Missouri Books

Our sunday school class is really enjoying this book. Once again, James W. Moore hasn't let us down. Very thought provoking.

We are doing this as a small group Bible study. Our ages vary from 43 to 85 and we ALL love it. We have done many different studies over the last 3 years and by far this is our favorite! We are almost through with this one and have already decided to go ahead with another one from James Moore.

A life worth telling is a story worth reading. Rosenberger reveals the life of an only child born of a highborn German immigrant father and a lovely American woman. Living in a working class Kansas City neighborhood during the notorious Pendergast era, a mischievious child, he served as an altar boy in the Roman Catholic Church. Rosenberger continued his service at the Church while growing into a delinquent, nearly criminal youth. Struggling to find his way, he chose the priesthood and did what it took to achieve his goal. He found the Church heirarchy corrupt and dishonest and was sorely disappointed when they set up roadblocks to the enlightened movement set out by Vatican II. Separating himself from the Church, he left the priesthood and struggled to find his way in the world, becoming a husband, father, and successful businessman. In time he became one of those courageous enough to stand up to the Church's practice of hiding the sexual abuse by priests. Essential for individuals who are interested in life in the 1930's, the Pendergast era, regional history, the inside the Catholic Church's practices and beliefs, and the sexual abuse scandals of the Roman Catholic Church, this is a revealing autobiography about a courageous man.

I was very interested in the subject from a priest's point of view. The author saw the abuse and the hypocricy of the church leaders. A fascinating and tragic story that is still shocking even after all the news about it.

This is a good book about Dr. Galahad. It has a medical atmosphere. Tony is a doctor and finds a wife. This is a wonderful book if you like books about doctors.

I enjoyed this book. It was deep and well-written. I am happy that Ms. Seifert won a $10,000 prize for it. (Probably about the same as $100,000 in today's money.) I know that the book took a lot of skill, concentration, talent, and patience to write, so she did deserve the prize. The book was an in-depth and interesting story of a loyal, dedicated, and extremely good doctor who took his "doctor vows" serious. In this novel, Ms. Seifert, takes us inside the hospital and gives us a vivid view of "hospital and doctor works". I was saddened that Tony did not get to marry Marietta, but married Carolyn instead (but I guess that's one of the things that makes the book so good). This book was soul- and heart-touching. It was powerful on the senses. It felt real, it was tingling, it was moving. It was great. This was a great first novel. It showed that Ms. Seifert has talent. I'm sure it was a great start for her writing career. I enjoyed this ! novel and finished the last page feeling moved and touched. I was glad I read it.

Huckleberry Finn is a classic. Simple as that. It provides a look into what life was probably like for a 19th century boy. It was different than the life of children today, because today life centers around education. Back then, it was a regular thing to play hooky, even though they got in trouble for it when they were caught. And when they were punished, usually it was with a beating instead of `You're Grounded!'.

The book shows us how badly slaves were treated. They weren't even considered humans! It was like they didn't have feelings, and didn't see things the same way white people did. They way the slaves actually did think was odd. It was sad to see that they could slap a slave for no reason, and the slave would accept it either because they were used to it or they thought that whites were better than them.

Huck Finn is rather unrealistic in the aspect of adventure. I'm guessing most boys back then didn't run off with an escaped slave to Cairo. The way that Mark Twain wrote the book was different than other first/second person books I've seen. The dialogue was very much like the 19th century southern Mississippi talk. Sometimes it got hard to decipher what a paragraph in slave-speak meant because it was so obscure.

All in all, Mark Twain's writing style is different than the traditional Southern book, but that doesn't detract at all from the story. I liked it!

This book is required reading for my 16 yr old son....the
book arrived quickly & in great shape! Saved me driving all
over town to compete w/ other parents also looking!! Thanks!

This was a required reading for my son's class at school. Although he enjoyed the story line, the use of the local slang (written out phonetically ) was difficult for him to read and distracting to the story, he felt.

