Kansas Books

In the continuation of nine-year-old Meg Well's story, she and her brother Preston have finally been joined by her parents and little sister Grace. However Kansas at this point in history might even be more dangerous than the cholera stricken St.Louis the Wells family escaped from. Fights between the people who want Kansas to stay a free state and those who want it to turn towards slavery ensue and threaten anyone who disagrees in sight. Slaves aren't the only danger, as prarie fires threaten to tear down all things in sight. However young Meg mananges to grow up in this time of turmoil and I can't wait to read the conclusion of her story coming out in August 2003.

Nine-year-old Meg Wells and her seven-year-old brother, Preston, were sent away from their St. Louis home in the spring of 1856 during a cholera epidemic, and went to live with relatives in Kansas Territory. But now their parents and their little sister, Grace, have joined them on the prairie, and it looks like their stay in Kansas will be longer then expected. Meg wants to return to St. Louis, but with Kansas Territory a battleground between those who want it to enter the United States as a free state and those that would have it allow slavery, Meg's father is determined to stay in support for a free state. Meg describes in her diary her family's life during the summer and fall of 1856, as they face a dangerous prairie fire and are caught up in the crossfire between pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces. I reccomend this book to readers who enjoyed the first book about Meg, As Far As I Can See.

Very well written stories that meld together seamlessly. With each turn of a page it became harder and harder for me to put this book down even for a minute.

Fragile Hopes, Transient Dreams: And Other Stories

Make sure you are comfortable and situated before you even start reading this book.

This is a fun book to read to help you escape back to the days where the plains were still wild. It gives you a glimpse into the lives of those who settled in the early days.

Now that George Brett has finally been elected to the Hall of Fame (with the 4th highest vote total in history no less), interest in reading about this baseball immortal is at a high and it's very unfortunate that Garrity's book is no longer in print. The book was written after Brett's wonderful 1980 season, when he captured the hearts of America with his quest to become the first player to hit .400 since Ted Williams did it in 1941. The book's a great look into the life of a player on the brink of superstardom. It'd be great now to get a book on Brett's entire career, because many of his highlights occurred after the '80 season. If you're a Brett fan, I strongly urge you to find this book!

Now that George Brett has finally been elected to the Hall of Fame (with the 4th highest vote total in history no less), interest in reading about this baseball immortal is at a high and it's very unfortunate that Garrity's book is no longer in print. The book was written after Brett's wonderful 1980 season, when he captured the hearts of America with his quest to become the first player to hit .400 since Ted Williams did it in 1941. The book's a great look into the life of a player on the brink of superstardom. It'd be great now to get a book on Brett's entire career, because many of his highlights occurred after the '80 season. If you're a Brett fan, I strongly urge you to find this book!

After reading the book, I realized how much more I knew about American History in general. Little did I know that Washington was such a conservative. I did not think I knew so little before I read this, but now I am filled with information that wants to be shared. His explanations on the state of America from pre-revolutionary times until the signing of the constitutions are extremely interesting. This is on top of the extensive information on the father of our country. I came out of this book with a new understanding of how the country was formed and a new love for the work that out founding fathers did. Great book for anyone interested in American History. Especially great read for George Washington fans. This is scholarly writing at its best!

We tend to be too focused on the constitution as a document that is somehow frozen in time. We forget too often that as ratified it was very vague on any number of subjects as to how the various branches of government would work. We also too often assume that the way it broadly works now is the way it always worked. Hah!
Recently, we have been blessed by work by scholars like David Currie and Akhil Amar Reed that remind us that the Constitution is not just a document but a history of practices based on that document. Our early Congresses, Presidents and Supreme Court Justices had to decide how to perform their functions. How were the seperation of powers and the checks and balances to work?
Many of these issues took years to settle (e.g., the idea of judicial review).
George Washington played an incredibly vital role in many of these decisions. Flexner, in his biography called Washington, 'the indispensable man". This is as true of his role in the ratification debates and the early years of the new government as it was in the Revolutionary War.
So says Glenn Phelps to which I say, "Amen". There is a telling moment in the first volume of Farrand's Records of the Convention when the delegates first consider placing the executive in one man. After the motion is seconded, Madison notes, "A considerable pause ensuing.." (Farrand, 1:65) which is broken only after Washington asks if they just want to go ahead and vote on the motion and Franklin asks everyone to speak their mind. The delegates were reticent about speaking their minds on the reasons they would limit the powers of the office of President simply because they all assumed that Washington would be that President. Only after they were encouraged by Washington and Franklin did they then speak their minds!
I would also argue that one of the factors that contributed to the new Constitution being accepted was that everyone in the country thought that way. Most people trusted Washington to not abuse the powers he would have. They trusted him to set the tone for the office. Amazing, when you think about it.
Phelps argues (rightly, I think) that Washington's ideas about government were formed by a rather classical republicanism and by his experiences in the Revolutionary War.
His classical and conservative republicanism led him to believe that government had to be founded on the people but that the people should be represented in the government by the "best" men in their states. The best were those who had the capacity to rise above local interests to discern the true national interest and who also had the virtue to persue that national interest over any of their own. In this he was no democrat. He did not believe that representatives were to mirror local interests or to be tied down by instructions by those local interests. The people had to trust their representative to do what was best. (Phelps, p.83)
For me the most interesting part of Phelps' book is his examination of Washington's terms as President. Washington set many precedents as to how appointments were to be made, what the function of the Cabinet would be, what would be the relationship of the President to the Congress and both to the various departments of the Executive.
There are too many examples for me to be inclusive so I will give you one that was new to me. Phelps feels that Washington was very influenced by the success of his "council of war" policy during the Revolution. Washington would explain overall strategic objectives to his junior officers and then ask for advice on a series of questions. These councils served the dual function of giving the junior officers the big picture and, perhaps, of improving that same strategy. Phelps feels that Washington tried to model his cabinet on that idea (pp 160-3). But he went further than that initially. He tried unsuccessfully to incorporate the Supreme Court and the Senate into the idea of the "consultative presidency". Phelps argues that Washington's well-known visit to the Senate where he asked for advice on the instructions to be used in negotiations with the Creek Indians is an example of this (pp. 167-72). Washington took literally that part of the Constitution that the Senate had an "advise" function to play in treaties as well as an approve function.
All-in-all, this is a very enjoyable, informative and well-written book. The overall picture of Washington that emerges (as pretty much the leader of the Federalists) will disturb some people but it should not really surprise them.
One more brief comment. I almost always have to throw something in on the limits of originalism as a judicial philosophy.
All aspects of our government have a history. There is no denying the vagueness of our Constitution on most subjects that it touches. That vagueness can be somewhat focused by the ratification debates. But even then most of the details of governance went unanswered. Phelps, Currie, Reed and others are very right to point out that those details were filled in by the early administrations and beyond. Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Jackson, Polk, Lincoln, Cleveland, McKinley, both Roosevelts and others more contemporary have interpreted their role as Presidents. I know people hate the phrase but it really is a "living document". We the People are what gives it life not the other way around.
In any case, this is an excellent introduction to the effect on Constitutional development by Washington. Phelps is to be thanked for having filled an obvious void with this fine volume.

