Missouri Books

Several years ago while at work, it became evident that at least for several weeks Billy Joels'well known song, "The Ballad Of Billy The Kid" was getting airplay at the same time each week. We could almost predict it and kind of expected it.I had heard it before but never really listened to it closely.Now, I was paying attention to every line as others may have,and took it for fact.This was right up until I heard a well known disc jockey discount the song and state that much of what was in the song was not fact at all but just made up ,fabricated and just literal allusion. At first I was taken aback, a little annoyed, but then I realized that Mr. Joel had to rhyme his words and possibly used what worked and to hell with the facts,which of course, was his prerogative.In doing so however, he did Billy The Kid a great injustice.Now I became curious for real facts about Billy and I did some searching and boy was I astounded at what I found.His life was nothing at all like the song or even what I had thought Billy the Kid was like based on my general knowledge of him picked up along the way.I envisioned a killer cowboy,a bank robbing,train robbing outlaw terrorizing the early west.Well,I have since developed an enduring respect for him after reading a very accurate and truthful history of him as written by Frederick Nolan.This book reads like a Russian novel.There are so many characters and people involved in the Kids world it boggles the mind.This book is completely filled with photos,maps,references and mini histories, one doesn't know where to begin. It does get jumpy at times where I felt lost in all the action but each chapter ends well seemingly tying up all the loose ends.How these guys did it and why anybody would go west is beyond me.But go they did and it was less than placid. The early west was a dry, dusty violent place and the Kid was right in the middle of it.His beginnings were confusing from a historical point of view due to lack of information and it seems he rarely experienced any lengthy periods of true peace.He always had to scrape for an existence,fight for scraps and he did defend himself as any respectable person would.He killed when absolutely necessary and was not the sociopathic killer history's tall tales have made him out to be.He had emotion,compassion and youthful exuberance and was well liked among his peers and was respected as well for his sense of fair play and justice.This it seems, was all for nought for his death was both tragic and violent at the hand of Pat Garrett who has his own version to tell and did for profit.He lived his life as best he could under the circumstances and remains a tragically misunderstood chapter of our midwest history. Just a blip on the radar, but a person who stood fast for his rights and was cheated out of a fair shake on more than one occasion. Nolan reflects that and is honest in his assessment of just what is truth and what is fiction.He attempts to dispell the myths and report the events down to their absolute truths without using dramatic,theatrical scenes.I did alot of research on Billy and boiled down the real books on his life.This book glared like a beacon for its honest assessment of just who and what Billy Antrum,and then Billy Bonney and then who became finally, Billy The Kid, was and what his life was from its mysterious beginings to its abrupt yet vague end.If Billy the Kid is a source of mystery that needs to be cleared then Nolans book is it.It is clearly evident that he did his research and would not fabricate facts to enhance the history.I recommend this book to Mr. Billy Joel.Perhaps he could compose a second edition more accurate to poor Billy Bonney to give him proper justice.As a book about the man and his times I highly recommend it.It is an arduous but fun read and when you hear the above noted song you will smile to yourself and know better and perhaps hold a place in your heart for the young man that history crucified perhaps a bit prematurely.The book is tops if you need or want to know Billy the Kid.

Nolan does a great job in describing the events of Billy the Kids life. One of the best historians out there. i would recommend this book for all who are interested in Billy The Kid. Unlike the book written by Jim Johnson this book is full of facts.

Fred Nolan is one of the most recognized and popular historians of the old west, but where he makes many of his mistakes is by repeating too many things written by previous authors without sufficient evidence. I find most of his statements impossible to prove incorrect, but there are a few problems in his writing. Also, the editing of his book has a few flaws in that there are many glowing contradictions within the book. But, if you can figure out where the errors were made, the rest of the book is interesting and appears to be factual. In comparison to the other books currently on the market on Billy, this is one of the better ones, especially if like good pictures..

Frederick Nolan has established a book on "Billy the Kid," which out does most before and after it's initial publication in 1999. An easy to follow book for all readers that tells the true story based on documentation and "real" proof to the life and death of "Billy the Kid." Bye far the best out there on this subject matter. Purchase it!!!

Mike Koch, Author of "The Kimes Gang."

What lacks in this describtion in the life og Billy the Kid, is a bit more detail in the last chapters. Clearly Frederick Nolan is most interestet in the Lincoln County War - thats why I give the book 4 stars and not 5.

Having said that I must hurry to make clear that this book probaly is the best biografy to read about Billy the Kid if you are just af normal human being knowning nothing first hand of the old west.
I am such a person, and when I started reading the book, Frederick Nolan unfolded the true old west before my eyes in a manner I have never imagined anyone would be able to. He writes in a nice easy-to-read way even for a guy like me who hasn't got english as my first language. He mannages to tell all the details of the story in such a way, that it is easy to understand what was going on, and why people were acting as the were - and that is a very big accevement as some subjekts in the book - for exampel the Lincoln County War - is af very complicated affair involving many different persons.

Frederik Nolans mission with this book is to show us the kid as he were in the old west as it was in the late 1870ties. And he succedes. He shows us a young man with a difficult childhood who has driftet from one bad area to another only to end up in the lions cave - Lincoln County - where a great cattle-war is about to break. And from their on his fate is seeled. Being the one he is with the past he has - he has no chance of avoiding bekomming a part of the war, and in the end one of the most feared - and wanted - outlaws in the territorry.

Giglio, a professional historian, spent many years researching his subject and produced, in my view, the first serious examination of Musial's life.

Given Musial's well-desrved reputation as a perfect gentleman and role model, many biographical accounts of his life slip into hagiography, but Giglio carefully avoids this trap. He cuts through much of the Musial mythology, and assesses the facts (laboriously compiled from archival research and interviews with many of Musial's contemporaries) in order to present Musial as a real human being.

You wont find much dirt in this book--Musial really was a good guy for the most part. About the only blemish Giglio uncovered from Musial's personal life was that he impregnated his wife 6 months before they were married--a mere peccadillo by contemporary standards, especially considering that Stan and Lil Musial have remained happily married for over 60 years.