I have heard about many of the essays included in this text and was excited to find that I could get them all in one book. I love the footnotes for additional information and the fact that the essays include both sides to teaching this book. I highly recommend for anyone who needs to know more about this classic text.

Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a timeless classic that lives up to its prestigious name. It takes place in an array of locations along the Mississippi river around the time of 1835-45. The story is about Tom, a free-spirited boy, and his numerous adventures with a run-away slave named Jim.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn proceeds Mark Twain's original novel, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, but within the first page Huck acknowledges this and says reading the first book isn't that important. However, I personally recommend reading The Adventures of Tom Sawyer before this book. While it is not essential, it adds a lot to the book and gives an initial understanding Huck's character.

The book starts right where The Adventures of Tom Sawyer ended: Huck is struggling to fit into his new found "civilized" life with the Widow Douglas. Huck is uncomfortably forced to learn to be proper while his fortune is held for him.

It wasn't long till Huck's Pap, the village drunk, came to kidnap Huck for his fortune. After living with his abusive father for a while, Huck decides to escape. One night, Huck feigns a robbery on his Pap's cabin and then feigns his own death. Huck escapes to a nearby island and decides to live there. Soon word spreads through town about Huck's death and the town suspects Huck's father, but then suspicions transfer to a runaway slave named Jim who was living on the same island.

Jim and Huck set off on a raft before people could find them. They embark on a series of adventures, including boarding the ships of robbers, murder mysteries, gunfights, family feuds, great storms, mobs, con artists, and other extravaganzas. During their voyages they also come to deal with a series of topics and realizations, such as the irony and hypocrisy of "civilized" and adult culture, slavery, racism, morality, human nature, and superstition.

Finally got around to reading this and must say it is one of the worst books I have ever encountered.It is dull, rambling, a real case of fishing for some sense in writing that flies and thuds with equal abandon,so that finishing it is more like punishment than pleasure.

My wife commented drily as she saw me reading this day after day that it was probably one of the least read bestsellers. Two decades after its controversial release, does this novel merit the considerable attention it demands from any reader taking on over five-hundred pages of often densely Joycean, exuberantly Dickensian, or meditatively magic-realist prose? I think the stories in isolation have many moments that reward careful examination. However, they are dispersed among long sections in which not much happens of any account, so far as the reader's concerned. Rushdie seeks to make a statement about the clash of East and West, the formation of Islam, a surrealistic trek from Pakistan to the Arabian Sea, and London's multicultural ferment. He does manage to explore all these realms, but only with intermittently engrossing scenes.

This novel took me days to finish. My favorite parts probably overlapped those that earned its author greatest hatred among Muslim critics: how the Prophet started Islam under the dictation of Angel Gibreel for me sustained my interest most consistently. The clash of Al-Lat, the female goddess worshipped in Mecca, and Al-Lah, the god who allows no competition, makes for intriguing tension as Hind, the representative of the polytheist old guard, squares off against Mahound the Messenger, who finds himself soon entangled in the dictations and prevarications of Gibreel. "The war between us cannot end in truce." (123) Rushdie contrasts this 7th-century reimagining of how Islam began with contemporary scenes set in London, that intensify other ideological clashes.

In one vignette, Pamela, the lover of Saladin, offers a poignant eulogy for the post-colonial era: "It has been quite a culture, brilliant and foul, cannibal and Christian, the glory of the world. We should celebrate it while we can; until night falls." (190) In exile in London, an Imam's condition spurs this reflection from the omniscient narrator: "In exile no food is ever cooked; the dark-spectacled bodyguards go out for take-away. In exile all attempts to put down roots look like treason: they are admissions of defeat." (190) I found such observations more durable than the fictional post-modern tricks that Rushdie used to keep the stories moving, as these often thwarted easy identification by the reader and wearied me.

