough to buy it. The book is a series of seven essays, of which the first five were very thought-provoking and contained some excellent discussion. I would recommend the book on the strength of these alone. The basic idea is that we have stronger ethical obligations to those close to us. Fleming also emphasizes that in the messiness of human existence hard and fast rules that will allow a person to always make the correct decision are nearly impossible to come by. Fleming makes a good case for these points, and I think he is convincing. I loved Fleming's lines "moral certainty belongs only to saints and homicidal maniacs" and "men and women are not unidimensional figures cut out of cardboard by a philosopher's scissors."

I especially liked Fleming's comparison of wealthy nations providing food aid to the Third World to a lifeboat, in which we have an obligation not to take on more passengers either as immigrants or consumers. I agree that it is ethically permissible to refuse aid to societies that do nothing to reduce their population. In my opinion, any charity that provides food or medicine to poor people but does not provide birth control or other means of reducing population has a lot to answer for. I also liked Fleming's application of the same principle to taxes. When the money for yet another hare-brained income transfer scheme is coming out of what I earn for my family, don't expect me to like it.

Fleming wants the foundations of conservative ideas questioned also, which I think is excellent. For example, Fleming discusses the Christian commandment that we should love our neighbor as ourselves. Since no ordinary person possibly can or does love his neighbor this way, it seems pointless to base an ethical system on this. Objective points of view, taken to their natural extremes, will inevitably turn us into monsters who will kill for some higher cause or other. I liked Fleming's line that "one sign we are dealing with a superstition is the unwillingness of the believer to question basic assumptions," which he applies to Christianity. I've seen far too many Christians in precisely that position.

In the last two essays Fleming seems to get bogged down, though there are still some good points made. In the essay "The Myth of Individualism" Fleming argues that we should put less emphasis on the individual and more on community. That's fine as far as it goes, but arguing that our society's problems really come from seeing ourselves as individuals struck me as taking this idea further than his evidence will support.

In the last essay "Goodbye, Old Rights of Man," Fleming occasionally seemed to me to be contradicting much of what I had agreed with in the earlier essays. For example, he talks about abortion as killing real unborn children to promote an abstract quality of life. This strikes me as exactly the sort of hard and fast rule that he said was inadequate to deal with the messiness of human existence. I agree that you shouldn't abort a child for trivial reasons, but then you shouldn't have a child for trivial reasons, either. Is it wrong to abort a child if there are already too many children to properly care for in the family? If the parents have serious genetic defects? What if the local community is starving? What if the local community would starve if the population doubled? I agree with Fleming that today's obsession with rights has gotten out of hand; but it's not only the liberals who sometimes take this too far.

Fleming has a tendency to make sweeping statements irrelevant to his argument, without providing any support for them. For example, he calls today's environmental havoc, such as pollution, the residue of Western liberalism. He dismisses all of American art, and the theory of evolution, with the same casualness. Well, I'm a scientist who believes in evolution. I'm a little surprised that Fleming doesn't, given that evolution is all about the sort of messiness and contingency Fleming is writing about. I would suggest pairing this book with something on evolution, such as Stephen Jay Gould's book "Wonderful Life".

Fleming's ideas can be taken too far, which Fleming seems unaware of. It is all very well to be concerned first for our own families, but taken to an extreme the result is nepotism and corruption. The Renaissance popes are the classic example of this, but it is a serious problem in many countries. In the Philippines even the proper handling of church funds is nearly impossible, because people feel that if their families ask them for money they must give it, even if the money is not theirs. Nepotism is a problem in the U.S., as shown by the political career of George W. Bush, a man whose sole qualifications for office appear to be his famous father and an uncanny ability to remember people's names. Too much ignoring of abstract principles like equality can lead to disaster too: look at what happened to the ancien regime of pre-revolutionary France, and to the Russian czars.