Musial's only serious character flaw, according to Giglio, was an unwillingness to take provocative and controversial positions publicly on important issues of his time. For example, although Musial personally detested racism and bigotry, he never publicly condemned racist teammates like Enos Slaughter. According to at least one second-hand account, Musial and Slaughter once came to blows over the matter in private, but Giglio couldn't substantiate this, and publicly Musial has always denied that he and Slaughter, who died just a few weeks ago (12 August 2002), fought over the issue.

The only criticism I have of Giglio's book is his embarrassingly amateurish statistical analysis. In comparing Musial to the other greats of his era (Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron and Mickey Mantle), Giglio uses a simplistic ranking methodology incorporating some common statistics like batting average, home runs and RBIs among others, but he ignores walks and on-base percentage completely, and he doesn't even attempt to account for fielding statistics or ballpark affects. Anyone familiar with serious scientific analysis of baseball (e.g. the work of Pete Palmer, Bill James or the gang at Baseball Prospectus) will laugh out loud at obvious lack of sophistication in Giglio's analysis. Mercifully, Giglio's statistical analysis only takes up a few pages.

Overall though, I give Giglio high marks for producing an excellent biography of Musial. I feel I know Musial much better than I did before, and ultimately that's the best test of any biography.

The St. Louis Cardinals are a storied Major League Baseball franchise, second only to the New York Yankees in the number of World Series championships they have taken. Like the Yankees, the Cardinals have employed some of the most exceptional ballplayers ever, and the penultimate Cardinal has to be Stan Musial. Although Rogers Hornsby, Dizzy Dean, Bob Gibson, Lou Brock, Ozzie Smith, and a host of other Hall of Famers were Cardinals for the bulk of their careers, it is Stan "The Man" Musial who defines the team and its place in baseball lore. This fine biography by historian James N. Giglio explains why this is the case.

A sore-armed left-handed pitcher whose retreading into an outfielder might have been the most fortunate transformation of any player since Babe Ruth moved from the pitcher's mound to leftfield for good in 1919, he proved to be the greatest Cardinal of them all. In a stunning 22-year career, The Man (and no other identification is necessary) wracked up a .331 career batting average and won the batting title seven times, hit 475 career home runs, hit safely 3,630 times, was named Most Valuable Player in the National League three times, enjoyed perennial all star game appearances, and upon retirement held 17 major league, 29 National League, and nine all-star game records. While Musial played with the Cardinals it won National League Pennants in 1942, 1943, 1944, and 1946, and took three World Series championships in 1942, 1944, and 1946.

His career represented the pinnacle of all the great players produced by the Cardinals farm system. Musial's was also a career of great dignity and poetry both on and off the field, and he remains an icon in St. Louis more than forty years after his retirement.

Equally important, Musial epitomized the American heartland with its virtues of rusticity, small towns, Protestant beliefs, and hard-working. Hailing from the backhills of Pennsylvania's mining country Musial strode across the National League as a giant for more than twenty years, but one who never forgot that hard work, good manners, and honorable actions brought him to greatness. His streak of 895 consecutive games played stood as a National League record until broken by Billy Williams of the Cubs in 1970 and was one record that Musial especially prized, for it demonstrated his commitment to working-class values in the everyday task of showing up and playing the game of baseball. This is a fundamental part of the story told by James Giglio in "Musial."

But there is another side of Musial that Giglio finds less compelling. He was never a crusader and remained apart from the efforts to integrate MLB and to challenge the reserve clause that bound players to one team indefinitely. With his stature in the game and the society around him, with his secure place as one of the premier major leaguers of his era, he might have offered leadership in helping to end those injustices. He failed to do so. To his credit he did not oppose integration, but the Cardinals were one of the teams that put Jackie Robinson through hell in 1947 and Musial was essentially absent from the controversy. Personally detesting segregation, Musial might have mitigated the situation as the team leader. Likewise, Bob Feller asked for his support in forcing changes to the reserve clause to grant free agency for veterans with ten years experience, but Musial backed away in favor of the status quo.

While he was very much a man with quirks and faults, and a real aversion to engaging in controversy, Giglio shows a Stan Musial who was genuinely a nice, upstanding gentleman. Far from the fatally flawed anti-hero so common to Major League Baseball, it is refreshing to read such a book about a great player when so much about the game seems sordid with doping and other new scandals announced almost daily in the media. Of course, I still wish "the Man," as well as hundreds of other MLB players and owners, had recognized the racism present in the game and pressed to end it.

The book covers all phases of Musial's life, including his personal life and post-baseball life. Unlike many baseball bios, it covers some weaknesses in the personal characteristics of this great star, although there were very few in Musial. What I especially liked about the book is that the author contacted and obtained interesting information from numerous former major league players and others who knew Musial. The author had apparently written letters to more than 500 former major leaguers.

I couldn't put the book down. I'd rate it even better than the recent book I read about Ted Willimas, which I rated as the best baseball bio I had ever read. Stan Musial was my favorite ball player wehn I was growing up in the 1950s, and I wasn't disappointed.

If anything, I would have liked to hear even more about Musial's post baseball life, although there's a lot in the book. However, I understand Stan did not cooperate with the author.

This book is head and shoulders above the average baseball biography. Most sports biographies fall into one of two categories: either they're superficial, hero-worshiping treatments that present the subject as a faultless paragon and give little space to anything other than the subject's on-field exploits, or they're efforts to tear down the hero image and dig up as much dirt on the athlete as possible.

Giglio's study of Musial avoids both these pitfalls. Since Giglio is a professional historian, rather than a sportswriter, he brings a historian's thoroughness and depth to his research on Musial. We learn a great deal about Musial's ethnic background, his family, and his personal attitudes and character. Although the author emphasizes what a genuinely good man Musial was and is, he presents a nuanced portrait that accepts and analyses his subject's faults and foibles as well as his many virtues.

