Kansas Books

Nicole Etcheson does a masterful job of weaving the chaotic detail of the early Kansas chaos into a cogent history. She convincingly demonstrates that the stories we heard in high school of the motivations underlying the conflict were over generalized at best, and usually misleading. Her narrative is lively and her insights are enlightening. This book should be read by anyone interested in the events leading to the Civil War.

This an excellent account of a complicated political dispute.
the author gives a clear and logical history of bleeding Kansas.
After reading this book, I finally felt like I understood the
issues involved.The author includes lots of information
about how the people of the antebellum period felt to help
the reader understand the conflict. I read alot of popular
history and this is the best I've read in quite awhile.Hats
off to Etcheson for this excellent work. I look foward to
her next work.

It seems to me that the author overrelies on newspaper accounts in her research, which are often notoriously unreliable, especially if far removed from the events that are being described. In addition, newspaper accounts during the Border War were characterized by extreme bias, and Etchison quotes them often without commenting on inaccuracies and distortions, which only reinforces their error. She is sometimes coy in the narrative mode, so much so that even in the description of John Brown ruthlessly hacking to death and shooting the Doyles at Pottatawatomie Creek, she fails to mention who is killing and mutilating, only referring to an "angular old man" in charge and does this for fully a page of text, then only referring to the maniac Brown indirectly, as "old man Brown." What "old man Brown"? What is more incredible, no, flabbergasting, is that she doesn't mention that Brown is killing the three Doyles because they carry warrants for John Brown's arrest for intimidating a Kansas Territorial supreme court judge, a dismal failure in research it seems to me. She also uses the old hackneyed propaganda terms, "bushwhackers," instead of the more accurate, value-neutral term "guerrillas" in describing Missouri insurgents, and also, laughably, employs Horace Greeley's coined, centuries-old, favorite propaganda term, "Border Ruffians" and "ruffians" to describe the Missouri elites' actions in Kansas, an unforgivable, antiquated lapse by someone affecting objectivity. Etcheson's simplistic, description of the Border War is insulting to those who don't share her "liberal" interpretation of events. After 150 years of winners' histories, it's time for a lot more objectivity by our so-called "professional" historians. They should tell it like it is, not how they wish it to "appear" to the uninitiated.

Professor Etcheson's book is a thorough, objective view of "Bleeding Kansas," the years leading up to the Civil War (1854 to 1861.) She makes the politics of the time as interesting as the armed combat between the (Kansas/New England) Abolitionist and the (Missouri/Southern) Border Ruffian. Etcheson also looks at all points of view with a frank and honest eye, not lionizing the anti-slavery faction or villainizing the pro-slavery faction.

It is by far the most up-to-date and historically accurate book on this important era. A must-read for the Civil War buff and for those in Kansas and Missouri to understand the integral part the region played in setting the stage for the War Between the States.

In this follow-on to the author's "Quest for Decisive Victory", Citino analyzes how armies from World War 2 on achieved or failed to achieve decisive victories, including many cases rarely mentioned in other military histories. Although not quite meeting the extremely high standard set by the earlier book, it is still an outstanding book. Its footnotes will tell you what books to read to learn more about a particular campaign, and giving the strengths and weaknesses of each, which I think is extremely helpful. If you have any interest in an operational analysis of modern campaigns, but this book.

Robert Citino has written an excellent military history that has descibed the development of combined arms warfare. The first section of the book, Citino compares the military doctrines of the United States, Germany, Britain, and Russia during the Second World War. Citino believes that German military doctrine was severely flawed since it was mainly adaptable to wars in Western and Central Europe and did not make logicistical provisions for the campaigns in North Africa and Russia. Citino also praises Russian military doctrine for being able to plan for the mass encirclements of the German army in 1943-1945, but criticizes the Russians for lacking personal intiative in combat. Citino also criticizes the British for only attacking with tanks and showing no personal intiative on the battlefield. However Citino praises the American for being flexible and massing their forces on a single point during Operation Cobra.
The second part of the book, Citino praises the personal freedom allowed officers to conduct battle in the Israeli and Indian armies and writes about the lackluster performance of the Iraqi and Iranian armies that lacked competent officers. In the closing chapters of the book, Citino believes that the victory in Operation Desert Storm was due to superior firepower as well as tactics while Operation Iraqi Freedom was dangerously based on the assumption of internal rebellion and was eventually won by the use of armor. I would reccomend this book for anyone who believes that technology can replace officership and armor.

Despite all of the new technology, the rules of warfare always remain the same. In Blitzkrieg to Desert Storm, Citino analyzes every major military campaign from WWII to the present. The details are amazing. Most history books just tell you what happened, Citino tells you how. Every major battle is broken down into divisions and corps with a complete description of their objectives, capabilities, and commanders. His narrative tone makes book the enjoyable and entertaining while at the same time, informative and stimulating. This book is a must read for anyone interested in topics such as 20th century history, military history, or modern war studies.