Such narrative leaps are acknowledged, as Mimi notes: "I have read 'Finnegans Wake' and am conversant with postomodern critiques of the West, e.g, that we have here a society capable only of pastiche: a 'flattened' world." (270) "Salman the Persian," an early witness to Mahound's claims of being a chosen mediator between Al-Lah and the people of Mecca, suspicious of how the Prophet in seemingly contemporary fashion appears to be angling the revelations supposedly received from Gibreel as a divine messenger to suit his own mortal situation, observes: "This was when he had the idea that destroyed his faith, because he recalled of course that Mahound himself had been a businessman, and a damned successful one at that, a person to whom organization and rules came naturally, so how excessively convenient it was that he should have come up with such a very businesslike archangel, who handed down the management decisions of this highly corporate, if non-corporeal, God." (376)

This astute judgment makes it hard to take the Qur'an at face value anymore. Salman begins to insert what are called the "satanic verses" into the oral revelation, at first as a little joke, then as a way to bring down the pride of the Messenger whose fame and power increase as he is judged the recipient of the divine Revelation of Submission, the new faith that ousts Hind and the goddess-worshippers and the prostitutes-- an episode that numbers among the best in this tale. Mahound is determined to avenge himself in the name of Allah upon Salman and Hind and their kind: "Writers and whores, I see no difference here." (405) This contention between those who understand human desire and cater to mortal weakness against those who dominate the temptings of the flesh with the demands of the spirit-- all the while making exceptions for their own positions of power-- make for thoughtful pages here.

Finally, as with a nod to Nabokov, who'd I'd been thinking about when trudging on through Rushdie's increasingly complicated storylines, Saladin as Chamcha explodes in frustration at this knotted Arabian concatenation of one episode after another: "I give up, anyway. How are you supposed to read a man who writes in a made-up lingo of his own?" (456) This applies to portions here as much as "Pale Fire." The later section on the pilgrimage to the sea by Mishal and her contingent, as they plod on to the Arabian Sea, suffers by comparison with the more evocative scenes from the labyrinthine brothel or even the set-piece of a miniature London at a party on the sets of Shepperton studios. Rushdie has too many balls to juggle in the air, and it's still eighty pages to go. Still, it's probably rewarding enough for the patient.

The glimpses may be worth it, of Alleluia Cone's Himalayan portage, of Chamcha's polyphonic chaos caused at the expense of his rival and one-time pal Farishta, and of their exchanges on the relative distinctions of life lived in Bombay vs. London. No reader will fail to be moved by such chapters, but there's lots of languor intervening that challenges the casual visitor to this audacious and multi-levelled novel. It's all summed up to the moment, 90% through, on pg. 472 of the paperback in case you're totally at sea, however. Gibreel's dreams multiply as he faces the final apocalyptic (of course) showdown with rival Saladin.

Very strange book, but then I like strange. I fear that much of his artistry is lost in the translation. To really enjoy this book you must read from a different cultural viewpoint.

This is very dark fantasy with some good twists and turns.

A cross-cultural, modern morality tale by a master storyteller. Being a fairly schizophrenic work at times, one has to keep a good grasp of the whole firmly in mind while reading some very seemingly confused or ill-timed sections or passages. The pleasure, of course, is in seeing everything come together in its complexity as the story draws on. Not everything about the book is golden, per se, for it is impossible to completely understand if the reader is not fairly familiar with both western (read: British) and Indian culture. There are references, even behaviors, the reader has to take on faith, which can weaken the piece at times. It is easy to become confused, but if the reader presses on, continuity returns as a reward. Thankfully, the faults are far smaller than the victories.

I'm having trouble sticking with it. It's a little nebulous and I enjoy more concrete of a style. I'm still not sure what got him into so much trouble but it does speak to the attitude of Islamic people Catholics have been ridiculed and seem to take it better

I've just read Standing in the Rainbow for the second time and it was as entertaining as the first time! Fannie Flagg again takes ordinary people and places and tells their story in an engaging way to draw in readers' hearts. Set in Middle America, the story revolves around a group of residents of Elmwood Springs and their normal but intriguing lives that weave the town's tapestry together.