Unfortunately, there are always a few hard-core sports fans who flee in horror from this kind of book. All they want to read about is their hero's exploits on the playing field. There are others who live and breathe statistics and sneer in contempt when a book about a baseball star isn't full of Sabrmetrics. It's true that this book is statistically unsophisticated, but the author makes no claims that he's writing that kind of book. This is a book about a MAN who PLAYED baseball-- not a "baseball book."

I give it a four-star rating only because the writing is at times a little dry and professorial--but only a little. This is a great read for anyone who dreams of getting to know a baseball immortal, and one of baseball's genuine gentlemen.

Author James Giglio did not receive the blessings from Stan Musial to write this book, and Stan apparently discouraged others, at least according to the author, from aiding in this book as well. I found the book to be enjoyable and portrays Stan as both the baseball icon he so deservedly is along with frailities that make him human like the rest of us. I found it to be disappointing that he and Joe Garagiola, who are godfathers to each other's children, had a falling out that has apparently ended their friendship over problems involving their Redbird Lanes bowling alley partnership. According to Gigllio, Garagiola has tried to mend the friendship, but Stan wanted no part of it. Stan is not one to get involved in controversial matters such as race relations and the reserve clause which bound players to one team. Musial, while not against integration, did not use his superstar status to speak in support of it. In like manner when Bob Feller wanted him to support revisions to the reserve clause, Musial backpeddled when he (Musial) had suggested free agency after ten years of service and then stated he was satisfied with the status quo. He was in his element when he was in a relaxed atmosphere among people, but controversy made him back off. I did find a few errors in the book, primarily with first names of former players. Hall of Fame Cincinnati manager Bill McKechnie is referred to as "Joe". Former Chicago Cubs catcher Elvin Tappe is referred to as "Ted". Former Brooklyn Dodgers pitchers Chris Van Cuyk and Ben Wade are referred to as "Johnny" and "Jake" respectively. One additional error I found takes place during Stan's retirement party sponsored by the St. Louis chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America. Ernie Banks spoke and pretended to read a telegram from the NAACP which he said stood for "the National Association for Advancement of Colored Pitchers." Banks actually said, the "National Association for the Advancement of Cubs' Pitching." I have a copy of the highlights of the St. Louis BBWAA on a phonograph record and this portion of the speech is on it. These are errors I caught in the book that I felt should not be there. Four well known players of the time period should have their first names listed correctly, in addition to the error in the speech by Banks. There are probably others, but these are the ones I found. In any case I enjoyed the book, and it was worth my time.

The Chain Gang, written by Richard McCord, was an interesting synopsis featuring the undermining practices of the Gannett Empire. He tells his own story of his dealings with this masterful mega-chain and also his personal crusade against it. Overall the book was an excellent read and a necessary referance for any community journalist.
The information McCord produces with this book is almost overwhelming. He has no problem showcasting everything he discovered about Gannett, no matter how ugly. The shocking quality and amazing clarity of his wods would grab even those who are not at all interested in the details of the newspaper.
Another great aspect of the book is the way it lets the reader flow through it. The words are not unnecessarily difficult and the tone keeps the pages turning. The book leaves room for more thn just journalism issues. I think you can even substitute the newspapers for other kinds of businesses and still get the point across. We always need to fight for the underdogs, if not for them than for our own good.
There was one part of the book that I did not particularly care for. I thought McCord repeated some things too many times. I know he wanted to instill Gannett's crimes into our minds, but I found myself skipping over parts where it seemed like I had already heard about them. Besides this, I think the book was great and I am very glad I was able to purchase it.

As a newsroom employee of a once-proud independent newspaper that was bought by the Gannett chain in 1997, I was told by colleagues who had read "The Chain Gang" that the book was a cautionary tale which would reveal the dark side of the corporation that had become my new employer. Unfortunately, I didn't take those warnings seriously enough, and I took my time about picking up the book. Now that a few years have gone by, and the newsroom staff at the paper I worked for has been decimated by the kind of cutbacks the bean-counters at unscrupulous corporations like Gannett delight in, I wish I'd read "The Chain Gang" much sooner.

If you're in the newspaper business and not working for Gannett yet, the chances grow greater each year that you will be. "The Chain Gang" helps explain why, and it's a sordid story.

By the way, I now refer to the newspaper mentioned at the beginning of this review as the paper I "worked" for, because after I challenged whether the paper and Gannett were living up to a corporate "ethics policy" Gannett professes to have adopted in 1999, I was transferred, against my wishes, to a much smaller newspaper the company owns. I'm continuing to try to fight that action -- not that I hope to have any kind of career with Gannett, of course -- but it would probably help to have someone like Richard McCord on my side, in his feistiest, most energized mode.

Having said that, my only real complaint with "The Chain Gang" is the melancholy, defeatist tone of much of McCord's epilogue, in which, despite the admirable personal triumphs he scored in battling Gannett, he ultimately depicts his efforts as gestures bordering on futility. But I can hardly fault McCord for his candor -- something any Gannett employee is bound to find refreshing.

It's truly appalling that such a shady company is among the corporations to which Americans apparently will be entrusting an increasingly disproportionate responsibility for upholding a freedom as precious as the First Amendment.

Can I give "The Chain Gang" any higher praise than to say that upon reading it I immediately bought a half-dozen copies to distribute to friends in the journalism business? But you needn't be a reporter or editor to appreciate this book. In fact, the focus is less on the journalism side of the newspaper business than it is on the advertising and marketing side. But that's appropriate, since that's clearly where Gannett's focus is too.

You don't have to be in the newspaper business to find this book interesting. Even if all you do is read newspapers, or use them to line the rabbit cage, you will be astonished. This exhaustively researched, extremely well-written account demonstrates in graphic detail the lengths to which a desperate monopolist will go to achieve and preserve its monopoly profits. This is a really important book.

