Kansas Books

This book is just exquisite; heirloom quality. Not only do I want this quilt on my bed, I want to rug hook every panel for my floors and walls. Thank you so much A & A for sharing your talents with us.

This is a GREAT quilt book, as always Barb Adams & Alma Allen have out did themselves.

This is simply beautiful!!! The blocks are exceptional. I can't wait to start. Adams and Allen ALWAYS produce excellent products. Thanks A & A.

I live in Lawrence, and have been wanting to learn more about Lawrence history. I had a hard time putting this book down. It is graphic and to the point, so not for the weak of heart. It was a true horror story, yet I enjoyed learning about early Lawrence. The maps were interesting as well.

This is the best coverage of the 1863 Lawrence Massacre that I have ever found to date. Goodrich does an excellent job in thoroughly covering the atrocity perpetrated by Quantrill and his raiders under the Black Flag. Imagine 200 men and boys slaughtered. Even in today's world, those would be headlines in every paper.

Quantrill is a fascinating subject on many levels. He was clearly a leader, a good military strategist, courageous and crafty. He was also a liar, who was ruthless, brutal and deadly. In conducting this raid on Lawrence he was daring beyond any Union expectations.

Goodrich covers the event from beginning to end in such a dramatic and interesting style that you will not be able to put the book down. I got to know many of the victims. The book is so informative that genealogists, historians and the curious will find many veins for further exploration and inquiry. Goodrich will make you believe that you were an eyewitness that day in Lawrence.

The best account of the infamous Lawrence, Kansas massacre during the Civil War. Goodrich uses meticulous detail and vivid writing to deliver a fascinating, often gruesome depiction of Quantrill's raid. The casual reader will find "Bloody Dawn" riveting; the historian will discover a treasure trove in the copious footnotes and bibliography. A must for anyone interested in the seamy underbelly of the "bleeding Kansas" era.

In the visual West, we have a tendency to segment much that we do into spheres of specialization, much to the detriment of the whole, while much to the aggrandizement of the parts. The dynamic between the part and the whole has often been a problem in Catechesis in the Catholic Church, often teaching subjects like "sacramental theology" in such a way that it is only briefly related to the wider realms of Ecclesiology, Christology, and Soteriology (let alone the varied other psychological, sociological, etc. relations). While perhaps in one area or during one time period some of these relationships are made, nowhere have I ever read as fine of a synthesis as in this text by Schillebeeckx.

The greatest strength in Schillebeeckx's discussion is derived from the fact that he approaches the questions of sacramental theology by always reminding the reader that the primary Sacrament is the person of Jesus Christ. The implication is that Christology is the font of all sacramental theology, for Christ is the visible face of God on Earth. (To use the somewhat-scholastic phrase: He is the visible manifestation of the invisible Father.) However, by placing the sacraments in something of a subordinate role to Christ, the question of continuation is raised. It is in this way that the nature of the Church, as the Body of Christ, is explained in wholly sacramental terms, as the extension of Christ's resurrected body through time. It is from this point that the author reflects upon the nature of ecclesial action, the relationship between objective and subjective reception of the sacraments, the nature of the priesthood in relationship to the sacramental life of the Church (and Christ), and the effects of sacramental grace.

On the whole, the text is very accessible, even to one who is untrained in theology. I think that such a unified synthesis (although somewhat abridged from its full form) provides an excellent view of the Church and of Christ as the visible manifestation of God's grace in the world to this very day in the Sacraments.

to which I merely can add this book was first written by the great Dominican preacher and teacher the Reverend Father Schillebeeckx in 1960, to be first published in English by Sheed and Ward in 1963. Father Schillebeeckx is long well known as a scholastic theologian in the line of his fellow Dominican Saint Thomas Aquinas, who also used a massive and keen intellect to render understandable the mysteries of our Faith. Unfortunately such a learned and logical approach requires equal effort on the part of the reader, who may wish to study this book as part of a serious study or course in theology of the kind so rarely available in our late age.