Fannie Flagg has filled this story with authentic people from a small town; people we would like to meet for a cup of coffee. They're believable and likable and you wouldn't mind having them for a neighbor.

The story begins in the 1940s. Fannie Flagg lets the reader relive or learn for the first time about five decades of American history--the good, bad and sometimes awful when we've gone to war. All in all it's an uplifting story and one that keeps you turning pages because you're so connected with her characters and can't wait to find out what happens next to all of them. A delightful read. I highly recommend the book.

This is one of my favorite novels by Flagg. A must-read for anyone who loves witty humor and lovable characters. Flagg is a wonderful southern author and knows how to tell a story.

This was a funny, heart warming, lovely book. I'm trying not to read this too fast because I don't want to leave the characters in the small town of Elmwood. This book will have you laughing out loud. Highly recommend it. I wish my mom was still living.....she would have really enjoyed this book. It brings back memories of childhood events for me in the 60's.

Standing in the Rainbow (Ballantine Reader's Circle) I was introduced to this book and this author through the book club I attend. This novel was a great find! I thoroughly enjoyed entering the world of Elmwood Springs, Missouri in circa 1940. Neighbor Dorothy and her friends have become cherished acquaintances. I loved this book so much that when I found a follow-up "Can't Wait to Get to Heaven" in my local library I grabbed that up and read it as well. Enjoyed it every bit as much as the first one. I highly recommend this book to anyone who would enjoy a feel good read and don't be surprised if you find yourself smiling or even laughing out loud frequently as you read about the folks of Elmwood Springs.

Standing in the Rainbow

It was hard putting this book down. I had grown so close to the characters that the author made me laugh and cry while watching them grow up. I enjoyed this book tremendously.

I hate to give this book a bad review but to me this book is too dark and too weird. The story being about a little girl killed and one gone missing should have given me a clue. Mysteries are my favorite but this just wasn't my cup of tea!

This is an extremely well-written and forceful book, especially for a first novel. There's nothing remotely tentative about this story of Chicago reporter Camille Preaker's return to her little southeast Missouri hometown to do a story on the murder of two local young girls less than a year apart. It may be the work of a serial killer and the local head cop is out of his depth, so they've called in a homicide specialist from Kansas City. But the murder investigation is only part of the story. More mesmerizing, and a good deal creepier, is Camille's re-examination of her own family, which brings new meaning to the description "dysfunctional." Camille's younger sister, Marian, died two decades ago at about the same age as the recently murdered girls, having been "cared for" by Adora, their vampiric mother. Then, a few years later, Adora had another daughter, Camille's half-sister, Amma, who, at thirteen, is extraordinarily pretty, precociously sexual, and who bosses the clique that runs the school with calculated cruelty. She's very much her mother's daughter. Stephen King, not noted for gushing endorsements of other people's work, comments on the jacket that the effect of the narration is cumulative, and that's exactly right. As you move farther and farther into this horror, you dread what you know is probably coming, but you're unable to look away, to stop reading. Flynn's style is both unadorned and exquisitely sharp. The former comes out in Camille's matter-of-fact description of her own pathology: She's a "cutter," having spent most of her life incising words into her body with knives and razors, cultivating the scars until she dare not wear anything but long sleeves and pants legs. The latter is demonstrated by the fact that this book just leaps with sly, quotable lines: "It was a natural gift for Adora, making other women feel incidental."

A visiting cop "peeled the label of the empty beer bottle next to him and smoothed it out onto the table. Messy. A sure sign he'd never worked in a bar."

In describing the way her mother manipulates everyone, Camille relates how the death of her little sister was so useful in that regard. No matter what anyone said, "my mother would not be distracted from her grief. To this day it remains a hobby."

Or, "Reporters are like vampires. They can't come into your house without your invitation, but once they're there, you won't get them out till they've sucked you dry."

Or, "`So hard to get good help these days,' she muttered earnestly, unaware no one really says that who's not on TV."