For one who was currently employed by Gannett and had never heard of its ways, this book could be a kick in the face.

I enjoyed "The Chain Gang" because of its raw, solid descriptions of what tactics someone can use to get what they want. It almost reminded me of a spoiled child. Richard McCord, its author, is obviously a very hardworking man who genuinely cares about what he does. Above all, he must have a big heart for people and the journalistic business itself.

This book did more than provide an interesting view to its readers, it provided information for one to learn from. It was full of details, honesty, and insight. McCord shared his every thought with the reader about the whole ordeal, begining with his struggles in New Mexico. He was honest about his feelings about the whole Green Bay Project, the people he came in contact with, the homesickness he felt and even how he felt after a hangover his next to last night in Green Bay. The reader appreciates honesty instead of words that are just expected.

The book, however provided too much detail at times. No being interested in law, there were times I got bored with the different cases and rulings that were thrown out at me throughout the book. Often times, I lost my concentration because of this. It felt, at other times, that he went on and on about some of Gannett's tactics as if this way was his only means to get the message across. Sometimes I think short would have been sweeter.

All in all, the book was very informative and a fairly easy read. I would recommend it to anyone before they began working for a Gannett-owened paper. It just might make them change their mind.

This is an incredible book. First of all, it's a great read. It's written by a journalist and it's compelling--I couldn't put it down. It should be made into a movie. And it's all true.

It recounts how Gannett, the nation's biggest newspaper chain, resorts to illegal, and immoral tactics to force other newspapers out of business. Gannett can be perfectly profitable WITHOUT eliminating the competition, but if it has a monopoly, it can make over 30 percent profits with its newspapers.

This book also tells what Gannett does to the papers it consumes--namely, slashes content, puts articles about dogs on the front pages, increases advertising, raises subscription AND advertiser rates, fires lots of employees, etc.

I normally don't read fiction, but a friend talked me into getting and reading this book. It moved extremely fast and because there was a little history with the story, I loved every minute of it. I have now passed it along to another 7 people and have 4 more waiting to read it. Everyone that has read the book all say, what a great move it would make. History, sex, murder and more, the perfect movie script.

Lehrer's improbable yet fascinating plot takes unpredictable twists and turns. As a regular viewer of his impeccably factual nightly news program, I found his startlingly imaginative plot surprising and delightful.

While the writing and detail of the this book where good. The story line was pretty predicatble. Half way through (or less) you knew where this story was going to end up. Still it was charming none the less.

I'd never read any of Jim Lehrer's fourteen novels until this one and then only because my wife told me she thought I'd enjoy it. As a retired Kansas City psychiatrist, I was indeed fascinated by both the focus on Kansas City scenes and on the kind of treatment received by mental patients back in the 1920s and 1930s. But more than that I was caught up in the story of four men separated by generations, a 'lunatic' who murdered his family in 1905, a boy who witnessed Kansas City's 1933 Union Station massacre, a young doctor working in a 'lunatic asylum,' and a current-day Kansas City police officer. The story moves seamlessly back and forth between these periods in a way that is not only not confusing but is downright illuminating, managing to tell how the lives of these four men intersected. I admire the way Lehrer drops in historical detail in subtle ways so that we form in our minds a picture of the times. And I particularly liked the way he limned the humanity of all four main characters so that we not only find them interesting, we grow to care about them.

I would recommend this book to anyone, not just to those who are interested in midwestern history and the history of one of the most newsworthy events of the 1930s.

Scott Morrison

At the beginning, this book read as if it would be an expose on lunatic asylums in the first half of this century. After a start that was a bit slow, it turned out to be a warm mystery that was all about friendship.

In 1997, the Union Train Station in Kansas City is about to be demolished. When the police sweep the building to clear it, a man named Birdie is found. Birdie has lived in the station for 63 years. He was a former inmate of Somerset Asylum who escaped in 1933 and "moved in" to the Station. During his short tenure at the asylum, he is befriended by Josh who helped him escape. The book then flashes between 1933 (occasionally before as well for background) and 1997 to get the story. The policeman who found Birdie is intrigued and does some follow-up sleuthing.

About half-way through Mr. Lehrer's work, the reader is convinced that he has figured out a rather simplistic plot. That is not the case at all. There are some clever twists and turns that include the bloody massacre at the station in 1933 (that was part of Hoover's and the FBI's push to notoriety).

The plot line is very good. Although this really could not be classified as a mystery, there is some sleuthing and unexpected plot twists.

Primarily this is a book on friendship and loyalty placed in interesting settings and told through interesting characters.

I have enjoyed a few of Mr. Lehrer's books (Black Widow and Special Prisoner) and thought others not very good (No Certain Rest). This is by far his best. A warm book. Highly recommended.

I enjoy reading about the history of Kansas City and I found this book very informational and entertaining. I've read accounts of Pendergast's Machine as well as the early Irish mob and the author does a great job of recounting their historical influence as well.

This is a story that has long been left untold. I am a "gangster geek" from Kansas City and I have been waiting for a book like this for a long time. With the exception of the Kansas City Massacre very little is known about the Irish and Italian stronghold that controlled the state of Missouri by way of Kansas City. I hope this book leads the way in putting Kansas City where it belongs in gangster history. Great job Mr. Hayde!

This book is truly like no other book. It tells a story you will see only in pieces in other books. The story is a very dynamic, exciting and deadly story of life in Kansas City. This story also has had a huge impact on the country as a whole. The author, Frank R Hayde says things that I don't think have ever been put in print before. They had been rumored around town but not printed.