Needless to say, this careful and comprehensive study bears the Imprimatur of Rev. George Craven, Vicar of Westminister with the Nihil Obstat of John Barton, Doctor of Divinity. I add this information for those who may dare question the orthodoxy of this monumental and important treatise. The generous personal testimony of conversion to deepening understanding of our Faith in Jesus Christ which appears in the earlier review should be all the approbation and confirmation we require to read it carefully and with all of our attention.

Truly this work traces all of salvation history of human seeking the Encounter with God and finding it at last within Jesus Christ. This study then explores every aspect of this Encounter with God in Jesus in life, and after the Ascension, within the Sacraments. Thus we come to understand the profound meaning and import of our sacramental life, and how we meet GOd within them. This book therefore carries us to a closer realization of our Encounter with God in the sacraments, and thus a greater devotion and more serious prayer life, seeking to know and to experience fully awakened that Encounter with God which is ours through Christ.

This work was grown so essential in our understanding and discussion of our Faith that Our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI refers to it obliquely by employing its phraseology in his own landmark Apostolic Exhortation Sacramento de La Caridad: Sacramentum Caritatis, within a quote from his own earlier God Is Love: Deus Caritas Est: "The eucharistic mystery thus gives rise to a service of charity towards neighbor, which 'consists in the very fact that, in God and with God, I love even the person whom I do not like or even know. This can only take place on the basis of an intimate encounter with God' . . ." .

Father Schillebeeckx remains therefore a prophet of our deepest theology. Read him here in the original and his other comprehensive and astutely scholarly works, including Mary, Mother of the Redemption which so influenced and invigorated the earlier Pope.

It's nice to know that this classic work by one of the great Catholic theological minds of the 20th century is back in print. Originally published in 1960 (1963 in English), this is perhaps the best book written on sacramental theology last century.

Schillebeeckx's thesis is simple: Jesus Christ is the God-Man, and salvation is only possible through a personal encounter with Christ. Christ, however, has risen and ascended into heaven. The question remains: how are people saved who have not had this personal encounter? The sacraments -- which are an extension of the primordial sacrament, Christ himself -- are established by Christ in the Church so that people of all ages may have an encounter with Christ and be saved.

The book is a little over 220 pages (at least the 1963 edition is), and has seven parts: Part 1: Christ, Sacrament of God; Part 2: The Church, Sacrament of the Risen Christ; Part 3: Implications of the Ecclesial Character of Sacramental Action; Part 4: The Sacraments in their fullness: The Fruitful Sacrament; Part 5: Encounter with Christ in the Church as Sacrament of the Encounter with God: The Effects of a Sacrament; Part 6: Sacramental Encounters with Christ: Culminating Moments in the Ecclesial Character of Christian Life; Part 7: The Mystical Quality of the Sacraments.

On a personal note, this book profoundly changed my sacramental spirituality. I highly recommend it to all Catholics and students of the faith. And if you are a theology student beyond the undergraduate level, you should consider this book to be required reading.

The 2006 D.B. Hardeman Prize for the best book on Congress published in
2005 has been awarded to "The CIA and Congress". Don Bacon, a member of
the award committee, says: "David Barrett has given us an engrossing
account of the highly secret, often contentious relationship between
Congress and its post-World War II creation, the Central Intelligence
Agency. Thoroughly researched, rich in fascinating detail, 'The CIA and
Congress' focuses on the spy agency's early years, when the Cold War was
at its peak. The author relies heavily on previously hidden official
records and his own insightful interviews to show that our lawmakers
worried more about the new agency's potential for mischief and kept it
on a shorter leash than has been previously known."