Dr. Fleming's book, The Morality of Everyday Life, presents seven essays that examine, in depth and detail, the unraveling of our culture and government. What's that, you ask? What do I mean, "unraveling of our culture and government? Well, okay, take a look around. We do know, for example, that the combined various levels of government costs us half our income, that our hard-earned wages that we use to feed, house, and clothe our families is being transferred, by government fiat, to people we don't even know (not to mention the funding of certain, select corporations and fulminating academics), and countless other inane programs. Programs which are proven and utter failures, such as the $6 trillion war on poverty, environmental restrictions taken to an absurd level such as prohibiting oil exploration in a barren wasteland. Or how about the disintegration of the family and acceptance of degenerate sexual lifestyles? Or perhaps we could examine the countless times in our society when innocent people are convicted for simply protecting their homes and families.

These are just a sampling of the problems Dr. Fleming seeks to explore in his book. Dr. Fleming argues that since the birth of classical liberalism in the seventeenth century, a century that gave us "universality, rationality, individualism, objectivity, and abstract idealism," Western Civilization has developed a flaw in its ethics, moral behavior, and thus in the construction of its state apparatus. He points out that the two primary political philosophies, liberalism and conservatism, have both embraced a "farsighted" or "long view" of human life. The problem, then, is that both political "positions (liberalism and conservatism)" in order to engage this farsighted, idealistic, perspective of mankind (modernity) have in the very act of "freeing themselves from the shackles of particular circumstances and traditions" introduced an ethical virus that eats away at the traditional duties and obligations of the individual while disenfranchising the very foundation of human society, the family.

This sort of "one size fits all" thinking that government and society are pushing us towards is at once, both dangerous and absurd. For example: a man murders a storekeeper during a robbery. In a one size fits all society, the woman who kills her abusive husband in self defense would receive the same punishment

In his essay "Hell and Other People", Fleming describes the eighteenth century and the philosophies of "Voltaire, Kant, and (later) the New England transcendentalists" as the time when the concepts of "universal brotherhood, international law, and world government reemerged." The twentieth century saw the idea of a "just state," or government that is committed to "economic equality," the idea that one is to "sacrifice private life to public good," (can you say "eminant domain"?)not to mention the onslaught of self-righteous who are constantly interfering in the private lives of citizens. So the state has become the vehicle of moral certitude and each of us, through the wisdom of the state, is to take his place as "deputies" in providing for the necessary expansion in order that it might provide, among other things, largesse to the "underprivileged," justice for all, and, of course, the ever elusive, equality.

Dr. Fleming does not, however, stop at just revealing the problems, but details how America, as a people, can reverse the trends he has cited. I will stop short of discussing Fleming's outline and leave that to the reader to discover. This is an exceptional work from a brilliant author.

Monty Rainey
www.juntosociety.com

THE MORALITY OF EVERYDAY LIFE is one of the more interesting books on ethics that I've read in a while. Thomas Fleming, a top paleconservative writer, contrasts an "ancient alternative" to the liberal tradition. The liberal tradition (growing out of Descartes, Locke and others) is characterized by certain assumptions: Individuals and governments are the central players in ethical considerations; moral behavior is a question on rational decision-making; moral principles must be applied with equal consistency to all situations.

Yet the ancient (and in fact almost universal) way of looking at moral questions is different. I have different obligations to different people. My duties to family and the world are not equal. Charity, as they say, beings at home. To the liberal "citizen of the world" this is provincialism at its worst. "[T]here is a consistency of tone, a certain universal high-mindedness that is impatient with distinctions and disdainful of irrational attachments. Sentiments of loyalty, because they are not entirely rational, do not yield their secrets to analysis or measurement." [p. 103.] People who profess a love for mankind first and foremost have the tendency to be cruel to their family and friends. It's easy to justify almost anything in the name of one's love for mankind. (A point made in Paul Johnson's suggestive, if problematic book, INTELLECTUALS.)

Dr. Fleming's book, as one might suggest by my brief description, is hardly rationalistic and abstract. There are plenty of examples from "everyday life" illustrating the arguments of the book. My only complaint is that I had hoped Dr. Fleming would have situated his ethical approach within the tradition advanced by writers of the Old Right. Richard Weaver and Robert Nisbet are mentioned once, and Russell Kirk not at all.