Also, any Kansas City resident will love the book. It tells a story of the town that no one else has mentioned. The book shows the growth of the mob over the past 100 years or so. The author shows how the mob was very tied to Kansas City Democratic Politics. He proves that Tom Pendergast and the Mob were interlinked almost like a hand and a glove. The growth in one allowed the growth in the other. The Pendergast machine allowed the mob to run wild to the point where the city government looked just like the mob. The author goes on to show how that force continued long after Tom left the scene. The KC Mob had a role in the National Mob fight in the 50s. He reviews the River Quay battles in the 70s in very clear wording that rivals the KC Star in the days of the war. If you loved the movie "Casino" you will love his chapter on the role of the KC mob and Vegas. It was pretty much running the show for the whole nation's mob for a long time. The KC mob was the crew that put the muscle on the teamsters which bankrolled the mob expansion in Vegas. That is a fact the movie points out. In a way their Vegas efforts had a very large national impact.

The book also has several interesting allegations that any KC resident will love. He talks about allegations that the loved Len Dawson was involved in a point shaving scheme. He talks about links to politics up to this day. It is interesting to read about how this event or that event occurred here or there. In a strange way certain parts of the city's character back then has an impact on that section of the city today.

Overall everyone will love this tale of the mob.

Tom

The headlines in the 20th century were mostly of the New York and Chicago mobs. Frank Hayde's book details just how much power and influence the Kansas City mob demonstrated with relative obscurity. Not until the Tropicana skimming scheme broke, Kansas City mob bosses controlled and influenced not only local mob operations, but national union corruption. This book chronicles in detail the origins of both the Kansas City political machine and the Mafia. I highly recommend this book to all interested in mob lore and history.

Law enforcement officer Frank R. Hayde presents The Mafia and the Machine: The Story of the Kansas City Mob, the mesmerizing true story of the Mafia's influence in Kansas City politics during the course of the twentieth century. Mob infiltration in the police department, the Democratic Party, the Teamsters Union, and more manifested as terror spread on election days, "licensed" and "protected" criminal rackets, and eruptions of violence. Mob activity was a daily part of Kansas City life for decades. Efficiently researched and told with a sense of excitement sure to intrigue readers of all backgrounds, The Mafia and the Machine is a highly recommended contribution to American history and criminal history shelves.

This is a lovely endearingly funny book. I read it in just an evening but I'm sure it's a book I'll go back to in the future.

This book was a disappointment to me. Although it is only a slight volume I found it to be heavy going and very uninteresting. Avoid.

I don't know anyone in the Trillin family personnally, but I recognize them very well. I learned something I didn't know--that Jews landed some place other than Ellis Island. As a father myself, I appreciate what Abe did for his son. So did Calvin.

Such is Calvin Trillin's caliber of work you don't realize how good he is, and he is really good. This book touched me deeply; Mr. Trillinsky was not an emotional man and given to the touchy feely sort of stuff so espoused these days, but he gave his son everything he would need to have a fulfilling life, one of the main components being a deep, abiding and unconditional love; how lucky Mr. Trillin was.

My father was an evil and stupid man who never learned from his mistakes and is now reaping the whirlwind; I believe Mr. Trillinsky would have I.D.'d him in five minutes flat, and would have had mercy on him, much more than I can manage now. If you are raising a child, or trying to figure out what in God's green earth happened to you during your childhood, read this book. Mr. Trillin's artistry is a delicious extra.

I have read "Remembering Denny" and it has seared a place in my mind since. It explained so much to me. This is another book that is going to go on my mental bookshelf, probably till the end of me.

Humorist, journalist, food maven, the author of numerous books and a writer for The New Yorker, Trillin brings his blend of self-deprecating humor and thoughtful observation to this affectionate memoir of his father.

Abram Trilinsky emigrated to St. Joseph, Missouri, from Russia at the age of two. When his wife hinted at a trip to Europe, his terse response was, "I've been." He was resolutely a mid-western American, a man who changed his name to Abe Trillin, and at the end of his life exhibitted the only prejudice his son ever observed - an impatience with "refugees," by which he meant people who clung to the language and customs of their country of origin.

He was a stubborn man, like most of his family, described by his wife as "Mules!" "I sometimes imagined my father as swearing off things just to keep in practice," his son observes.

He never swore although he collected colorful curses - "May you have an injury that's not covered by workman's compensation." His honesty was absolute - when a child turned 12 he paid full price at the movies even if he looked 9.

He was unassuming. When Calvin was in high school, his father opened a restaurant and took to wearing yellow ties. "He said something about how most people don't stand out from the crowd, and how it helped to have a sort of signature." This seemed embarrasing to his adolescent son. "What was so great about having someone say, 'Oh, yes, Abe Trillin - the guy with the yellow ties'?" But years later at Abe's funeral, he's touched by how many friends asked for a yellow tie as a remembrance.

His father was not a talker. One of his favorite jokes concerned a Jewish actor who finally gets a real part playing a Jewish father. The actor asks his father why he seems disappointed. " 'Of course I'm proud of you son,' " the father says, " 'But we were hoping you'd get a speaking part.' "

Calvin writes, "What strikes me as odd now is how much my father managed to get across without those heart-to-hearts that I've read about fathers and sons having." Without it being talked about, Calvin knew his father was ambitious for him. "It was a given in our family that my father was a grocer so that I wouldn't have to be."

One of their biggest arguments concerned Calvin's joining the Boy Scouts. He hated Boy Scouts but Abe regarded it as essential to American boyhood, a necessary step on the way to Yale, Trillin senior's university of choice, an idea he'd gotten from a novel read as a boy - Stover At Yale.

Calvin went to Yale. Yale launched him out of Kansas City, never to return (also as Abe expected). The grocer's son would never be a grocer.

In one (somewhat unrealistically) ingenuous chapter Trillin goes to a dinner of prominent writers and realizes that they all went to Ivy League schools as he did. Was there a connection? (Puleeeeze). "For the first time, I realized that my father's vision of how all of this was supposed to work out might not have been as simplistic as I had always assumed."

This slim volume is deeply captivating and affecting. His father emerges as a man of indomitable will, will so strong he imposed it simply by being. He was a man who could afford to be easy going and funny, all the while adhering to a plan of grand ambition which embraced cross country automobile trips to broaden the horizons of his children and simple pronouncements: "You might as well be a mensch." Much of the book's power lies in the author's recognition of himself as his father's ambition fulfilled - a successful American who does his best to "be a mensch," a real human being.