This book is a necessary read if you are into the history and political analysis of the American government from the 1940s through the 60s. It's a fascinating read. Dr. Barrett has gone to incredible lengths of archival research to write a book that is a truly original voice on the period. As someone who came across the book looking for material on Joe McCarthy, I was amazed at how enjoyable the book was to read just in general. Dr. Barrett has found material to support stories that were merely rumors before. For example, letters from a military officer who was "propositioned" by Senator McCarthy and memos supporting the fact that meetings occurred between the CIA Director and a Congressional subcommittee prior to the Bay of Pigs invasion. This is truly a groundbreaking book that should be required reading for anyone interested in the CIA or Congress.

Barrett's /The CIA and Congress/ is a triumph of research. Writing any history of the CIA is problematic because the documentation will never be close to complete; some official and private papers have been destroyed or "misplaced," others remain classified 50 years or more after being written, and many important discussions and decisions were never committed to paper. Faced with such endemic incompleteness, Barrett, a political scientist at Villanova University, persevered, found widely dispersed research materials and displayed sound analytic sense and balance in their use. Having done so much fine detective work, Barrett can present not only a gripping review of leadership dynamics among the CIA, the White House and Congress but also a coherent view of the development and oversight of the CIA's budgets (a notoriously hard target) from 1947 to 1961. His research is made more impressive by his frankness in admitting on several occasions that he cannot tell the whole story because the documents are not available.

Barrett's analysis of the relationship between the long-established Congress and the infant CIA (founded only in 1947) turns not only on documents but also on his superb portraits and assessments of the key players: The thoughts, actions and characters of senators, congressmen, presidents and CIA officials are front and center in the book. The human pageant Barrett presents is not all that different from that which exists today.

I haven't actually read this book, but I attend school where Dean teaches, and ever since I took a class with him last semester, I am convinced that he is the coolest person alive, and will therefore support anything and everything he does. I agree strongly with whoever said, "Let's face it...Dean kicks butt!" He is an amazing writer and a great person. YAY FOR DEAN!

You should really read this book! I thought Ruben was exalent! And Dean Nelson was great toO.(My point is to read the book). They both ARE REALLY GOOD!!! I am so giddy and exsited that the book was so great,I really want you to read it. For the last time,buy the book!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lets face it, Dean kicks butt. When I started reading Welch's stories, I was very impressed on the talent he possesed to thread his stories together, and that alone should get you to read the book. I had at first skipped Nelson's part, just to get to the "good part", but when I began to read Nelson's passage, I was blown away buy his skill. I mean, WOW! I was taken into his world and could feel his passages around me. Nelson is a true master.

I read this book for a term paper and found it very informative and interesting!

Currently there is no review here for this fine book, and it deserves one. For starters, the title for this well-researched history of 400 years of cattle raising in North America is not exactly right. It should be called "Cattle Culture," because cattle and not cowboys are at the center of the story the author tells. And his story traces their introduction to the New World by Columbus in 1494 through to the end of the open ranges in the American West in the late 1800s. Horses, also introduced by the Spanish, are no less a part of that story, along with the cattlemen who owned, bought, sold and sometimes stole cattle, and the horsemen (vaqueros, buckaroos, and cowboys) who worked the cattle.

Readers learn a great deal about cattle as a business, how the price of livestock fluctuated with demand and depended always on getting cattle to market, often many hundreds of difficult miles away. In some periods, the value of cattle was not in the beef on the hoof but in the hides and tallow. The California vaqueros, we learn, were not just herders but also expert slaughterers of cattle.

Not surprisingly, a great swath of Texas history is interwoven with the rising and falling fortunes of cattlemen, and the author puts together a detailed picture of the industry as it emerged there in the mid-19th century, foundered during the Civil War, and then flourished as the railheads worked west into Kansas. But the cattle drives from Texas to cow-towns like Abilene were only some of the many that the century witnessed, as herds were driven in various directions, sometimes by west-bound settlers on the Oregon Trail, or often to meet the sudden demand for beef wherever there were gold strikes. The author provides accounts of many of these, illustrated with maps.

