Kansas Books

As someone who was closely connected to the events detailed in Adoption Politics: Bastard Nation & Ballot Initiative 58, I was very happy to see that Professor Carp has changed his position on open records for adult adoptees since his Family Matters, in which he advocated mutual consent registries as the most equitable solution to the contentious issue of adoptee access to adoption and birth records. Here he clearly comes out for open records for those to whom they pertain, the adult adoptee.

In his introduction to Adoption Politics, Carp says: "In blending adopted adults' access to their original birth certificates with a protection for the birth mothers' right to privacy through a contact preference form (without legal penalties for violation), Measure 58 should be viewed as a model piece of legislation for other states to emulate." (p. 3-4)

And in the conclusion: "It [a coalition of adoption activists, adoption agencies and social workers] would not only confirm that a new age is dawning, but also that this new age makes it imperative to give adult adoptees access to their original birth certificates. It would be a clarion call that in the world of adoption it is time to look with fresh eyes at an old institution." (p. 169)

I do have to disagree with several points, though, such as the following in the conclusion: "But to achieve this goal nationwide, Bastard Nation and its supporters must free themselves of ideological blinders and recognize that adoption agencies do not constitute a single, monolithic 'adoption industry.' They must recognize that, either out of altruism or self-interest, the majority of adoption agencies support openness in adoption, including open records. ... The NCFA [National Council for Adoption]...will become increasingly isolated." (p.168)

I think BN does recognize that. The "adoption industry" usage was appropriate political rhetoric for our ballot initiative campaign in Oregon. On the other hand, in California, for example, many adoption agencies joined the CA Open Coalition in its legislative push for open records for adult adoptees, at BN's urging. One has to recognize that the neutrality of Oregon's Right to Life and Catholic Charities was extremely fortunate and unusual, and not something BN can count on elsewhere. In many states Catholic Charities is one of our biggest foes.

I was dismayed by the imputation of anti-birth mother sentiment to BN as a whole on p. 109 ("BN's dislike of birth mothers"), explained by the fact that "some adopted adults harbored resentment toward their birth mothers, whom they viewed as having callously abandoned them." I can't argue that some adoptees didn't/don't feel that way, but it was unjust to tar the organization as a whole with that sentiment. Nothing in Bastard Nation's policy, strategy or tactics reflects such a bias.

In regard to his discussion of the controversial use of the term "birth whore": the book states that "e-mail messages from Bastard Nation members ... that frequently referred to birth mothers as 'birth whores'" were found on the unmoderated Usenet newsgroup, alt.adoption, by members of the Boys and Girls Aid Society of Oregon, which opposed Measure 58. (p. 86) Carp does say in a footnote that this term wasn't used on BEST (BN's internal e-mail listserv) or in BN publications or in public during the campaign (can you imagine?!), and that the organization wasn't a home for "virulent anti-birth mother beliefs," having several respected birth mothers as members, but he doesn't put those many messages on alt.adoption into any kind of context. (p. 194-195) Only one person used that term seriously, and she wasn't a Bastard Nation member for long. The vast majority of posts were from BN members and others who objected to her use of that term, and several were posts in which BN birth mothers themselves used the term as a joke, as in someone's calling herself the leader of Birth Whore Nation. It is really too bad that this kind of misinterpretation has found its way into this book since one of the points we've always tried to make is that the struggle for open records isn't one of adoptees vs. birth mothers, but of all of us (enlightened adoptive parents as well) against the dinosaur faction of the industry as represented most strongly by the NCFA.

On the whole, though, very well done! The roller coaster excitement of those days was vividly brought back to me, the feeling of making history in adoption reform. The case on both sides is fairly presented, and the legal explanations are exceptionally lucid. (...)

This is the true inside information on the nomination of Ike for President. Along the way learn about New York and the New York Young Republicans. A well written story. I feal like I know the man. May he rest in peace.

Excellent book! Clear and down-to-earth explanation of the Wesleyan doctrine of Sanctification. Dispels many myths and misconceptions about the practical application of Holiness to our day-to-day lives.

AmeriTales Presents Amelia Earhart and the Haunted Winds of Kansas is an engaging blend of history and fiction, sure to get young people excited about the legend of real-life aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart. Cartoony illustrations enhance this adventure in which young Amelia is so fascinated by the roller coaster she sees at the World's Fair in Saint Louis that, with help from her friends, she elects to build a roller coaster in her backyard. Her grandmother forces her to tear it down, but not before she gets to experience a taste of the wild ride! Based on a true incident from Amelia Earhart's childhood (although the "Haunted Winds" are a fictional embellishment), Amelia Earhart and the Haunted Winds of Kansas is a most enjoyable tale, heightened by the clean, cartoon style illustration.