We used the Missouri Gazeteer for a spring camping trip to the Ozarks. We wanted to explore out of the way places, and knew that good maps would be invaluable. The date on our Gazeteer was 2002, which might explain some of the incongruencies, but I have to wonder how much back roads change in 5 years. We followed one that took us to where we wanted to go, but it ended another half mile away in a camping spot. We would have LOVED to have known about that, and also to have known that the road did NOT continue through as marked on the map. I guess that they still want you to have a sense of adventure!

We do alot of camping and this book is our bible in helping us locate remote private camping sites and then the back roads to get to them. We also enjoy riding our motorcycle in the more remote and twisty back roads of MO and again this is a good souce to know what surface the roads will be. My only complaint is sometimes the symbols are not differentiated enough from the background so they are difficult to read.

Hi All I am a disabled traveler and Started out in Missouri and ended up in Arizona.
I have used many of deLormes Atlas and Gazetteer's, I dont know why this Missouri Atlas does not have the RANGE AND TOWNSHIP MARKINGS ALSO THE ELEVATIONS???? Maybe it cost too much these days to include that. I have a 1999 Arizona Atlas by DeLorme that has all that included I was Disapointed with this book, print is smaller and does not show any of the city streets???
\ does an OK job for the county roads, that does help..

But GPS tic marks could be bigger or bolder.
overall it might get you where you want to go.

I guess so I am not lost in the woods or on some old county road..lol

Good luck to all and to DeLorme include these things next time around..ok?

This atlas is surprisingly accurate. We purchased it in preparation for our move to Missouri. Since then, we have depended on it dozens of times when the state highway maps just weren't detailed enough. There are hundreds of winding dirt roads and trails in rural Missouri, and this atlas identifies almost all of them. I also appreciate the index of campgrounds, state parks, and fishing locations. The only criticism I can muster is the odd proportion of some of the town place names. There are some tiny towns with huge fonts printed on more than a few of the pages.

This is one of my most looked-at atlases out of the 15 or so that I own. I don't live in Missouri, but I have gone there on vacation a few times. It has come in very handy when I try to find some nice attractions around where I'm headed. And that's the reason I like it. Its gazetteer section is excellent! It includes: attractions, historic sites, hiking trails, mountain biking trails, unique natural features and more. With all of these activities to choose from it is easy to plan a trip using nothing more than this atlas!

The MO atlas is at 1:200,000 scale (the scale Delorme uses for nearly all their west-of-Mississippi maps). It is printed in the "type-B", as I call it, format. This is Delorme's more modern map style: larger font, different colored roads, and slightly overlapping topo maps. It has contour intervals at 120 ft, and is shaded relief for better perspective on topography.

Overall, if you live in Missouri or are going to visit Missouri you WILL want this atlas, so PICK IT UP!

Hannibal, MO was a good place - a place Mark Twain would still want to write about and still call home. And Hannibal's crusade to retain its association with one of America's greatest authors continued even as its population pushed out and away from its 1926 civic monument to Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer, and it changed. The gewgaw attractions, souvenir shops and then Wal-Marts and Super Centers took their place as the source of the pulse of Hannibal's community. Another Hannibal writer and native, Ron Powers watched from his adopted state of Vermont. It was puzzling to Powers, but he watched from a distance.
Then one evening in November 1997 two teenagers cruised the Hannibal streets looking for something to do, not far from Powers own childhood home. Robie Wilson and William Hill drove up to a 61-year old jogger and "doored" him - pushed open the car's passing door into the jogger's face at 50 mph.
Six weeks later, another shock hit small town Hannibal when two more teenagers, Zach Wilson and Diane Myers, were arrested for the shotgun murder of Diane's sleeping grandfather, J.D. Poage.
Two crimes, two murders shattered the semblance of calm in Hannibal and sounded an alarm as far away as the mind of Pulitzer-winner Powers who feared he was seeing the collapse of something bigger, something far beyond the place they called "America's Home Town" in Missouri.
Powers left Vermont for Hannibal and undertook some frightening analysis of the forces that led to its violence and wrote Tom and Huck Don't Live Here Anymore: Childhood and Murder in the Heart of America.

"With the supplanting of local merchants by corporate retail colonies at century's end, place had lost most of its morally regenerative force in heartland American life. The distinctive textures and the nuances of country and town life had stopped growing more separate. They had largely reconverged: subsumed into a larger, encroaching culture dedicated to the leveling of distinctions, and the allegiances and exaltations that such distinctions fed. `Place'," Powers says, "had been supplanted by `venue.'"

Powers describes the accused murderers and their culture, their families, their friends and their disconnect from moral mooring. As he does so he writes his own biography and weaves in references to life on the banks of the mighty Mississippi and the shore of a society eroding from a vision we often pretend to be true.
Powers' imagery is unnerving, at times described in stunningly fluid style, at others burdened by the author's attempt to find absolution for his own relationship with his late brother, Jim.
Powers writes an indictment of an America that has broken faith with its children. Not surprisingly there are questions unanswered, but this account blends a tail of two killings (and subsequent trials of the lost boys who committed them) with Powers' memoir of growing up.
There are no answers to why children kill. Yet, symptoms of community disintegration and the loss of social connection plague the country (latchkey children with over-scheduled parents, members of families distancing themselves from one another, families distancing themselves from their community, commercial sprawl next to neglected neighborhoods and a withering civic consciousness seem to be everywhere), and the cost is clear.
Powers writes with a mastery of language that sends readers back again and again to the top of his paragraphs. Tom and Huck is a dark and sobering book, but Powers' love for his hometown is enviable. This book is about social change that comes faster than anyone would like and the resulting struggle we all undertake to protect ourselves and those around us from that change.
Tom and Huck will help you understand your past and your present. You will better understand what young members of our culture see while we are not looking. There are shadows, but there is light. If there were means to require reading for American adults, this book would be on the list.