I had the pleasure of taking several classes taught by Dr. Clinton at Southern Illinois University. His knowledge of the classics and how they relate to modern government is simply incredible. I highly recommend this book to anyone with an interest. It is defintely written for a scholarly audience, however. Don't pick it up if big words and lots of footnotes intimidate you.

Clinton's approach to American Constitutional Law takes the reader through the logical foundations of our law and constitional theory and then reveals the fatal weaknesses of modern judicial activism.

I enjoyed this book very much for the historical content. I am a quilt artist however I have not accomplished the blocks at this time.

This book is laid out very nicely. There is a journal entry to go along with each block. If you enjoy making quilts that have a story behind them, then I think you would enjoy this book. It gives you something to think about as you sew away!

Product could have arrived a bit quicker, but the prices were a hell of lot better than the local book stores. The book was in great condition.

Martin Nie (associate professor of natural resource policy in the College of Forestry and Conservation, University of Montana) presents The Governance of Western Public Lands: Mapping Its Present and Future, a big-picture survey of the history and future of America's public lands, with especial attention paid to the contentious debate concerning how they should be used, and to what extent their wildlife should be protected. Examining both individual case studies (such as that of conflict over the forests in southeast Alaska) and broader general dilemmas of opposing viewpoints concerning national resource management, The Governance of Western Public Lands offers a balanced, serious-minded assessment of both present and future needs. "Experimentation could help ground some of the ideological debates discussed... We could use a few concrete cases to examine the virtues and drawbacks of trying something different on our public lands. Experimentation might thus give a strong shot of pragmatism to public land politics by rejecting sweeping generalities and abstract theorizing in favor of more practical experience and empirical knowledge. Instead of hypotheticals, we could focus our attention on the outcome of a particular project." Highly recommended.

If you have never read this book, you can't appreciate the influence of the ministry on the early settlement of the west. By the way , my copy came from Rev. Fishers personal library and has his ownership stamp inside.

If you have never read this book, you can't appreciate the influence of the ministry on the early settlement of the west. By the way , my copy came from Rev. Fishers personal library and has his ownership stamp inside.

Marcus Hale, editor of The Glory Gazette and Mayor Lemuel Porter, also banker, traveled from Kansas to the far mountain top to route out The Gunslinger, Tom Bolt.

But was this because they needed him to save their town? Depends on how you look at it.
They caught Tom when he thought he would go crazy with just a dog to talk to. Thirty nine year old Tom wanted a house. A home.

The mayer knew just who he could put the pressure onto to take in The Gunslinger. The widow Briggs.

When the tall, dark stranger arrived in Glory, Kansas he caused quite a stir. Sixteen year old, Billy Dakin developed quite a hero crush on Tom and started to pack a gun.

The redheaded Nettie Fisk claimed to know Tom but couldn't entice him up to her room at Bird's bordello. The widow, Zena Briggs soon learned that Nettie was trying to catch Tom's attention. She did the laundry for the bordello.

Zena thought it was uncivilized that Tom would not name his dog and thereafter she spent some time trying to think of a name for the black and white silky haired mongrel.

Ah, but Tom and Zena's first kisses set the tone for a wonderful romance between the upright but troubled widow and the heart sick, weary gunman. [wonderful cover]

M. McBride gives us a wonderful tale of the cross-purposes of denied love on the frontier and a great solution to our hero and his lady. A fabulous read - heart warming, wonderful emotions betrayed by two loving characters with a great supporting cast.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED [with a little extra loving thrown in]but our heros can't be denied.

BOUND FOR GLORY
Tom Bolt was infamous - the Fastest Gun in the West - if the dime novels were to be believed. And thanks to the town fathers of Glory, Kansas, he was now not only the new sheriff, but a paying guest in Zena Briggs's home!

It had been a long time since the black-garbed gunslinger had anything worth living for. But the young Widow Briggs was an angel who had offered him a haven in her home and in her heart. A heart he knew he'd break when the time came for him to leave...

This is a very good book. In this book I found very interesting ideas and stories.

There are big ugly gray grasshoppers in it! It was very fun to read and it made a good bedtime book. It was just my kind of book. Not too easy, not too hard. You will love it!