There are many black and white period photographs in the book, which challenge the back-lot Hollywood imagery that readers are likely to have of the West. There are also informative illustrations, like that of the early western bridle called a jáquima by the Spanish-speaking vaqueros, later anglicized to "hackamore" by their American counterparts. The reader learns of many words flowing from Spanish into English, including "ranch," from the Spanish "rancho." The meanings of Spanish words like "hacienda" (a place where work is done) are also clarified. There are also illustrations of how to throw ropes in different ways to catch cattle and horses, how to dally a rope around a saddle horn, and the design of various kinds of barbed wire.

One chapter, "Bunkhouse Culture," is devoted to describing the fraternity of young men, mostly from the South, who came to be the Texas "cow-boys" that eventually emerged as the mythic figures on horseback that excited popular imagination. The author describes the unspoken "code" that bound them together and notes their quick passing from history as long-range drovers when barbed wire brought an end to the open range starting in the 1870s. About the same time, ranching as a corporate enterprise transformed the old conditions of loyalty between cowman and cowboy that characterized the earlier years. And so 400 years of history drew to a close.

At 300+ pages, plus another 50 of notes and an index, the book is not a quick page-turner. It reads instead like a very informative and often entertaining textbook on its subject, drawing heavily on contemporary accounts from diaries, journals, and newspapers. Doing so, it brings the past to life with people, personalities, and arresting incidents. I'm happy to recommend this book to anyone with an interest in the American West, the origins and development of the cattle industry, and the interplay between cattle, politics, economics, and social history.

I enjoyed it. The title sounds like a college textbook, but the style is very conversational and there are stories on every page. The author clearly relishes his subject. The writing is crisp and the humor is understated. He puts the cattle business in a very helpful historical perspective. Although it's not a page turner, I always looked forward to picking it up. I also expect to get more out of it the next time I read it.

I LOVED THIS BOOK!

For some reason, when I was younger, I found this book sitting on my bedroom shelf, untouched. Over the years, i've read this book many, many times and every time I read it - it amazes me. This book is simple and sweet...like a cozy home in the snow. It provides all the essentials needed for a realistic book. Lou Emma has a wonderful family, although frequently feeling less accomplished than her smart, outgoing younger sister. She also deals with her boyfriend, and of the uncertainty of their relationship. She also deals with teachers, parades, woman rights, and so much more! :) I would recommend this book to any person in this entire world - thats how great I think it is. But don't misunderstand me, it's not a long classic like THE TALE OF TWO CITIES or somehting..it's a simple short to the point book that everyone will enjoy.. I hope you enjoy it!

I don't remember how or when I discovered the three books on the Miller Girls but they quickly became favorites among the many, many children's books I've read over the years. Ms Constant has a deft touch with portraying thought patterns of adolescents and it shows well with with Willie and the Wildcat Well and Miss Charity Comes to Stay. The illustrations in the Miller Girls books by Beth and Joe Krush enhance the whole aura of the era and I have learned to look for their names on books. This is a highly underrated author.

I really related to this book when I was young. Lou Emma deals with sibling rivalry, first crush, and learning to be your own Woman...all in the early 1900's, but it correlated to my life in the 1980's so well. I love this whole series of three!

This is the best guide for the region -- the drawings are excellent, as is the text. Grab a copy!

This is one of the best books written on edible wild plants. The author has researched the plants thoroughly, reporting on known ethnographic uses as well as his own experiences. The text is botanically accurate and pleasant to read. The line drawings are excellent, and while some would prefer photos, these are very good illustrations. This is one of the wild food books I refer to most often. One thing I really like about it is the way Kelly cites his sources so I can investigate further if I want. I also like that he includes a lot of plants like prairie turnip, ground plum, and bush morning glory, which are not widely discussed elsewhere in edible plant books.

If you live in the prairie region this should be your first edible wild plant book. If you live elsewhere it is still an awsome book to have.

