Kansas Books

Apart from having read this great, informative work, I had this man in an Integrated Liberal Studies class at the UW-Madison, where he teaches. I have never experienced the level of communication, passion or knowledge that Booth Fowler can exude.

Book was just what I needed and right when I needed it! Thanks for the timesaver

The Michigan Historical Reprint Series offers over 10,000 different 19th Century books using print on demand technology. The results are beautifully printed on good paper stock, and bound carefully. Of course, original errors are duplicated precisely, but I found surprisingly few new errors introduced in the duplicating process in the several books I've seen. This volume is a good introduction to the series.

Thomas H. Gladstone was an Englishman who arrived in Kansas at the time of the sack of Lawrence, Kansas. On May 21, 1856 800 men attacked and systematically destroy the town. Lawrence became the first casualty in America's Civil War. Lawrence wrote what proved to be an unbiased description of the attack, originally published in the "London Times."

Gladstone wrote:

"The newspaper offices were the first objects of attack. First that of the Free State, then that of the Herald of Freedom, underwent a thorough demolition. The presses were in each case broken to pieces, and the offending type carried away to the river. The papers and books were treated in like manner, until the soldiers became weary of carrying them to the Kaw, when they thrust them in piles into the street, and burnt, tore, or otherwise destroyed them.

"From the printing offices they went to the hotel....

"The value of the property stolen and destroyed during the day in Lawrence is estimated to have amounted to nearly thirty thousand pounds sterling. Life was fortunately not taken, as the inhabitants of Lawrence disappointed their invaders of a fight, by offering no resistance."

This small sample indicates the high quality of the writing in this book, especially sentences like ""The newspaper offices were the first objects of attack." I found this a compelling view of an important part of American history.

Robert C. Ross 2008

This is one of the best books around on the Wesleyan doctrine of entire sanctification. The author writes with a Nazarene slant but those outside of the Wesleyan movement will enjoy the aurthor's desire to maintain scriptural balance in his presentation. I am an Assemblies of God pastor but enjoyed the book and admit that it helped me to better understand my Wesleyan brothers and sisters in Christ.

I purchased this book for use in a university course, but any one interested in the recent changes in environmental organizations would also benefit. The tone is, by design, a bit scholarly, but Bosso is an expert in this field and what he writes is accurate and unbiased. There is nothing out there right now that compares to it in terms of timeliness.

Mil Penner takes us to small towns and hamlets off the beaten track in a state that many people pass over. The book reads like a series of articles about the counties he highlights. There are not many habitated towns in most of the counties he explores.

He highlights local history and culture, both in artifacts and personalities. He looks at the Santa Fe Trail, ethnic settlements, wildlife, festivals, museums (both public and private), historic structures and small industries.

If you are planning on travelling to or through Kansas, this book will open your eyes to some opportunities that aren't found in more popular travel guides. If you are looking for a quiet and unrushed place to tour, you will find it in Kansas. This is a ground-level view of a well-grounded state.

This book will help any Christian out

This is my second book by this author, and I consider this series a real find. I think you will also enjoy it, if you like cozy mysteries with atmosphere and no gimmicks (the main character is actually a chief of police, not an owner of a needlepoint shop or tea shop or any of the other themes used so often these days for cozies). The only theme in this series -- the backdrop -- is Hampstead, Kansas, and its inhabitants. We get a real feel for this college town, although it may be more appealing to me because I'm from Nebraska and had relatives in Kansas. I can easily imagine this town. Weather also plays a prominent part in Weir's books -- in this case, it's been raining heavily for some time, and this continues throughout the book -- and plays a role in solving the mystery.

This mystery involves a prominent family, the Barringtons. Their deceased mother had been a well-known physician determined that all her children would also be physicians, and she succeeds with 4 out of 5. But oh what a dysfunctional family!

One of the physician-siblings is murdered early on, and the other siblings are convinced that this crime was committed by one of them or one of their spouses, but they don't want the killer caught because of the public shame to a distinguished family. Susan Wren, formerly a San Francisco police officer, is chief of police, and is on the scene when the murder takes place. Because a child is gravely wounded, she is determined to find the killer but emotionally involved, which is not good.

There is a huge Victorian house, a deceased father who was both mentally ill and a brilliant artist, a collection of his paintings, and a lot of people with a motive. Murder follows murder before the killer is finally identified in an exciting ending in a major Kansas storm. I was surprised but it did make sense and the motive appeared adequate.

Read the whole series -- preferably in order -- although it really doesn't matter if you start in the middle. You will hear all you need to know about what went before in later books.

As an FBI employee with 30 years of service, I can honestly state that Athan Theoharis' book is a fascinating, detailed, and accurate review of the FBI. His understanding of the FBI's filing system and of the FBI's senior management for almost 100 years is remarkable. Although I do not agree with all of Dr. Theoharis' conclusions or analysis of why the FBI has "failed" the American people, his highly critical book on the FBI should be a "must read" by those in the government interested in improving the FBI or by anyone who wants to learn about the FBI in a short, easy to read book.

The author, head of the political science department at the University of Wyoming, has accomplished a balanced, comprehensive history of the Sagebrush Rebellion -- pretty well written too.