Very well researched book on the New Madrid fault line. Chronicles many of the major earthquakes including the 1811-1812 quakes that rerouted the Missippi. Interesting graphs and charts. Nice comparision to other major earthquakes. Good information especially if you are teaching geology in the midwest.

From a person who lives in New Madrid, this book is very helpful. It lists all the things, you need to know. Strategies for your survival, stuff for an emergency case; food, water, toliet paper.

This book does an excellent job of describing the recent history of the New Madrid fault, and the impact of recorded earthquakes in that area.

The book also serves as an effective planning guide for government agencies, businesses, and indiviuals. Proper preparation is critical if this now highly developed region is to survive another earthquake or series of earthquakes such as those that occured in 1811-12.

The dangerous propensities of the midcontinental earthquake zone known by the name of the New Madrid fault system are part and parcel of life in the area where the Ohio River joins the Mississippi river system. In 1811 and 1812, a bone-shattering series of earthquakes took place here, three of which are estimated at over 8.3 on the Richter scale, devastating this region, creating new lakes, making the Mississippi run backwards for a time, raising hills, and changing river courses. If such a series of events took place today, the consequences would be almost unimaginable.

Atkinson's book explores these matters with a studied eye, an easily understoood writing style, and contains many excellent diagrams forecasting where future quake damage will occur, and in what amount. It also contains a shocking series of narratives about how little has been done to prepare for the next emergency. Make no mistake, the New Madrid earthquakes of the early nineteenth century are not the last seismic events in this region.

This book should be required reading for every local and state government official in this region and, especially for every civil defense person. While no one knows when the next giant eathquake will occur, and it may be some hundreds of years away, the magnitude of the potential disaster dictates readiness now. Examples would include strict rules regarding construction of building highways, bridges, pipelines, levees, sewage and water systems and the like. This book points out clearly what should be done.

I recommend the book highly.

In River City, Missouri, florist Bretta Solomon prepares the floral arrangements for the "wedding of the year", at least in the narrow mind of the mother of the bride. What should be an easy time for Bretta is a primrose path to the nether world as nothing satisfies customer Evelyn Montgomery who expects her daughter's nuptials to rank with that of Luke and Laura from over a decade ago.

Meanwhile Dan and Natalie Parker, owners of Parker Wholesale Greenhouse, host their annual Customer Appreciation Day, but instead of a gala event Dan finds the corpse of Marnie Frazier in the midst of his greenhouse. Though estranged from her dad Dan, Bretta joins Sheriff Sid Hancock's investigation. Since a resolution would immensely serve him well as he runs for reelection, Sid welcomes the amateur who has had success solving the case of A DEADLY BOUQUET. As others die, Bretta uncovers lab assistant Marnie's research that targets her dad's greenhouse where apparently a rose is not a rose while the culprit targets Bretta.

The latest Garden Mystery combines an amateur sleuth with a police procedural, but the opportunist paid professional sheriff is more the amateur while the fabulous amateur florist acts more the experienced professional. The story line is superb because Janis Harrison lays out her clues so that the audience receives a delightful straight forward murder mystery with evidence available for fans to find while avoiding the wild weird meandering to fool the reader with an unnecessary final twist. Those who enjoy cracking the case as a partner to the heroine will step into the garden.

Harriet Klausner

Just finished reading "Reap a Wicked Harvest" and found it to be highly entertaining. Once again, the author kept me guessing who was the murderer. Not until the last of the book, did it all come together.The more Janis writes the better she gets. Janis keeps me coming back for more twisted murder tales. Bretta and her Dad, hopefully, will have more crimes to investigate together.Thanks for a grand time.

Nothing ruins a party like finding a dead body in the middle of it. That's the challenge facing widowed florist and amateur sleuth Bretta Solomon when she attends the "Customer Appreciation Day" festivities put on by her friends, Natalie and Dan Parker of Parker Greenhouse. The dead young woman, a recently hired employee at the greenhouse, has a sharp object in her throat and a cryptic note near her body indicating she had scheduled a meeting with someone.