Or, "Like all rural towns, Wind Gap has an obsession with machinery. Most homes own a car and a half for every occupant (the half being an antique collectible, or an old piece of crap on blocks, depending on the income bracket)."

One of my favorites, in describing an acquaintance's rather bland husband: "He was good-looking if you looked at him long enough."

Flynn also has the knack of setting an entire mood by describing a single detail. For example, the little town of Wind Gap snaps into focus when Camille notes that she found the police chief "banging the dent out of a stop sign at the corner of Second and Ely, a few blocks from the police station." Or, of a group of 13-year-old girls passing around a bottle of rum: "The rim of the bottle was ringed with pink lip gloss."

Damn, that's good stuff.

This is one of those books you'll keep thinking about for months. Flynn is definitely going on my list of new authors to watch.

Solid book. Great twist. Maintains attention throughout. Disturbing at times. Wasn't expecting much going in but Flynn's debut novel was pretty impressive.

This is a depraved little thriller, in a sick, small town underbelly kind of way. No big surprises, really, but it held my attention throughout and in the end I was interested to see what happened to the tormented characters, and that's always a good thing. Recommended.

The razor blade on the front cover of the book is what one yearns for right after embarking on this read, sharp blade with which to cut every single page, one by one, until they are so neatly shredded that even the memory of what was written on them becomes non existent. And then, one can use the same razor to end one's own life.

I'm still unsure what the author was thinking when she began this book, unless she had some very deep and very disturbing mental issues to work through.

This book is dangerous and not because it excites one with a thrilling and suspenseful story. It is dangerous because once one reads it, one looses any desire to look for another book that may restore one's faith in the existence of good books with an uplifting charge. Not only is this book dangerous, but it is sick. Its underlying sickness is that it's emotionally draining and unless readers are looking to load up on more mental baggage (I can't think of anyone who doesn't have enough), I'd stay away from its pain.

The main character is a female reporter who returns home on an assignment (covering the serial murders of two little girls). As memories of her painful childhood emerge, readers find a lot more about her character, for example her alcoholic addiction and her obsession to carve words into her own flesh. Waves of her unresolved issues wash away further hopes of a challenging literary work as readers are practically dragged into her problems (not loved enough by her mother, not popular enough in school, not motivated enough in her work) and are subjected to the anguish of either feeling sorry for her or wanting to end her existence.

As disturbing details of the two murders resurface, readers are introduced to yet two more characters as equally unpleasant as the first. There is the psychologically unstable (almost emotionally poisonous) personality of her mother and the pathologically sinister and equally disturbed one of the teenage sister. And of course there are the endlessly problematic and mentally crushing details of the small-town's Midwest America (why would one want to read this is beyond my understanding).

This book robs one of smiles, of the beauty of life, and even of the reason for love. It is not only bitter, but leaves one with an unpleasant smell of what I'd like to call rotten feelings. I can't brand the book dull (as it did leave me with unwanted thoughts), but I can promise you that you'll feel dull once you've read it. I don't recommend it, but may compare the feelings I have for it to what Chuck Palahniuk's 'Choke' birthed in me.


by Simon Cleveland

Small Town Girl is easy and feel-good reading capturing many of the general feelings and emotions of the reader.

Perfect for inclusion in your holiday leasure reading.

I also liked "Then Came Heaven", but the "hero" in that was a janitor, which I found to be a turn-off. I don't mean to sound like a snob, it's just the way I feel.

Anyway, though romance novels have never been my thing (I like romance in my books, I just don't care for it to be the sole focus--I only read romances with the frequency that I do now because I want to learn how to write them as they sell five times more than all other genres combined), I loved this one, and since the last time I've read this, I've developed an appreciation for the romance novel, if not a great love for them.

Though I don't care for the new country music, I do like some of the old stuff, and I was excited when Poplar Bluff, Missouri (my birthplace and where I spent many summers as a little girl with my grandparents and other extended family), was mentioned.

But, those aren't the only reasons.

