Missouri Books

The Other Missouri History: Populists, Prostitutes, And Regular Folk explores Missouri history and its effects on all levels of society. A variety of essays by learned authors include "Race, Citizenship, and the Origins of Organized Labor in Antebellum St. Louis", "Survival Strategies of Farm Laborers in the Missouri Bootheel, 1900-1958", and "Prostitution and Reform in Kansas City, 1880-1930". Written with a keen knack for detail and explaining complex socio-economic fluctuations in plain terms, The Other Missouri History is a welcome contribution to state history collections especially for its revelation of the side of Missouri most traditional historical accounts overlook.

Written by historian Larry Wood, whose articles have appeared in "Blue and Gray Magazine" and "Missouri Historical Review" among other periodicals, Other Noted Guerrillas of the Civil War in Missouri is a close study of the more overlooked guerrilla fighters in Missouri. Most such studies focus especially upon Confederate leader William Quantrill and his close associates; Other Noted Guerrillas of the Civil War in Missouri scrutinizes fifteen guerrilla leaders who were not close to or had no association with Quantrill. From desperados and gangs to "The Notorious Sheriff Clem" and Bloody Bill's brother Jim, Other Noted Guerrillas of the Civil War in Missouri offers biographical information, highlights of major attacks and incidents undertaken by the guerrilla fighters, and a handful of black-and-white photographs. A welcome supplementary resource for Missouri Civil War reference libraries, due to its in-depth focus on fighters who carved their mark on history even though they received less renown for it.

An excellent tracing of an entire family lineage with an abundance of information as well as accuracy!!!

Outside Shooter: A Memoir is the personal autobiography of professional basketball player Philip Raisor. The pressure of serving in a team sport in the 1950's is aptly recalled (especially since this was an era when American society first took steps toward integration in professional team sports), steps as hotly resisted in the area of athletic competition as anywhere else. Both Philip's physical struggles and difficulties of conscience are astutely and honestly detailed in superbly insightful work which is especially recommended to the attention of anyone interested in the history of basketball as seen through the eyes of a player on the front lines.

I just finished reading Childress's new book this afternoon. I should have been doing other things for most of the past two days, but I just couldn't put the book down for very long. I've liked Childress's poetry from the time I first started reading it back in about 1997, and I've enjoyed articles of his that I've read, but this memoir is just wonderful. So well written, by turns folksy, wise, self-deprecating, insightful, touching. Childress has lived a hell of a life, and it is a measure of a great heart that he has come through it without letting the hardscrabble harshness get the better of him. This is a book very much worth finding and reading.

Coming from an english professor, this book is a masterpeice. Hawkins writes short stories beautifully. I highly recommend this book. If you are familiar with some of his other works, such as "Wedding Night," you will not be disappointed. In "Wedding Night," Hawkins creates a character that can be related to all people. He uses symbolizes remarkably.

This seemingly little book is packed with smoking and charcoaling recipes that will fill a lifetime with exellent meals, easy and fun techniques to produce delectable dishes. When you've tried them all, you'll be delighted to start over! Three sections each provide a comprehensive range of cooked meats with various degrees of preparation and time required. The rubs and marinades included are themselves worth many times the price of the book. This is so much fun!

I'm planning on it! And I am sure it will be awesome because I know the author and she is an amazing lady. She inspired me to be a writer.

Peacekeeping On The Plains: Army Operations In Bleeding Kansas by Tony R. Mullis (Assistant Professor of History, United States Air Force/Air Command and Staff College, Montgomery, Alabama) examines a violent microcosm of American history that served as a precursor to the civil war. Examining the useage of the army to conduct police and peacekeeping duties in the newly formed Kansas and Nebraska territories, Peacekeeping On The Plains offers a meticulous analysis of facts and records, regarding the true story of human greed, desperation, ruthlessness, and military efforts to contain potential riots with a strictly scholarly tone. Highly recommended, especially for American history and reference shelves.

The study of vernacular architecture involves consideration of all types of ordinary buildings as significant cultural artifacts. Over the past fifteen years, this field of inquiry has grown rapidly, incorporating scholarly methods and theories from disciplines such as art history, anthropolgy, folklore, social history and cultural geography. The twenty essays collected in Perspectives in Vernacular Architecture II represent the best and most recent scholarly work in the field. They deal with such significant issues as the forms of common buildings and how they are altered; diagnostic characteristics of building types, geographic and social contexts of buildings; influences of ethnicity, technology and fabric on structures; and methods for understanding and recording vernacular architecture. Articles that appear in this volume are selections based on quality and originality of their contributions from among papers presented during recent annual meetings of the Vernacular Architecture Forum. All other papers are abstracted in a special appendix. The Vernacular Architecture Forum itself was formed in 1980 to encourage the study and preservation of all aspects of common buildings and their context.