Ofttimes, an author brings a greater depth of understanding to a reading of his work than does a professional actor. Such is the case with Powers' reading of his latest offering, a sad but necessary visit to Hannibal, Missouri, the hometown he shares with Mark Twain.

The focus of this story is not a carefree, innocent childhood largely spent on the banks of the Mississippi, but rather heinous crimes committed by teenagers. Powers interweaves his personal odyssey, Twain's story, and the contemporary tragedies to form a compelling true tale which asks what has happened to our children?

The author, a Pulitzer Prize-winner and co-author of "Flags Of Our Fathers," interviewed the victim's relatives, neighbors, family members, and the teenagers themselves. Ace reporter that he is, Powers has delivered an accurate and astounding story. The current events are compounded by the author's own experiences at the hands of an abusive father, a Fuller Brushman.

This is not a pleasant tale, but it is one that needs to be heard. Few who hear it will remain unchanged.

- Gail Cooke

A compelling non-fiction work that rivals MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL. Its masterful writing weaves together three related themes: the author's own childhood experience in Hannibal, MO, the author's investigation of murders at the hands of teens, and Sam Clemens' growing-up story form a multi-level tapestry bound together by the Tom and Huck imagery in "America's home town." The urgent questions about how we are raising our children -- perhaps never more timely -- are presented with thoughtful perspective rather than didactic prescription. The author's own voice as the *reader* is perfect. His experience as media reviewer on CBS' Sunday Morning show shines through.

Ron Powers is concerned about the young people of the United States. He's not alone in that. His interest is immediate and rather local. He worries about the events in his home town of Hannibal, Missouri. Sorry, i should have typed "Home Town", since Powers accepts the assertion that his native city is the model for others in his country. "America's Home Town" implies a small municipality dominated by a white, middle-class, "God"-fearing, clean-living population. The images of such places dominated the media for generations. That image has been tarnished - in this case by the killings of two elderly men in Powers' birthplace. He went there to investigate what had happened. This book is the result of his journey.

With an expressive journalist's style, Powers depicts the demise of James Walker and J.D. Poage. The weapon that took the life of the latter was a shotgun. The first man was killed by - a car door. Both were "intentional" killings, although "premeditated" doesn't seem to apply. The distinction is important because Powers, in trying to delve into minds of the children who took those lives, understands the killings were nearly "mindless". They were events "of the moment" and Powers tries to explain the foundation of those moments. He is certain they could have been avoided. In order to learn whether there were any "decisive steps" in the lives of the four teen-agers who perpetrated the killings, Powers spends much time in Hannibal and the surrounding communities, interviewing victims' relations, the killers' parents and friends and attending the subsequent trials. What he learns is revealing - in many ways.

The growth of the US economy has resulted in severe dislocations in those traditional "values" associated with the "Home Town". Powers cites statistics of single-parent families or homes where both parents work. Sometimes the job is far from the outlying home, resulting in day-care centres running twelve to sixteen hours each day from six in the morning. These day-care centres are dismally underfunded and little considered even by parents. City governments are averse to providing resources to avoid the stigma of high taxes. Older children, past the traditional day-care age are at loose ends. Those unable to afford computers or video games lack even that electronic "baby-sitting" service. They are deserted to find their own way in uncaring communities. Without parenting, these children are left to their own devices for long periods. Drugs and sex are common escapes, as the children in this account demonstrate. Murder or mayhem become easily attempted ventures, as the story of these children illustrates vividly.

In following these children, interviewing their parents and the townsfolk, Powers has given us a stirring account of what the US has become. The murder of two men almost pales by comparison with the sequence of school shootings and other violent rampages that occurred in the same period. This being Hannibal, Powers can't avoid parallels with those two literary idols of small-town USA, Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer. Both were young rebels in their own way, but even Huck chafed under the constraints of a society he claimed to reject. The children of today's Hannibal not only have fewer restraints, but the society around them provides an environment in which life has little value or meaning. The author hasn't any panacea for curing this situation. The book's chief worth resides in its being read by every parent in the country. It's advisable you read it, whether you have children or not. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

Tom and Huck Don't Live Here Anymore, by Hannibal's native son, Ron Powers, is his latest commentary on the condition of the condition we're in.

I doubt that Mr. Power's own dysfunctional behavior, examined in great depth throughout the book, is the result of being raised in Hannibal. Geography is not to blame for the events in his life, or that of the Wilson boys.

Overall, the basic observation, from this intimate outsider, of Hannibal's "cut-rate" low-income segment of society appears to be reasonably accurate. The particularly dark subject he has chosen for this book is, unfortunately, a part of our local history. Sadder still is the realization that our community is not alone in this loss of innocence. Thankfully, though, that's not the whole story.

As a life-long Hannibal native, a wife of 17 years, a working mother, and part of a classic example of an "average" family in America's Hometown, I can assure you that everyday juvenile violence and drug abuse are not the norm in middle-class Hannibal. Abstract worries that I'll be murdered in my sleep by the adolescent living next door are not a part of my life here.

I'm sure, in comparison with the author's recollection of the ideal Hannibal he knew as a child, things have changed. Still, I find it rather disconcerting that he makes no apology for failing to mention the positive aspects of his, and my, hometown. Hannibal is a community rich in history, full of caring individuals, active civic groups, a fantastic Arts Council, community theater, and a top-rated public school system. We are a strong community with diverse industries. We have state-of-the art medical facilities, agri-business, a mature tourism trade, and over 5,000 well-paying manufacturing jobs in a community of only 18,000. The Provenance Project, an innovative fine-artist recruitment initiative, was the recipient of the Missouri Governor's Award for Economic Development in 2000.

Hannibal, like most rural communities, continues to face challenges daily. But, wonderful things are happening here, too. Read the book, then, come see for yourself.

