Arkansas Books

This is a wonderful book by a humble statesman. His unwavering sense of duty to public service is inspiring.

You'd never know from the dullish title, but this is an interesting, well-written, authoritative book of Western history. The subject is the upper Arkansas River valley around the present city of Pueblo -- not one of the West's most storied locations. There are a number of famous people who pass through the pages of this book -- Kit Carson, John Charles Fremont, Francis Parkman, and the Bents -- but the main characters are unfamiliar and have unalliterative, forgettable names: George S. Simpson, for example.

All the disadvantages aside, Janet LeCompte has written a small masterpiece about a handful of ex-mountain men, Mexicans, and traders who established several communities along the Arkansas River from 1840 to 1854. In the latter year, the Ute Indians killed most of the traders, thereby erasing Pueblo's claim to being the first White settlement in Colorado.

Most of the histories of the west are expansive, looking a big men and events. "PHG" is micro, focusing on a relatively unimportant region, and deriving its importance from a reconstruction of daily life among the Anglos and Hispanics at the isolated settlements. The author says the book is about the men and women who struggled to make a good life "out of the wild Indians, stubborn soil and thin grass of the difficult valley." Their failure, unnoticed as it may be in the larger scheme of things, is the drama of this homely story.

Smallchief

When people think of the great generals of the Late Roman Republic, most think of Pompey The Great and Julius Caesar but there were other more obscure men who were just as great in their military prowess such as Lucullus. Another one of those men was Quintus Sertorius, the last Marian general who successfully repelled every commander sent against him in Spain for almost 12 years. Phillip Spann does a great job at bringing this facinating character out of obscurity: recounting his exploits and exploring what his true motives may have been.

Quintus Sertorius was a Sabine knight (equites) and a rather stoic man who tended to follow the path of moderation. He was extraordinarily brave and showed much endurance in war. While fighting the Teutones and Cimbri under Caepio, he was severly wounded, lost an eye, and still had enough strength to swim across the Rhone with his armor on. He also had a very strong affinity for nature and animals making his Celtic retinues in Spain see him as a man blessed by the gods. His greatest qualities would indeed be demonstrated in Spain where he came from Italy to escape from Sulla and form a resistance movement in 83 B.C. It was there that he would fight Sulla's forces led by Metellus and Pompey for the next 12 years. He outwitted his opponents with brilliant guerilla tactics all over Spain and Morrocco with a loyal following of Celtiberian and Mauretanian warriors who saw him as their new Hannibal. His military prowess continued until his death undiminished as he was eventually betrayed and assassinated by Marcus Perperna, his 'noble' co-commander who resented being surpassed in prestige and authority by a mere commoner.

The primary source on Sertorius is Plutarch and most of Spann's work is based on this narrative source. Spann also gathers all of the fragments of information on Sertorius recited by Cicero, Sallust, Pliny, etc. The amount of information Spann gathers for this work is impressive even though he makes some mistakes typical in classical studies. For example, in reciting Sertorius' early career, he states that Sertorius served under Quintus Servilius Caepio in Narbonese Gaul but he later confuses Caepio with a relative of the same name. Apart from these minor errors, Spann does a great job at retracing where Sertorius carried out his campaigns, the Celtiberian tribes he relied on, and speculating as to his political motives. Spann follows Plutarch's comments that Sertorius was tranquil and peaceful man who found himself forced to fight the Sullan forces for his own survival: arguing how he knew he was on Sulla's proscriptions and so essentially a dead man. The only way he could survive was to fight Sulla's armies until the bitter end. Spann's theory as to Sertorius' motives significantly deviate from those of previous scholars who saw Sertorius as an idealist or a champion of the populares. Spann dispels those myths by pointing to the fact that Sertorius mainly supported Cinna but strongly opposed recalling Marius; he indicates how Sertorius led his army to kill all four thousand of Marius' blood thirsty freedmen who had carried out the massacres in Rome. Spann argues that Sertorius aligned with the Marians because Cinna and his party were the only ones that could advance his political career against Sulla. Sulla was a bitter opponent of the equites who, like Sertorius, generally supported Cinna and/or Marius. Sulla had denied Sertorius the tribunate and supported the conservative cause of the patricians whose efforts in controlling the Senate would lead them to civil war against the supporters of Cinna and Marius.

This book is extremely valuable in the area of classical studies as there are few studies of this incredible character. Most books on late republican figures focus on Caesar and Cicero. There are even few books on Pompey The Great available in print. Spann has done good work in flushing out the facts on Sertorius despite some of his minor mistakes. I strongly recommend this book to any one interested in classical studies or one of Rome's greatest but most obscure generals.

Having just returned from Rome, I fell across this title online.

The book is FABULOUS. The history is wonderful (wish I had read the book before our trip). We wandered down this street and ate lunch in a trattoria there after visiting St. Peters. The drawings are exceptional. Regarding the Borgo Pio will be a coffee table book in our home.

Will go back to Rome, with this book in hand, and spend hours walking the area. So much more there than nice little restaurants!

After hitting the "highlights - must do" things in Rome, there are so many other ways to spend days there.

I have owned this book since 1996. I originally bought it for researching my family in Howell County, MO, but have since done many, many lookups for others. I love this book because it not only gives the biographical sketch of the individual, but in some cases includes a picture too. The biographies also are very in depth and include ancestors names and applicable dates if they were known. It should be noted though that the information in the book was given by the families, and it might include errors or misconceptions of truth. Still, it is a great resource and I highly recommend it. There are also historical sketches of the counties it covers in AR and MO.