Though the sheriff and Bretta have had their tiffs in the past over Bretta's snooping, this time Sid welcomes Bretta's help. He's facing a reelection campaign and wants this crime solved by whatever means possible. Also lending a hand is Bretta's father, who thinks it would be just dandy to open a father-daughter detective agency. But even without the encouragement, Bretta can't help herself, especially when a few clues just fall in her lap and the sheriff can't put two and two together. Soon it appears the victim had been doing some sleuthing of her own and died for her troubles.

This was a lovely who-dunnit peopled with interesting characters, richly drawn and each with problems and a history of his own. I didn't guess the solution, though the clues were there. The crime itself was a bit improbable--I believe the villain's goals could have been achieved with far less trouble and intrigue. But by the time it all came together at the end, I'd been so entertained I didn't care. A clever and emotional story.

I love the character of Bretta Solomon but this was my least favorite book of the series. I missed her working in the flower shop and her antagonistic relationshiop with Sid. Perhaps I was just disenchanted with the storyline behind the murders and the heavy handed symbolism. I found it implausible how the killer wanted to reconcile the situation with Bretta when she first discovered who it was.

As a resident of the Greater St. Louis area, I was immediately drawn into the stories in this book. I was REALLY weirded out to know that the Book House, which is a store that I have visited in the past, is supposed to be haunted.

The fact that the book didn't contain any "pictures" of ghosts lost it a point.

The author and a number of others around town claim my father, Dave Hitzert, is one of the ghosts in this book. I'll say this, the claims that he has been mischief making, he took his job very seriously- he never missed a day- ever, are almost as hard to believe as the existence of his ghost. Another concern I have is that neither my mother or I was consulted for the book. I have a few interesting details that would have illuminated Ms. Courtaway's account. If Ghosts exist, I might have an idea of my fathers motives for sticking around. You can look into both the play he was working on and the day of the year, not the date but it's significance, or you can e-mail me at...
sonny_clips@yahoo.com, and I'll fill you in. My father was a great man and his story, ghost or otherwise, deserves a little better research.

Best,

Jason Garrett Hitzert

For many years Saint Louis has been a major American crossroads. Not only was the "Mound City" considered the gateway to the west but it also was a major port on the Mighty Mississippi. It is no wonder then that a town that has seen so much history is a very haunted place.

Robbi Courtaway has gathered numerous tales of the supernatural in the St. Louis area by both digging through old newspapers and by interviewing numerous witnesses. Indeed, most of the stories in this book are first person accounts and most of the haunts described are documented by several first person accounts lending this book a great deal of credibility. It is also noteworthy that many of these accounts come from self-described skeptics who didn't believe in ghosts until one basically walked up and bit them on the behind. Some of the witnesses are still not sure that they believe in ghosts but they can find no other possible explanation for their experiences.

The last chapter in the book deals not with ghosts but with a story that thanks to Hollywood has become one of the most famous supernatural events in American history. The famous exorcism that the movie "The Exorcist" was loosely based on was actually conducted in St. Louis and at the time that this book was written the last of the Priests involved was still living. The author conducted an extensive interview with Father Halloran and in the process debunked several myths that have grown up around the event. This was a marvelous chapter to end this chilling book with I think!

Finally, this author created an appendix that lists several other spooky places in the St. Louis area. Not all of these locations appear to be haunted but most of them have a haunted reputation. This appendix allows the author to point out to her readers that not every place that is rumored to be haunted actually is. It takes research and legwork to find out if there is a ghost hanging around any specific location and that is something that many authors in this genre are not willing to do.

I would suggest that maybe the book would have been easier to follow if the author had provided a little more geographical information. Many of the stories that she has gathered and investigated come from areas close to but outside of St. Louis. Sometimes Courtaway assumes that her readers will know as much about the St. Louis area as she does but I can assure her that this is not the case. Her writing style was also just a bit confusing at times but not often and for the most part the text had a very nice flow.