Howard Chapnicks book on Photojournalism should be a standard text book on any PJ course... ooops it already is. And rightly so. The book is an absolute mine of information. This man was a genius and deserves much wider recognition.

this book it reads like a text book. It is very informative.

"Truth Needs No Ally: Inside Photojournalism," Howard Chapnick, Univ. Missouri Press, Columbia, 1994, ISBN: 0-8262-0955-6, PC 370 pgs., (Table contents 2 pgs, 48 pgs photos, Biblio 12 pgs. Index 8 Pgs.) 6 1/8" x 9 1/4"

Author Chapnick, 50-yrs experience in freelance PJ, photo-agency presidency, & as monthly columnist, amassed salient sagacity that sanctions him to write, rigorously, of the many faces of photojournalism (PJ). He illustrates 4 broad miens of PJ - its foundations, basic components, career evolutions, & creative and ethical issues in 24 chapters of succinctly written prose. His style & clarity of delivery reveals he is a gifted writer.

He interprets the essence of eyewittness PJ, responsibilities, of "concerned" photographers, & PJ essays using examples of renowned PJs, & of how one enters the field via portfolio, dress code, gender, education, specialization, minority ranks & agencies. He summarizes fundamental assets of 29 successful PJ photographers.

In describing the evolution of PJ field, he notes importance of ideas, aesthetics, personal projects, writings, photo book projects, workshops, grants awards, etc. Importantly, he devotes coverage of ethical concerns including invasion of privacy, manipulations, setups, marital break-ups, demands of wartime PJ & re-affirming news photographs as sacrosanct.

Throughout the book are short accounts of PJ greats as Margaret Bourke-White, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Capa, Newman, Karsch, Lange, W.E. Smith, Leibovitz, Arthur Fellig (Weegee), & 2-time NPPA awarded Lisa Larsen of LIFE whom I met on photoshoot of Paul Robeson. He quotes the 1990 AP statement: The content of a photograph will NEVER be changed or manipulated in any way," but then details some deviations & manipulations by mags as LIFE, Nat. Geographic (pyramids), TV Guide (Oprah Winfrey's head on Ann-Margaret's torso) etc., & notes damages are done to alter public's perception of truth.

I have honestly say that I expected more from Mr. Chapnick. While some chapters ARE informative, others - like how to present yourself at an interview - are routine and almost obvious. Any so-called professional should NEVER show up looking like a bum. Or, (if I recall correctly) to use Mr. Chapnick's example, 'Animal' from the old Lou Grant program. You better have the rep of an Avedon or an Adams, and even THEN, you might not get the job. While I did see some pages on amazon, to judge from the title, I feel the title is a bit misleading. While Mr. Chapnick DOES cover some points of 1st Amendment, ethical and legal issues, I was expecting the bulk of the book to deal with these issues from a journalistic/freedom of the press point of view - both in America AND abroad. While he DOES touch on this when discussing shooters killed in the line of duty, I was expeceting more. For example: How did BLACK STAR photographers (or any other photog he knew about) deal with the Chinese Army and censorship during Tiannamen Square? What about shooters in previous years working in Central and South America (ie: Susan Meiselas)? As a counterpoint, the story about Don McCullin is interesting. At what point do you HAVE to stop looking at man's inhumanity to man and almost force yourself to walk away from being a war photographer? Mr. Chapnick discusses this. All this said, Mr. Chapnick never, EVER denigrates a shooter! From Adams to Nachtwey and every one known and unknown in between, Mr. Chapnick writes about every one with respect and the kind of thoughtful patience he showed me when I was in his office one day more than 20 years ago surrounded by photographs by James Nachtwey. For me, I learned about photojournalism by going out and doing it. Books are nice, but experience is your best teacher.

There are many must-read about photojouanlism. Among these, this should be the first you buy. It leads you to the professional field. It tells you how you can get into the business and what you should know. I cannot find something compete.

This book is simply wonderful, magnificently written and a lot detailed.
The first part supplies an accurate report of Missouri's situation at the outbreak of the war. After a short but intense description of the engagement near Boonville, supplied with an excellent map, the narration continues following the two armies, Franz Sigel's German volunteers and the Missouri State Guards, in their road to Carthage.
Moreover every phase of the battle is studied with cure and love for the detail: there are a lot of beautiful and accurate maps and pictures of the officers and soldiers who fought at Carthage.
I hope that the authors will soon write an other work of this kind that the war in Missouri receives therefore more attention than which than usual comes attributed to it.
Excellent.

This is a fine book length study of a small, but important, Civil War action. It is richly detailed and it is obvious a great deal of research was done. I know how hard it is to find reliable information about the MSG. True, there are minor inaccuracies (like the ones listed below in another review) but they do not detract significantly from an otherwise fine book.

I had never heard of the Battle Of Carthage when I picked this book up the first time. It looked interesting, had a nice cover design, was a Civil War History and I'm a buff. What I found was one of the best small battle histories I've ever read! Well written, multiple maps, where you need them, pictures, notes, OOB this book has it all,including a Battle Field tour.

Unless you have no intrest in the Civil War you will like this book.

This was a very well written peace of work by a fine man. It's troubling that people, like the reviewer below, waste so much time finding out every little thing that is wrong with a book. Please, just get a life! Who really cares that Boonville is northwest instead of northeast of Jeff City, please!

Get a life, or better yet, get laid. Damn 40 year old virgins!

This was the best book ever written. It belongs in the library with Shakespere, Dr. Seuss, JK Roling, Michael Crighton and Charles Frasier. I have visited the Battle of Carthage 67 times and all facts in this story are entirely accurate. As for the negative reviewer, if he is still a virgin, he could be hooked up with Emily Petersen. That woman will fix him up. Back to the book, it is very well written and describes all aspects of the battle in excellent detail. Don't let this strange review thwart your desire to read this book... I have several schizophrenic relatives... and I'm not very good at speling. Here in Newberg we aint learned to write good. As Bob Cydell once said, "What would you say you do here?" I will end on that note, goodnight, and farewell.