This was a truly insightful and inspiring read. Highly informative and well-written as it reveals the strength and challenges of 3 unsung heroes of the civil rights movement. Speer, Jones and Treiber were no doubt pioneers of righteousness in a society that at the time lacked basic principles of virtue and morality. I highly recommend this book to all students of American and particularly Civil Rights history. I honestly can't wait for the author's next book!

Rosalyn Foy gathers a wide array of resources concerning the life of Mary Butts and complies them in an exciting and enthusiastic manner. The wit and spirit that springs from her words holds the reader's attention--this isn't just one long boring informative essay! Foy also gives a very up close and personal view of Butts, as she reviews her childhood, influences, friends and collaborators, etc. 99% of the other material (encyclopedias, articles) out there will only give you an overview; you won't experience her life closehand the way you will with this book. It's a shame that this is the only book written on the passionate colorful Mary Butts, but thank god Foy had the vision and insight to create such a wonderful piece of work! If you're at all interested in Butts, I highly recommend buying this book.

The preface from Edwin C. Bearss, Historian Emeritus of the National Park Service sets out in one sentence the very basis of this book: "The observant Strong "tells it like it is" out on the western border." This diary details a war to the knife, and the knife to the hilt; a story about Union Soldiers, white and "darky" (Colored U.S. Infantry units), fighting Confederates, Bushwhackers, Indians, along with the cold of one of the coldest winters in years, lack of food, and just plain old boredom.
This book details a fight that few know about from the War Between the States: that of fighting in the Trans-Mississippi, the country west of the Mississippi River. There are numerous books on the war that takes place in Virginia, Georgia, the Carolinas; these are nearly always by officers although you occasionally find one by an enlisted man. But when it comes to the Trans-Mississippi, there are few books on the War west of the Mississippi. This one is a real gem. It was so easy to place myself in the shoes of Private Strong as he talks about marching 12, 18, 20 and sometimes more miles a day, or having to carry all his supplies on his back and finding out he can get by on a blanket and spare shirt, burning what he does not want to carry, or the times he was hungry because of a lack of food. This book was a real delight because so many of the place names are still familiar to us today, as Strong hikes the road from Fort Scott, through Cowskin Prairie by Maysville, Cincinnati, Cane Hill, Fort Smith, Van Buren, and other marches over a two year period to Little Rock, Washington, Camden, Hot Springs, Ozark, Indian Territory, and other places. It details a life of seemingly needless drill, standing guard duty, foraging for food, guarding convoys out collecting hay, going to watch the "darkies" drill and parade (including the 1st Kansas Colored Infantry). He even mentions playing baseball, as a way to drive away thoughts of hunger! But this is the diary of a soldier. He writes about skirmishes and battles such as Massard Prairie outside Fort Smith, Jenkins Ferry, fighting bushwhackers all over Arkansas. Strong comments on the ability of the Colored Infantry to stand and fight, and seems to be impressed with them as fellow soldiers, expressing anger over the execution of them and their white officers at the fighting near Jenkins Ferry. "April 19 (1864) They killed after our boys surrendered the wounded that had been put in ambulances. If this is true no punishment is too great for them." One memorable event is floating on the Arkansas River, on the steamer J.R. Williams, which was seized near Fort Coffee (north of the town of Spiro, Oklahoma) by men under Confederate General Stand Watie while it was sailing to Fort Gibson, and his escape, evasion, and return to Fort Smith. It details the hunger of the civilians, deprivations by bushwhackers on the countryside, the executions of a few who are captured, having the blues from not receiving any mail from friends or family, and just being bone-tired weary from long marches in the cold, or in the rain and being soaked to the skin while on campaign to seek out and fight the Rebel Army. Strong writes about the joy of hearing about the surrender of Lee in Virginia, Kirby Smith seeking terms of surrender down near the Texas/Arkansas Border; and the mourning caused by the assassination of President Lincoln. Finally, the diary winds down as Strong writes about the long wait to be demobilized and his journey back to Kansas and his family.
This is a short diary, the book being less than 100 pages covering Private Strong's time as a soldier from his enlistment in August, 1862 to July 18, 1865, when he was mustered out and received his final pay. Professor Tom Wing, who teaches history at the University of Arkansas, Fort Smith, has inserted numerous footnotes detailing information about people, places and fights that Strong mentions in his diary, and some of these folks ended up fighting in other areas of the country. It was an easy read, and a most enjoyable book. It certainly is an important book because of the level of detail about the experiences of a soldier in the Trans-Mississippi Theater, who fought in the Western part of Arkansas.

Compiled and edited by Dana F. Steward, A Rough Sort Of Beauty: Reflections On The Natural Heritage Of Arkansas is an impressive and memorable compilation of thoughtful and erudite essays about the natural beauty, wildlife, and scenery of rustic Arkansas. A wide variety of environmentally-conscious voices add their insights and observations to this succinct and meaningful collection. A Rough Sort Of Beauty is very highly recommended to the attention and reading lists of Environmentalist/Conservationists in general, and to Arkansas Regional Studies collections and outdoor enthusiasts in particular!

Those of us who live and ride in or near Salida have known for years that there is much more to love about the area than the famed Monarch Crest Trail. But we would be the first to admit that some of the best of the riding in the area is rarely seen because it isn't necessarily easy to find.

Salida Singletrack has helped me to know the Upper Arkansas Valley better than I knew it before. I expected riders visiting here to benefit from a good guide book, but I never expected to have the book help me find new great rides right close to home.

Nathan's section for every "The Ride: Mileage Log" can help anyone with an odometer find the route. His descriptions are enticing and full of background information. Salida Singletrack is a fun book that's also very accurate and useful.

Pick up a copy of Salida Singletrack, then pay us a visit and find out just how good is some of Salida's lesser known riding.