From what I can tell this is this author's first ghost book and quite frankly for a first effort this book is amazingly good with a perfect blend of history and haunts. The spirits that roam St. Louis should be proud.

Excellent book!! Anyone who grew up in Saint Louis or has lived here for more than a few years will really enjoy this book! The author Courtaway knew what she was doing by making the chapter about the infamous "Exorcism" the last chapter in the book. This is one of those books that is hard to put down. The authors writing style is at times given to confusing participles but for the most part is pretty fluid.
She definitely has done her homework on this one! It is a fantastic book and I would highly recommend it to anyone with an interest in the supernatural or just in local history.

From the road out front came the hard, tromping sounds of men marching. Federal Volunteers and hundreds of German immigrants from St. Luis, perfectly in-step. I ran to the window and leaned out for a closer look. I never am tired of watching them.

In Palma Smith Hill's A Voice From the Border, Margaret and Lucy experience hard times during the Civil War when their dad goes out to fight. One day she writes in her journal about this. She wants to fight also. Her dad set off to war in 1860. A few years later, Margaret visits her father. He is still alive. But one day something bad happens. She walks into her house and sees her daddy's boots lying on the floor. These are bad times for her. Something happy was missing from her life, her dad.

This story is for girls and boys because there isn't much talk about girl stuff. There is a lot of dying in this book. I recommend this book for kids 11-18 because there is a couple of bad words and a little violence. In conclusion, I really recommend this book for children 11-18.

While a lot of Civil War novels tend to focus on very well known battles or on the East coast, "A Voice From The Border" takes place in one of the most torn states during the war: Missouri, where Unionists and Secessionists battled each other and set up rival governments.

"A Voice From The Border" is about fifteen year old Reeves, whose father joins the Confederate side during the war. Reeves' neighbors are divided over the war, and even she is not entirely sure. Reeves' eleven year old sister, Lucy becomes friends with a staunchly pro-Union woman, Mrs. Brown, much to her family's distress. Reeves herself falls in love with Percy, a charming young Union officer.

Reeves' story is interwoven with quotes from writers such as Keats, George Eliot and Shakespeare and military dispatches. While "A Voice From The Border" starts out a bit slow and confusing, it gets much better later on as Reeves struggles with an increasingly difficult life. The only thing that's regrettable is that the romance between Reeves and Percy never really develops, though that is for a purpose. It's a very different take on a popular subject.

This book was Awesome. One night I read it and I cried the whole time. It was sad but good. I highly recomend this book. If you have the chance READ IT!

It was a wonderful book. Even if you are not interested in the Civil War, you cannot put this down. It's a great book for all ages. It has both interesting historical facts and human-interest issues.

As a reader of "Undaunted Courage", the Steven Ambrose historical biography of Meriwether Lewis and his patron, Thomas Jefferson, I felt like I received only part of the picture of the expedition that opened the Louisiana Purchase to U.S. interests. This book completes the picture. Clark was the steady, get-the-job-done, go-to guy, who complemented the mercurial Lewis. Where Lewis made only occasional journal entries, Clark is the principal source of our non-botanical/zoological information because he reliably performed the journaling function. The only criticism I would have of the book is the repeated drubbing of Clark as a slave holder and his perceived mistreatment of York. It seems that Foley feels he has to apologize for Clark, who lived in a different age with a very different view of slavery. Once would have been enough.

The author skillfully blends history and biography to provide an absorbing look at American frontier during the early to mid 19th century,
as well as a fresh narrative of the Lewis and Clark explorations. Foley
renders Clark in a sympathetic light, even when accounting for his often
harsh treatment of African-Americans and Native Americans. A well-researched and well-written book.