I thought Ms. Spencer did a good job with character development, for though the story wasn't anything new, I grew to love the people (or dislike them).

Though I understand Faith's (Kenny's girlfriend's) dilemma, being a Catholic and not being able to marry a divorced man (so it's better to just shack up with him???), I can't feel that sorry for her when she loses Kenny to Tess, because, as Kenny says, "Don't you realize how ridiculous it sounds that I've been dating you for half my life?" (This is not an exact quote, but something like it.) I was a little annoyed that Kenny and Tess couldn't wait until they got married to have sex--not a very good example to set in front of Casey, even if they were engaged, because engagements can be broken more easily than a marriage can be dissolved.

I really didn't see anything wrong with Tess not wanting to have children. I think it's wonderful that she loves Casey as her own. Not every woman needs a bear a child (nor a man) to feel fulfilled and if she does, then that isn't healthy, because her happiness is dependent upon someone else. Whether childless (not by choice) or childfree (by choice). We can all contribute to the world in a myriad of other ways--not just as a mother, but as a daughter, a sister, a wife, a granddaughter, an aunt, a niece, a good friend, or just a very good person.

Tess is a strong woman (weak women make boring heroines), and Kenny is a good man (though one can understand Faith feeling duped, even if they were just "dating"--they weren't even living together). I really believe Faith's pride was hurt more than her heart was broken, and I think Kenny felt this, too.

I am also glad Ms. Spencer made Tess a size 10 instead of something ridiculous (not to mention unattainable for some), like a size 2.

I just found this book when I was moving stuff out of storage. It's been in storage for at least 3 years and I guess I've owned it since it was first published in 1997. I have no idea why I never read it before this! It was fun, romantic, sincere and just portrayed many very charming people. I am now going to find some more books by LaVyrle Spencer and read them!

This story, I confess, I rented as an audiotape read by Melissa Manchester. In fact, I think the only reason I liked it at first is because Manchester is such a talented narrator. The story itself started out okay, but it was a cliche' romantic comedy--the kind Lifetime will probably make into one of their worse movies down the line. Tess McPhail, country star who comes home for a month to look after a mama with a bad hip for a month in a small town, falling in love with the next door neighbor she tortured in high school and helping his talented daughter to become a success in Nashville? This plot is so unbelievable, thin, and hokey that Britney Spears could use it as a smutty getup for one of her concerts.

Sure, I laughed a few times, but it was like the cliche' romance crap that only jello queens and teenagers unaffected by the cruelty of life can appreciate all the way through. Even Manchester was laughing during her narration where she shouldn't have been, and I wondered how much they paid her to read the book all the way through. I don't think it was enough, or they wouldn't have left her laughter in. I don't even like current country music, so that probably didn't help anything, but I was impressed by Spencer's knowledge of show business and the recording process itself.

That doesn't excuse the fact that the characters are mostly cardboard cutouts of movies and novels you've read or seen over and over, and you can predict the outcome right from chapter uno. If some idiot who picked on me in high school expected me to fawn all over them and got mad because they're some dare-da-dare-yeehaw millionaire, I would laugh at them so hard and torture them back every chance I got. I wouldn't roll around in the grass with them and cheat on someone who's been with me for 8 years!

The last two chapters made me sick when they were fooling around in the hotel, and then the wedding itself? This book was cornier than a farmer's field in July, and the plot was so silly and juvenile that it's incomprehensible to accept the fact that a fully grown woman wrote it. I was humiliated to have it in my possession, but not as embarrassed as Spencer should be for having written it.

I started reading LaVyrle Spencers books by accident. There were some books being given away in the break room at work and I thought the book was 'The Blessing' rather it was 'Family Blessings'. I WAS HOOKED!!! I finished this book ('Small Town Girl') last night and it was WONDERFUL!! I was sucked in and could not stop reading!! I was rooting for Tess and Kenny and wanted Faith to bow out gracefully!! If you like Country Music, Romance, and Family....you'll love this book!!