I think this is an excellent book; well-written, with excellent translations of Indigenous People's names for these plants. (I am both D-/Lakota, speak, read, and write my languages; and forage for plants.) IF I have a criticism, it is (1) that the book should have a sequel with another 130 or so plants including both food and medicinal uses, and (2) I would wish for GOOD, SHARP color photographs of the plants as harvested AND as you would see them if you were looking closely for them where they usually grow. The sketches are extremely well done but there is nothing like color to show the differences between plants that appear similar (at least until your eye is honed). Tinpsila, for example, has a near look-alike that grows in the same area where I hunt, and it is hard to teach novices the difference in person, harder from a book with B/W sketches. I like the facts that (1) she includes the medicinal uses of at least some of the plants in the book; (2) she notes the spiritual/cultural perspectives of us Indigenous People, and (3) she doesn't make any majority-culture or "Christianity Way" comments on our Traditional perspectives when she does this, nor does she refer to our Traditional beliefs in the past tense. Our Traditional Ways and beliefs are still very much alive and being lived; even if the number of us practicing them is not all of our People at the present time. If I could have only one book to take with me if I were to be "lost" somewhere, I think it would be this one.

We bought this board book for our 16 month old daughter at the art museum in Chicago because it was so colorful and cute. My daughter loves this book so much. She is almost 2 now and she can say many of the words and loves to say and mimic the things that cleo is doing on each page. We were so happy to find that more Cleo books exist at the library too! There isn't a night that goes by that we don't read this book before bed. It ends with Cleo going to sleep and is very good for reading before bedtime.

My son got this book as a Christmas present when he was 9 months old. The book was a great read then, and we still enjoy it now that he is almost 2. I think it has a lot more use left in it. The book has really nice pictures, and a nice rhyme. We are cat lovers here, so this book was an especially big hit.

I love looking at children's books now that I have had my first child. But as I have shopped, I've learned that many books marked Baby to Preschool are not always appropriate for a baby under 1 or even 2 (aside from being excellent for chewing) because the topic or text is too advanced. But sometimes, it's nice to find a book that conceptually works for the little ones. And this book is perfect. Very simple text about a little cat who wants to find a friend and a home. The story is not too cloying, and it's not silly. But it is humorous, cute, and sweet. The colorful artwork matches the sweet, rhyming text. Highly recommended.