It's about time someone wrote a modern full biography of William Clark (1770-1838). The second-in-command of the legendary Lewis and Clark Expedition deserves a much fuller discussion than heretofore available. Born in Virginia in 1770, Clark was closely tied to frontier military and Indian affairs throughout his life. He served with Gen. Anthony Wayne at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794, and between 1803 and 1806 he and Meriwether Lewis led the military expedition to explore the Louisiana Purchase to the Pacific Ocean. In 1813 Clark became Missouri Territorial governor, working during the War of 1812 to secure the frontier from British-incited Indian attacks. When Missouri was admitted to the Union in 1822, Clark was appointed by Congress superintendent of Indian affairs, serving until his death in 1838. He was fair, humane, and honest in his dealing with the western tribes.

This book is an exceptionally well researched and written life of Clark, whose career, at least in its later stages, outstripped that of Meriwether Lewis. It is must reading for anyone interested in the Lewis and Clark Expedition and the settlement of the trans-Mississippi West. It replaces as the central work on the subject the biography written by Jerome O. Steffen, "William Clark: Jeffersonian Man on the Frontier" (University of Oklahoma Press, 1977).

William Clark is best known as the American explorer who joined Meriwether Lewis in heading an overland expedition to the Pacific: but as William Foley demonstrates in Wilderness Journey: The Life Of William Clark, how William Clark has many more claims to fame than his explorations with Meriwether Lewis. Studies have appeared on the two, but this is the first comprehensive biography of Clark's entire life, revealing his service as a soldier, Indian diplomat, and his involvement in US politics and policy-making in the West. College-level audiences will find Wilderness Journey a fascinating biography of a multi-faceted man.

This book moves along smoothly detailing the daily life as a prison guard in one of America's most notorious prisons. Written by a former U.S. Marine and experienced correctional officer George Gregory, he captures his life inside the prison from 1947 to 1962. After reading this book you'll definitely will feel what it would be like to work on the inside. Highly recommended!

Alcatraz Screw is the memoir of George Gregory, a correctional officer at Alcatraz from 1947 to 1963. A former Marine wounded at Iwo Jima, Gregory had the self-confidence necessary to handle himself well with inmates and his superior officers. He treated inmates fairly but firmly and didn't put up with any nonsense. His writing style is lean and plain with a 1950s flavor. Even if you have no interest in penology, this is an interesting book to read because it's the story of an honest guy competently doing his job as prison guard. It includes about 20 pages of photographs and maps.

This is a great book for anyone interested in what life was like on Alcatraz from an insider's perspective. Mr. Gregory served as a prison guard on Alcatraz and explains in detail the daily routines of the prisoners and guards. He writes very directly about the various jobs he had while there and what life was like. He adds a very human aspect to the people in his book while writing very "matter of factly." I was engaged by the book and did not want to put it down at times. Having read other books on Alcatraz and having been there, this book told me an insider's perspective that I had never felt I'd had before. I recommend it highly to anyone who has even the slightest interest in what Alcatraz was really like.

This book is a very interesting and detailed history of the 1944 St. Louis Browns. It takes you game by game through the ups and downs of the team led by Manager Luke Sewell. There are numerous photographs of all of the players from that season. While it is very interesting to see how these guys made it though the season with injuries and wartime callups, it reads a little like an Encyclopedia. I found it hard to read for an extended period. I'd pick it up and read 8 or 10 pages, and then I was done for a while. Even so, I highly recommend this unique history of the Browns one and only AL championship season.

This book has everything you wanted to know about the 1944 Browns and then some. Mr. Heller shows that the Browns were indeed a good team on their own and not just lucky because it was a war season. Even though I knew how the season turned out, the book still kept me in suspense! This is not just for St. Louis Brown fans, this is for *ALL* baseball fans.

Quite simply this book is an outstanding recollection of one of the most memorable teams in baseball history, the St Louis Browns. Heller takes the reader back to baseball during world war II introducing them to some of the classic players that made this lovable loser team American League Champions. It was a pleasure to read.