This is one of the most in depth and well researched biographies that I have ever read. Stiles did extensive investigation into primary sources when performing the research for the book.

There is a great deal of perception of Jesse James as a larger than life myth. Much of what he did was very much grounded in the history of his time and focuses on the Civil War as a driving force behind his actions and behavior.

James's father was a Baptist minister who left the family to go to California during the gold rush in 1849. While there, he contracted an illness and died when Jesse was still a young boy. This left his mother to raise Jesse and his siblings on her own until eventually remarrying.

The James family owned a good sized farm with quite a few slaves and so had a vested interest in maintaining the slavery structure. They were very much a part of the Confederate mindset and supported that side during the Civil War.

Jesse joined his brother as a teenager during the Civil War by banding together with a bunch of "bushwhackers" who were basically guerrillas (or terrorists depending on how you look at it) on the Confederate side. They would walk up to Union sympathizers who were often neighbors and point blank kill them in cold blood simply for being supporters. This instilled fear in the local populace and a general sense of uncertainty and terror.

People from the Union side did similar types of things to Confederates namely Jayhawkers from Kansas. Missouri during the civil war and the days afterwards had a feel like that of Iraq today. People of differing ideological backgrounds resorted to violence and force to push their political agendas and philosophies.

Following the war James stayed with the bushwhackers until they gradually dissipated. At first they targeted banks to rob with Union ties for political reasons. Eventually, however, the targets became less political and more for pure monetary gain.

One of the primary reasons for Jesse James's notoriety and fame was his frequent correspondence with newspapers. He was a voracious reader and constantly maintained his innocence in letters to editors. Newspaper man John Edwards became a champion for James and glorified him and his gang in articles. He cast them as heros and icons for the Confederate political agenda and used them in print to help advance political purposes. In that day, newspapers were very openly partisan and did not try to maintain an appearance of neutrality as news agencies do today.

As James et al gained more and more fame and notoriety, public outcry became much more pronounced against them while encouraging local and state officials to crack down and bring them to justice. After stealing from express companies similar to Wells Fargo who operated primarily via railroad, private business interest arose in tracking them down and preventing future robberies.

His gang branched out into other states as well such as Iowa, Tennessee, Minnesota, Kentucky, and West Virginia obtaining national attention.

The Pinkertons a private investigative agency were hired to find them but most of their efforts were fruitless considering the James/Younger gang's support from local friends and their knowledge of the backwoods.

On several occasions, Jesse was injured in gun fights some requiring lengthy recovery times. All told though he personally probably killed at least 20 men so came out on plus side from his battles.

The gang eventually met their match while trying to rob a bank in Minnesota where the people fought back and injured or killed many members of the gang. Jesse and his brother barely escaped back to Missouri once word got out and posses were gathered to track them down.

Jesse never could settle down to a life of honest work which resulted in his downfall. He was constantly suspicious of those around him but gathered a new gang to continue his exploits. A couple of brothers in his new gang plotted to kill him and eventually succeeded, collecting a hefty reward in the process.

Stiles book reads like a combination of a pure history and real life historical novel. The first 200 pages are primarily devoted to the historical background of the Civil War and environment James grew up in. The last 200 pages are focused more on Jesse's emergence as a bank/train/stagecoach robber, leader of a gang, and Confederate symbol. As mentioned on the book cover, Stiles debunks the myth that James was a form of Robin Hood and was instead mostly interested in his own fame and fortune.

At times the book moves slowly and is exhaustive in its coverage of the material but if the reader stays with it, he or she will have a very complete picture of Jesse James and the history of Missouri during the Civil War and the decades afterwards.

This book explains how the Civil War gave birth to outlaws like Jesse James. It is very well researched, detailed and interesting. A must for historians.

This is a fascinating work on Jesse James. It is not so much a standard biography as a "political history" of James. And that makes this an interesting read. The question animating this book is (page4): "Why should one set of criminals be so much more memorable than another?" The answer (page 6): " [Jesse James] was a major force in the attempt to create a Confederate identity for Missouri, a political and cultural offensive waged by the defeated rebels to undo the triumph of the Radical Republicans in the Civil War." Hence, his Confederate background resonated strongly with the politics of Missouri.