This is an interesting and provocative book, well worth reading; see the other reviews for that. Unfortunately, it makes very clumsy reading. I think this was not Citino's fault. This seems, in fact, to be the worst edited book I've ever read. The main problem is not typos but repitition: Citino will often say virtually the same thing in virtually the same way within paragraphs. (See for example the comments on the US M3 tank on pp. 58-59.) This is the kind of understandable mistake a writer makes in the course of writing a book, and it is why publishers hire editors and pay them (albeit not very well). This book was published by University Press of Kansas. They need to have a stern talk with whoever edited Citino's book; they have done him an injustice.

As a Missourian and a professional historian, I looked forward to reading what many consider a classic (even Boatner cites Monaghan). I was misled. This is an insufferable book, almost unreadable, a waste of time. Presuming to knowledge he cannot have, the author is pleased to describe (without citations) the innermost thoughts of historical figures. He insists on calling William Clark Quantrill "Charles;" writes Elias Boudinet for Elias Boudinot. Wallows in cliches (e.g. calls James Lane "the Grim Chieftan" at every opportunity until you want to gag) and racial stereotypes (e.g. his characterization of the "primeval passions" of naturally savage Indians, p. 210; see also every reference to black people). His writing style is so florid and bombastic at times as to rob it of clarity. Thus, while he describes obscure battles covered by few other scholars (hence the second star), it's sometimes hard to tell what's going on. If you want the politics of Bleeding Kansas and the early days of the war in Missouri, see the second volume of Nevins's classic "Emergence of Lincoln" and the first volume of "War for the Union;" if you are interested in the bitterness and hatred that fueled the violence in Missouri during and after the war, Fellman's "Inside War" is the book to read. But don't bother with Monaghan.

This book explains very well why there was so much violence in the Western scenario. If you like, it also explains the violence following the civil war in the reconstruction era. If you are used to draw a gun whenever you see a political opponent one should not be surprised about the cruelties committed by the Klan after the war.

This book also shows the problematic stand the civilized (Indian) nations were confronted with, being forced to choose between Union or Confederacy.

To all Southerners, this is a ballanced account descibing that particular period of time. Buy it.

A very well written book on the history of the Civil war west of the Mississippi. Monaghan covers many of the battles I had tried in vain to locate details on. Covered are the battles of: Carthage, Wilson's Creek, Pea Ridge, Prairie Grove, and Westport. I especially found interesting the involvement of the Five Nations out of Oklahoma. Much is covered concerning the conflicts between Kansas and Missouri, but Texas, Arkansas and others are treated with some detail. Monaghan's writing style is excellent, giving you a good feeling for what happened. You will read and re-read this one.

Fanatical politics of the western frontier, immigrant abolitionists with loaded Spencer rifles funded by mysterious personages back East, cut-throats, gin heads and horse thieves, colorful character descriptions... This book ranks up there with Pea Ridge by Shea and The Civil War by Foote. Absoltuley a must read.

I'm always thrilled when a new Soviet memoir from the Second World War is released. In practically every instance I always get to learn something new and read about a plethora of experiences the author went through which enrich my understanding of this time period and WWII as a whole. This book highlights Isaak Kobylyanskiy's experiences as a 76mm gunner (gun commander and battery commander) during the Second World War on the Eastern Front while he served in the 87th Guards Division, 2nd Guards Army. To those interested in gritty details of offensive operations that undoubtedly contain hand to hand combat and the savagery of war, you will not find much of that here. In this book you will experience war from an artillery officer's point of view, although this artilleryman was not in the rear, he was right up there with the soldiers in the front lines providing direct fire in support for their actions, etc.

What I greatly appreciated about this book is that it is divided in half. The first half of the book is devoted to the author's experiences during the war and the other half to his thoughts on the war and the people he served with, the Red Army, writing letters, marches, leisure at the front, being a Jewish Red Army soldier, political workers within the Red Army, his views of the Germans (both soldiers and civilians), rear services troops, drinking alcohol, etc. Usually, one hardly ever comes across such a division within a book, most of the time all these ideas are dealt within the pages of the author's experience throughout the war, but there might be some added benefit to having chapters devoted solely to the war and then chapters devoted solely to stories which might not necessarily deal with the war. While in at least one chapter the author highlights the dubious side of some soldiers within the Red Army, he explains that the Red Army was not made up solely of such characters but these were simply people and events which he encountered throughout the war for the first time, these became lessons he learned for life. I should also like to mention that the editor, Stuart Britton, does an excellent job, a lot of contextual information is given to make the books progress and flow smoothly.