David Hinze and Karen Farnham have written a very readable work on the battle of Carthage and the events that precipitated it. The authors made an excellent choice in covering the entire early campaign in Missouri. While the light casualties and non-decisive nature of the battle might appear an unlikely study subject, this battle speaks volumes of future Gen. Franz Sigel's shortcomings (and strengths) and sets the stage for the pivotal battle of Wilson's Creek. Along the way it reveals the nature of tensions between Missouri Southerners, German immigrants and other Missouri unionists. The campaign nature of the book includes the Camp Jackson seizure/St. Louis riot and a reasonably detailed evaluation of the important Boonville skirmish (with map.) Boonville, despite its minor tactical nature, proved strategically critical in denying CSA access to much of Missouri's potential manpower.

The most striking thing about the battle of Carthage is how unique and downright odd it was: 1,100 disciplined mostly German immigrants and German officers in Federal service versus a still organizing Missouri State Guard force with about 4,000 armed men and cavalry. This was not a Confederate army, but a state militia called out by a pro-Confederate governor. There is a sense of absurdity in the Lilliputian infantry force seeking battle with a much larger force on an open plain--especially when one realizes the Federals had no cavalry while the rebels had a large force, and that the Federals were 100 miles from support. Sigel's poor judgement in his ill-advised attack serves as forewarning of his performances throughout the war. Fortunately, Sigel was reasonably gifted at commanding retreats and his disciplined Germans infantry and artillerists rose to the occasion. The Missouri State Guard cavarly was too raw and undisciplined to exploit what should have been an overwhelming advantage.

There are many minor but annoying typographical errors and some editing lapses. Some are confusing to those unfamiliar with the region or history. A simple example is referring to the city of Nevada as being near the "Arkansas" border (Kansas is correct.) While the authors describe the artillery action well, the term "howitzer" is apparently misapplied and used interchangeably and incorrectly with the correct term "gun" when referring to the MSG's 6-pounders. (There were no 6 pdr howitzers in the ACW.)

The Boonville skirmish description has some errors and apparent missed connections. The gun/howitzer confusion arises first when the author fails to note that the section of Totten's battery in action had both a 6 pdr gun and a 12 pdr howitzer on the field. The MSG role here could have been better researched and extended to Carthage. This looks like a missed opportunity. I am no expert on the MSG, but in a day of study was able to hunt down half a dozen MSG company captains present at Boonville who were later commanding units at Carthage. These semi-organized companies at Boonville formed an important nucleus for the force at Carthage. It might also have been fruitful to more deeply explore the Parsons/Marmaduke/Gov. Jackson arrangement that resulted in senior officer Brig. Gen. Parsons being absent at Tipton while his nominal subordinate was placed in command.

Despite the above-mentioned issues, I strongly recommend this book to any who wish to truly understand early Civil War history in Missouri. In addition to a number of passable maps of the action, the book includes a battlefield tour, some relevant photographs and other illustrations.

An in depth look at the early Civil War conflict in Missouri. Very strong on the background events which lead to the Battle of Carthage. Best reporting of the events of the battle that have been printed. Civil War buffs should have this book in their library.

There were sections of Missouri that yearned for the South, but the state remained a border state and never joined the Confederacy. The Battle of Carthage was a series of small engagements between Governor Claiborne Jackson's Missouri State Guard and Franz Sigel's Union army. Sigel fought the battle in classic Napoleonic style, complete with artillery bombardments. The State Guard had superior numbers that included cavalry. The Guard also endured poor leadership. Franz Sigel had the training and experience, but lacked cavalry for reconnaissance and to guard the flanks of his small force. For ten hours on July 5, 1861 the two armies slugged it out down the Lamar-Carthage road. Sigel's German immigrants did well but could not prevail against the country boys of the State Guard. The best Sigel could hope is, that he could avoid utter defeat. After a disciplined retreat, the Union forces survived to fight another day.

