Missouri Books

After reading this book, I realize how things have changed! It would be impossible today to repeat the Missouri kid's journey to California.

The way he wove his story is so Missouri (good old slow-talking but ever-so-charming)

Thanks to James Scott for telling his story of growing up in America!

I highly recommend this time-tested research manual for anyone interested in learning to do legal research -- not just Missouri research. The authors take you step by step through the legal research process, with lots of examples. Great resource for students at all levels -- from high school debaters to law students.

This guide book gives you all you need to get to an area to climb and leaves just enough out that the fun in finding the area is still part of the climbing trip. Great route discriptions, this should be a must for your guide book collection for when you are off on that wild road trip you can stop and get some climbing in before or after you have crossed that great void known as Kansas.

Do you love mules? Do you own one or are you just curious about these intelligent, wonderful beings? Then you should check out this two volume set. It is full of valuable information and some of the most wonderful pictures I've ever seen.

Well written and very informative. A must for any long ears lover's library. Melvin Bradley has created an educational piece of work.

Having discovered the Off the Beaten Path series while planning a vacation to South Dakota, I didn't hesitate to pick up the Missouri copy to see what I was missing in my backyard. I'm really glad I did! Even though I've discovered many things since moving to Missouri, this book has helped me discover quite a few new places to explore. The book has broken Missouri into concise geographical sections, so when planning a trip, you only have to look at the section of the state where you'll be travelling. The usual topics of lodging shopping, and restaurants are covered very well, but what I find most interesting are the little-known cultural artifacts highlighted in the book. If you're planning a trip to Missouri, or live here and want to discover more of your home state, this book is highly recommended. One warning though: you'll never look at any interstate, especially I-70, the same again!!

I found a lot of useful information in it. I'd recommend it for those new to Missouri, stopping in for a visit and even to locals who want to find something new not far from home.

i got this book because we were heading to branson for a week long camping trip. we travelled with two eight year olds that were going to need to get out and move so i used this book to guide us across missouri and stopped a fun unique places that perked their curiousity. it really had some fun things and great suggestions - places i never would have found just tracing a driving path. great purchase!!

Missouri Pacific Diesel Power is an excellent photographic and informational resource for modelers and railfans of the Missouri Pacific railroad. Well balanced between photographs and text, the book includes extensive information and pictoral documentation of the wide range of diesel locomotives the Missouri Pacific (MP) used.

The book begins with a respectable introduction describing the beginnings of the diesel engine, a basic primer on the MoPac and its predecessors, and the construction of the MP's diesel fleet.

Each of the 22 chapters begins with a textual chronology of diesel acquisition for the time frame that chapter covers (i.e. "Prewar Passenger Power" and "Steam's End - Diesel's Success: Roadswitchers"). Following this information for each chapter are the complete rosters of the classes of locomotives relevant to that chapter. These rosters are grouped by purchase order, allowing for easy assessment of specific features on locomotives in any given "phase" within a locomotive model's production run. These rosters are headed by general information for that purchase order. The rosters then include specific information for each locomotive within that delivery, including original and subsequent road numbers, built date, built number, disposition and any other notes that pertain to individual locomotives.

The information in this book is extensive for those needing prototypical information to model specific units (for instance, if you want to know which locomotives carried "double eagles," you can find that information here).

The only disappointment is, and this is relatively minor, the number of black and white photos rather than color. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of color photos in the book, but the book certainly could use more of them, especially in the more modern sections of the book.

Overall, the information in the book outweighs the issue of black and white photographs, and I certainly wouldn't dissuade someone from purchasing the book on that factor. This is an exceptional, comprehensive work and belongs on the shelf of anyone who researches the Missouri Pacific.

I have a love for LDS history. I wanted to get a better understanding of the difficult events that occurred in Missouri in the 1830's for the the LDS church. Elder B.H. Roberts do a good job helping me understand how such terrible events could have taken place in the US. He should generally the LDS point of view but in the appendix added other histories written in the 1880s' that illustrated the Missourians point of view. I found them most interesting because while these histories continued telling us that the Mormons did not deserve the horrible things that happened to them, including being expelled during the winter with very little supplies from the state of Missouri. The writers of this history should little sorry for the Mormon people, only contempt because they were according to the writers, different or unusual.

Joel P. Rhodes (Associate Professor of History, Southeast Missouri State University) presents A Missouri Railroad Pioneer: The Life of Louis Houck, an extensively researched biography of business entrepreneur and self-taught railroader Louis Houck, who not only built an enterprise, but also brought art, culture, and formal education to all social classes. Though A Missouri Railroad Pioneer is at its heart an engaging glimpse into the life of a turn-of-the-century tycoon, railroad enthusiasts are sure to enjoy the insights into the evolution of America's railroad system. Written in plain terms for lay readers and historians alike, A Missouri Railroad Pioneer is a welcome addition to biography shelves.