David Kyvig has revealed a fascinating aspect of our Constitutional history by focusing on the history of how we can and have changed that document.
The early part of this book tells the history of constitutionalism in colonial America. Kyvig tells us the story of the Constitutional Convention focusing on the development of Article V throughout the Convention. A major problem that developed under the Articles of Confederation was the requirement that any changes made to the Articles be unanimous. This made any one state (no matter how small its population) capable of killing any amendments no matter how important those amendments were to the bulk of the country.
Kyvig makes the observation that Amendment V with its less stringent requirements for adopting change was a major factor in winning the ratification debates in Massachusetts, New York and Virginia (p. 75). Anti-Federalists did not have to accept the idea that this was the best constitution that could be had. They could accept it as a good initial document but one that could be improved immediately by the addition of a Bill of Rights. All of the conventions ratified unconditionally (remember that a conditional ratification proposal was voted down in New York) but many conventions suggested a list of amendments to placate the local Anti-Federalists.
Kyvig makes some observations about Article V's requirements that speak to the original understandings of federalism.
Once a proposed amendment is sent to the states, it has to be ratified by ¾ of the current states (so the current requirement is 38 states) in order to be adopted. This is the largest supermajority specified in the Constitution. The Founders felt that disapproval by only 25% of the states should be enough to prevent fundamental changes in the structure of our government.
Kyvig also points out that there are ways around this stringent requirement. Congress can specify that the means of state ratification has to be by convention and not by the legislatures. Thus the national government can increase the chances for ratification by working around the state legislatures.
Similarly, the states can force the Congress to submit an amendment to the states by having two thirds of the states request a constitutional convention to consider an amendment. This threat has been used to spur Congress into action on the 17th Amendment (direct election of senators) and more recently on proposed balanced budget amendments (pp.471-2). This type of constitutional convention is one of the great unknowns of our Constitution. For example, if 25 states call for a convention to consider an abortion amendment and another 13 call for a convention to consider a balanced budget amendment does Congress have to call the convention? The answer is unknown or, at least, not agreed upon. Similarly, could the convention consider more than the amendments it was called to consider? The 1787 Convention provides a precedent for the answer that once a convention is called, it is capable of proposing changes to the entire Constitution. This too is an ongoing debate in legal journals. Yikes!
In other words, Kyvig feels that the original understandings of federalism show a balanced respect for the states, the national government and for the people as opposed to either. Article V was designed so that any two of the three could work around the other but only on conditions of the supermajority requirements.
Kyvig's book is exceptional when it comes to the political histories of the various amendments and how various players in these histories were able to play parts of Article V against other political players.
His discussions of the Reconstruction amendments, the suffrage amendment, the Prohibition amendment and its repeal amendment are brilliant. He is very balanced about how the Reconstruction amendments were shoved down the throats of the Southern states and how those same states basically made that a necessity by their immediate post-Civil War behavior. The consequences of this constitutional revolution were played out at least until the 1960s and probably are still being played out.
The one weakness that Kyvig's narrative has for me comes up in his discussion of amendment history from the FDR presidency on. Kyvig is a modern liberal who believes that the national government has a duty to provide basic social services to its citizens (And just for clarity sakes, so do I). Kyvig believes that FDR made a fatal mistake in not trying to push through amendments that would make his ideas about government programs constitutional. Instead, FDR choose to place political pressures on the court. As a result, FDR won the battle but may have lost the long-term war (Kyvig discusses these points in his Chapters 13 and 19).
I have no problem with Kyvig's point of view of these issues. However, I do find myself being critical of him when he is writing of recent conservative attempts to win a balance budget amendment or one to protect the flag from being desecrated in protests.
He is dismissive of arguments that were advanced in support of these proposed amendments (see p. 437) and he is dismissive of the motives of the politicians involved as playing to their base. I agree with his opinion of the economic arguments as the balanced budget idea although I would have liked to see the counter arguments outlined better. I totally disagree with the motive attribution junk. One of the disgusting components of political discourse these days is how much of it involves assessing the psychological health of the other. Conservatives are opportunists; liberals have a mental disorder, blah, blah, blah. If you don't know what I am talking about read the one-star reviews for any book of contemporary political commentary.
This is a relatively minor complaint. Kyvig is an engaging, learned and thoughtful guide to the first 180 years or so of our amendment history. For the last thirty years or so, he is more tendentious but he still has a lot to teach us. I have learned a lot from reading him. I suspect that you will as well.

David Kyvig's book "Explicit and Authentics Acts" covers the formal attempts to change the U.S. Constitution. It is packed with information from every era from the Articles of Confederation to the 1990's. Kyvig demonstrates how a national consensus must emerge before Constitutional change can become a reality and that changes which are not codified in the Constitution are rarely lasting. This is a work of stunning research and erudition. Although there are no deep or brilliant insights to be found here, the depth and scope and the judicious nature of the scholarship make this a must read for anyone who considers himself to be well informed on Constitutional history.

This great book and Great Expectations: The U.S. 1945-1974, by James T. Patterson, were the co-winners of the 1997 Bancroft History Prize. I found everything in this book good reading and I learned a lot I did not know about the 27 amendments to the US Constitution. Congress has proposed 33 amendmants to the Constitution, and 27 have been accepted by the requisite number of states and so were added to the Constitution. The research done to write this book is awesome. I found this book a much better book than the co-winner of the Bancroft Prize merely because this book told me so much more than I knew before I read it.