No doubt, this is an obscure topic to the casual reader. Hinze does a superior job of fleshing out the pertinent details. He presents the facts in a cohesive and interesting manner. The text includes fine detailed maps. Portraits of the main players are also provided. There are sufficient indexes and notes to satisfy Civil War purists. A battlefield tour and author interview is also included. This is a good book for anyone interested in reading Missouri Civil War history. ;-)

This book documents the history of professional baseball in St. Louis, starting with the short-lived St. Louis Brown Stockings in 1875 through the fascinating history of the St. Louis Browns before they became what we know of today as the St. Louis Cardinals. As baseball historian Bill James has stated, "A very good baseball movie could be made about baseball in St. Louis, 1883-86. It's got everything - - great teams, unbelievable characters . . . pennant races, World Series. Best material for a baseball movie ever."

This is a superbly researched book. Nearly every fact is documented and footnoted, primarily from first-hand accounts published by various newspapers and journalists at the time. Reading the Notes at the end of the book is just as interesting as reading the book itself. Drunkards, cheaters, womanizers . . . baseball in its infancy makes today's issues (steroids, over-paid players) pale in comparison.

The casual baseball fan will most likely be bored by this book, but to those who love baseball history and lore (especially involving the historic St. Louis Cardinals), this is a must-read book.

What did it mean to have a major league baseball team in the latter nineteenth century? How did the host city relate to it and what about its place in the life of the city's inhabitants? These are some of the questions explored in this excellent history of major league baseball (MLB) in St. Louis. Beginning as a dissertation at the University of Oregon, Cash has fashioned what is sure to become the standard work on the rise of MLB in the city that was at the time of the formation of the National League in 1876 the farthest west and south of any of the cities participating it. Cash spends considerable time on the excellent but short-lived Brown Stockings, the city's first entry into the National League; their namesake in the American Association in the 1880s, and the team that became the modern St. Louis Cardinals. Cash rightly notes that city rivalry between St. Louis and Chicago, including both prestige and economic factors, sparked much of the early interest by metropolitan leaders in MLB. He also suggests that in large measure the National League, and St. Louis's place in it, was possible because of the ability to travel between cities by rail. Without it these intercity leagues would not have been feasible.

The author also includes excellent discussions of Chris Von der Ahe and the origins of what became the Cardinals. Von der Ahe, a well-known St. Louis businessman, formed the St. Louis Brown Stockings in the American Association in 1880. He owned a beer garden and boardinghouse near a baseball field on Grand Avenue, and seeing that his bar always picked up before and after baseball games played there, he understood that baseball fans would be good patrons for his business. Mustachioed, Roman nosed, and speaking with thick accent, Von der Ahe was the prototype spotlight grabbing major league baseball team owner. He referred to himself, in his thick accent as "der poss bresident," and the fans loved it. He spent freely, indulged his players, and built an early baseball dynasty in the 1880s. Von der Ahe loved the celebrity his ownership brought him, for now he was not just a prosperous businessman but both a prosperous businessman and a public figure. It was an unbeatable combination, perhaps the real attraction for baseball ownership up to the present, and something repeated many times by many different owners since. In a city rich in baseball history, no one has been more significant in shaping the game in early St. Louis than Chris Von der Ahe.

Cash also details the collapse of the American Association in 1891 and the incorporation of the St. Louis franchise into the National League. Von der Ahe lost his fortune, had to sell the team, and it did poorly in the 1890s but eventually emerged as the fabled St. Louis Cardinals of the twentieth century, which has won more pennants and world championships than any other National League team.

This is an important study of baseball history, as well as in urban history. It is a decided cut above most other writing on the history of baseball, which concentrates on players and cute stories. Unlike so many works on the subject, it is firmly grounded in the documentary record and in the most recent historical thinking. Well done, Jon David Cash! "Before They Were Cardinals" is both a fine historical study and an entertaining reading experience.

Pesonally I really enjoy books about baseball before 1930. Back when baseball was more America's pastime.

The book itself was very well written and gave some real insight into the St. Louis-Chicago rivalary.

It was also interesting to read about the labor problems of baseball from 125 years ago. Odd to see really not much has changed just the dollar amounts the player's receive.

It was also neat to see how the beer makers of the 1800's were involved with the game and how without beer St. Louis probably doesn't have a team now.