As Ferrell says in his introduction, most Americans today don't know much about our country's involvement in the First World War, despite its influence on the following century and the world we live in today. This volume gives a wonderfully succinct overview of America's entry into the war in 1917, including justified criticism of President Wilson and Sec. of War Baker's inability to put the nation quickly on a total war footing... faults that were, as the author points out, primary in the Meuse-Argonne being the deadliest battle in US history.

Ferrell moves the history along quickly, giving brief overviews of the AEF's smaller battles throughout the spring and summer of 1918 (Cantigny, Belleau Wood, etc) and the reduction of the St. Mihiel Salient in September of that year. He paints a vivid portrait of the failings of US logistics and planning and is equally critical of many divisional and brigade commanders, although he finds little fault with Pershing.

This is essentially an operational level history, but Ferrell does an excellent job of introducing quotes and anecdotes from individual soldiers and officers. These bring the narrative to life at just the right times, and help Ferrell avoid the 'official history' tone of so many less talented military historians.

Like his previous book about the 35th Division "Collapse in the Meuse-Argonne", this is a realtively short volume (195 pp include voluminous end notes) and one wishes for more detail and length. Nevertheless, "America's Deadliest Battle" is an excellent history of America in the Great War - events that are so little written about today. So Ferrell in his brevity, simply leaves the reader wanting more. Hopefully he is hard at work on another book about this important and interesting time.

This is an excellent biography of Gen. Davis. He was a great soldier, who managed to become an officer in the US Army in the face of Jim Crow racism. His career was held back and often endangered by this racism. Yet he never turned his back on serving his country or gave up his career in the face of so many obstacles. It is a truely inspirational story about a great American.

This book is amazing. The reason why I am now a political science major. It is the book that my government teacher assigned in high school, and has thus shaped my opinions towards the constitution and our political system today. It offers a great dichotomy between classic works (such as the federalist papers) and contemporary classics (such as Robert Putnam's 'Bowling Alone'). I would recommend this book to anyone interested in politics or looking to be....

Wow! It isn't often that I actually feel a little shaken by virtue of what I have read, but if anything can conjure up for one an unforgettable yet eminently non-fictional picture of the modern battlefield in the post-WWII era, then this book by retired U. S. Army historian Peter Kindsvatter does so. What the author offer is literally a phenomenological exploration into the heart of darkness of modern combat, one into which young soldiers have been sucked into the vortex of the experience with wildly inaccurate and romanticized notions regarding their own fallacious expectations of the experience. As the dust jacket appropriately remarks, this is a journey into the hearts and minds of the average soldier, in Korea, Vietnam and since, and shows how popular "John Wayne" colorized fictions set our kids up for a fateful slam into the brick wall of a much more horrible reality. Thus, beginning with such unrealistic ideas of what to expect, Kindsvatter argues quite forcefully that such inaccurate conceptualizations aided the solders in creating what he refers to as a "fictionalized" set of images of war.

Therefore, despite the relatively intensive military training the young recruits received, the author contends nothing could succeed in disabusing them of these fallacious notions or completely prepare them for the horror of actual combat. The nature of that combat, with its extreme emotional stress, physical hardships, and bloodthirsty graphics, spawned a kind of emotional syndrome that the author argues progresses fairly predictably from initial shock and disbelief through a period of confusion toward a perpetual state of much more hyperawareness, a state in which their immediate performance becomes maximal while the effects on their long-term mental health becomes progressively more dangerous. Critical to the success of this progression of this 'pilgrim's progress' from disbelief through confusion and into a battle-weary hyper-vigilance was the camaraderie of their fellow soldiers, their belief systems, and each soldier's individual will to survive. Obviously, Kindsvatter observes, in situations such as Vietnam, where the belief systems came into serious question both within the ranks and in the culture back home, successful maintenance of this state of combat readiness was more and more imperiled.

What the author contends is that once such belief systems are destroyed, few things can repair or sustain them. For some, the excitement of battle turns them into "combat junkies", and it is these guys who may succeed in surviving only to find readjustment to civil society later is extremely hazardous. For the majority, it was integration into the unit and the friendships within it that sustained them, and allowed them to continue under some of the most extreme continuing conditions modern humans can experience. Yet eventually, for most soldiers the ability to function slowly eroded, to the point that many casualties occurred for "burned out" grunts who had more than enough savvy to protect themselves, but who has lost the kind of emotional edge they needed to continue. In these cases, many of them suffered emotional breakdowns and/or total physical exhaustion. This is an important book, and one that anyone with either a friend or relative in the military would do well to read. I hope it gains wider readership, as it is a serious, enlightened, and worthwhile entry into the field of military history. Enjoy!