The book itself follows a chronological organization, beginning with Jesse's father, a preacher. It also describes his mother, a most formidable person, who remained an important part of his life over the years--and a strong advocate for her sons. The Civil War was critical for the family. Frank James rode with some of the Confederate irregulars, such as William Quantrill and Bloody Bill Anderson. Jesse was too young at the outset of the Civil War to be involved, but he rode with his brother, later on, with the partisans. When the war ended, the rage continued for the James brothers (especially Jesse).

The book contends (and it is a reasonable case as made by the author, although I'm not sure that all readers will be convinced) that James' outlaw exploits after the war were a continuation of that conflict by other means. He was, in the eyes of the author, something of a guerilla; he is also termed a "terrorist," in the sense of using violence to try to advance a political cause (this case may not be convincing to readers; I have my doubts that the case is very strong to adopt this language).

There follows an outline of his many robberies, the violence associated with them, the various members of his gang over time (including the Younger brothers), the ups and downs of their brigandage, and the political context in which their actions occurred. The political discussion appears to be done pretty well, placing the James' gang's depredations in a larger perspective.

Then, they detail nicely the disastrous Northfield, Minnesota raid (disastrous from the James' gang's perspective--not from those who wanted to hunt them down). Frank and Jesse escaped, Jesse (and later Frank) to rob another day. Then, Jesse's demise. The book ends with a quick summary of the fates of key players from this volume, and provides some satisfaction in bringing things to a close.

The political aspect to James, as argued by T. J. Stiles, the author, is very interesting and makes this an intriguing work. I am not sure that all elements of this work successfully (e.g., the use of the term terrorist). But the book provides a nice spin on the life and times of Jesse James.

This book was way too politically bias for me to enjoy, and the author went on at length more or less attacking James for being a southern democrat. He should get over it, most people who are familiar with James know that he was Rebel and fought for the south during the war. The author details the Pinkerton detectives and the politicans who were against James more then he does the central character which is James himself. If it was written by a less politically oppionated person it cooooooooould have been decent, but it still kept diverging from the central theme of James and the James gang often enough and at such length that at times I wanted to hurl it against the wall. I only keep the copy I own because of the sepia photo on the cover.
Read the assisination of Jesse James by the coward Robert ford, it or most any other book on the famed outlaw is surely far better then this account.

I picked this book up, like everyone else, as I was curious about the man behind the legend. Well, I never really learned all that much about Jesse James. I certainly learned about Missouri, Kansas, the civil war, bushwackers and the like, but not a whole lot about James.

It seemed well researched and Stiles writes in a readable style but it was not the book I thought it would be.

This book was very hard to follow and the story line was weak!

I'm not sure what the plot was supposed to be and couldn't keep up with the many characters in this book.

This book was like a soap opera on a college campus. It was hard to follow at some points because it jumped around alot. I ound myself flipping back and forth to keep the story line straight, but Ms. James was very descripitive and provided a great deal of detail in her writing.
I would recommend this book to other people as well as her follow up book "Beyond Our Mother's Footsteps".

I agree with the other reviewers that it would have been better to use real greek letter organizations. As a member of a Sorority, I too found it difficult to follow the different greek-letter organizations. I also didn't care for the jumping back and forth between the Betas and the Kappas activities. Subtitles should have been given. The author also could have done a better job of explaining the controversies that occurred. A lot of assumptions and inferences had to be made regarding the characters.

I think that this book was very hard to follow though it provided a lot of insight to the greek life on college campuses i think that it sometimes focused on the little things that did not matter or things that really did not tie into the story too well. Also the one major thing that drove me absolutely crazy about this book was how it went from one sorority to the next basically telling the same story over again which became really frustrating. Like the previous critic said I was just happy that I got through the whole book.