Each year witnesses the publication of many books on constitutional theory and history that are worth reading. But few of those books really transcend and redefine the field of study. John Dinan's most recent book may be one of those few. At the very least, I believe it is a harbinger of a sea change in the field. I believe that we are going to see much more interest in the history of the various state constitutions as a part of the American constitutional tradition than has been the case up until now.
And everyone who studies those state constitutions will find themselves in serious debt to Dinan. Consider the following numbers: "All told, the fifty states have held 233 constitutional conventions, adopted 146 constitutions, and ratified over 6,000 amendments to their current constituions" (Dinan, 1). Most of the conventions fell within five periods in American history. The Founding era, the Jacksonian era, the Civil War period and its aftermath, the Progressive era and then what Dinan calls the Reapportionment Revolution that occured after the 1962 Supreme Court ruling in Baker v. Carr were the periods of intense constitutional activity. Out of those 233 conventions, Dinan has located the records to 114 conventions. He has read all of those records plus all contemporary accounts he could find of the conventions and an enormous amount of secondary material. What is even more impressive is that throughout his book he very clearly lays out what state adopted what change, where that can be found not only in that state's constitution but in the convention records. His book led me to purchase the convention records of my own state, Oregon and to begin wading through it. By the way, part of the fun of Dinan's book is in the quotes from those conventions. Some of the convention members were quite funny in a Mark Twain way.
Dinan's conclusion is that too much emphasis has been placed on the Federal Convention and ratification debates when discussing American constitutionalism. He is not questioning the quality of those records but he is pointing out that our constitutional thought evolved in many ways beyond those records and may well be best revealed in the records of the various states.
The linchpin difference is in the amendment process. In his Chapter 2, Dinan traces the way that the state approach to amendment changed over the course of our history. The first hard look at the amendment process came during the Jacksonian period. During this time, many of the established states witnessed popular desire to overcome the entrenched power of certain geographical areas of that state. These entrenched powers maintained their power through malapportionment of the legislature (p.33). One way to correct this problem was to liberalize the amendment process. This was claimed to have other benefits as well. It would educate the populace in republican principles via the amendment debates and it would give legitimate majoritarian movements a way to push for change short of revolution. Of course, these arguments were countered but in general the amendment process was slowly liberalized. By the end of the 19th century, all states but New Hampshire had authorized their legislatures to make amendments (p.42). Dinan traces this process through the 20th century movement to allow for amendment by constitutional initiative. (The great State of) Oregon was the first to allow this in 1903 and since then 17 other states have provided for that form of amendment. Many other states have eliminated their most stringent supermajority requirements for amendments or for calling conventions. Compare this with the stringent supermajority requirements of the U.S. Constitution. Working with the 2000 Census numbers, it is theoretically possible for the less than 6% of the population (rounding up from the total for the 13 least populated states) to block an amendment.
This difference in the ease of amendment has certain immediate and obvious implications. I would claim (this is my own point) that this makes the state constitutions messier; with a less clear boundary between statuatory and constitutional law. Especially in states like mine that allow for constitutional initiatives, this boundary gets blurred. And this can cause problems, especially with the protection of the rights of individuals.
Dinan focuses his books on relating the way this difference played out in the state constitutions in five major areas of governance: representation, seperation of powers, bicameralism, rights and citizen character. Each of these broad issues is dealt with in its own chapter, tracing its own history and the arguments that were adduced during the conventions. Each chapter notes some of the major ways that the states eventually diverged from the federal model. In the case of representation, for example, many states choose to, over time, allow their citizens more and more of a direct voice in determining the laws of their state. Twenty-four states currently allow for some sort of referendum and initiative system (pp.134-5). Those who believe in the whole bugaboo of judicial review will be chagrined to read that little change was made to judicial review during the course of our history. Two states currently require a supermajority of their Supreme Court justices to overturn a law. The most popular corrective has proven to be the recall of justices pioneered by (the great State of) Oregon in 1908. Since then, eleven other states have followed suit (judicial review is discussed in Dinan on pp. 123-35). Dinan's chapter on Citizen Character is especially revealing in terms of the liberalism/republicanism debate. I recently reviewed two excellent volumes by Alan Gibson on how that debate has molded our understanding of the U.S. Constitution. One of Gibson's main conclusions was that the Founders did not want to mold the character of our citizens on the Federal level. One of the conclusions of Dinan's book is the founders of the individual states sure gave it a good try for a long time. And in some ways, they succeeded. Probably the most important way to look at the spread of universal compulsory education is in this light- that it was largely done to mold (and conform) the character of the American melting pot. To which I say, "Good luck with that".
In any case, this is a remarkable book and one that I will return to a lot in the future. Dinan's scholarship is insightful and his presentation of that scholarship is generous. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

Professor Wheeler has written one of the most insightful accounts of a small Kansas town and of Swedish/American life. I recommend it. Dale R. larsen, St. Loui