To begin, the author discusses his life in Vinnitsa and Kiev before the war began. It was interesting to learn about the author's reading habits, going from children's books to a plethora of foreign works including Twain, Hemingway, Dumas, etc. The famine of 1933 that took place in Ukraine, and other Soviet areas, was witnessed by the author, although he himself, his family, and his school mates did not suffer much. Also of interest was Kobylyanskiy's description of the "Great Purge" years when his father's boss was arrested and the next day the author's father "obliterated" his boss's face in all the pictures he could find in his photo album with black ink, for fear of being arrested himself. The author himself went to such lengths with some of the certificates of merit that he had received. The author's insight into the political situation as the USSR grabbed land from Poland, the Baltics, and Romania was interesting to hear as well as his thoughts on the winter war, which he was not in agreement with.

When the war began the author encountered Jewish refugees from Western territories, including Poland, streaming through Kiev. Eventually, his mother and brother, amongst many others, would be evacuated but he does recount how some Jews refused as they remembered the German occupation from WWI during which they were treated well enough by the Germans, something that is often repeated when looking for reasons why so many Jews 'stayed' behind. The majority, if not all, of those Jews who remained in Kiev would wind up being shot to death at Babi Yar.

The author's story about a Red Army soldier who wandered too far from his own lines, while wanting to do some ice fishing, and then was caught by the Germans was quite interesting. After 10 days the soldier escaped from the Germans and within a half hour OO (osobyi otdel) troops had tracked him down and taken him away. Although the author says they never heard anything more about the soldier, I personally, don't think this should denote automatically that the soldier was executed. While it is a distinct possibility, it is also possible that he was sent to a Penal formation or assigned to convoy duty, etc. In another episode the author discusses a soldier who shows up after being a POW for months, SMERSH (death to spies) officers had no interest in him. As well, when going through liberated territory the Red Army often received reinforcements from the local population, in one such case it was eventually brought to the attention of SMERSH that one soldier collaborated with the Germans in locating Jews and even executing them. He was sentenced to death and hanged.

A moving account is offered of how Kobylyanskiy had to make a choice of putting a gun crew in danger, by attacking a dozen or so tanks and self propelled guns, or letting them take on Red Army infantry who had yet to fully dig in. Without thinking twice Kobylyanskiy gave the order to fire, the end result was a dead gun commander, but the enemy's tanks did not advance. The author's experiences in what he dubbed "The Ravine of Death" were quite telling of the time period. While the 2nd Guards Army failed in their offensive endeavor, and the commanding officer was dismissed, it took a few days to understand that the failed offensive was in fact a huge help for other sectors of the front, namely in the Kursk area, thus the army in the end received some recognition for its actions. One of the most interesting parts of the book is when the author took it upon himself to try and stop a retreating group of soldiers by firing his pistol into the air, cursing, and threatening to shoot them. Eventually, with help from a few other officers, the retreat was stopped and the soldiers went back to their positions. I also enjoyed the rendition of a speech his divisional commander gave, where in he stressed how quickly houses, buildings, and factories could be rebuilt but how precious soldiers lives were; noting that officers should be careful with their men's lives.

Descriptions of Political workers are offered in the second part of the book and prove interesting, in regards to both the good and bad. The same is true for the examples offered of what it was like being a Jewish Red Army soldier and how Kobylyanskiy dealt with the stereotypes of Jewish soldiers, at times risking his life to prove that a Jewish soldier was just as good, if not better, than any other. The author's frankness in regards to his thoughts about Germans was revealing as well as his honesty in detailing sexual crimes and the Red Army. While he himself did not witness any prosecution within his unit for violation of orders from above (which forbid such activities) he did hear from Germans themselves and through rumors about what some Red Army soldiers did and how some Germans suffered. Especially touching was the story of a German girl, Annie, who on her way back home from Pillau was stopped by numerous Red Army soldiers and made to "lie down." The author is correct that this is a part of war, he stresses, and as would I, that this is not an excuse but should be an accepted fact. War is not pretty, innocent people suffer, but their suffering should not constitute cause for hypocrisy. While Red Army soldiers raped, so did western allied soldiers and so did German soldiers, etc.

While I have more than given away a good deal of what this book is about and what it contains within its pages I can guarantee that you'll find all of this and much more.

At last, memoirs from the Soviet side of the Eastern Front of WWII are appearing in English. From Stalingrad To Pillau is the second such Soviet memoir I've read, and several things took me aback before I barely had this book's spine bent. First Isaak K. is a Jew who fought the Soviet war. It apparently wasn't a horrid experience--something like being a black soldier in the U.S. Army at that time--simply distasteful.

The second eye-opener had to do with men and women fighting side by side almost from the start in this conflict. Lest you swoon at the egalitarianism of this revelation (and there is much to consider in that regard, given the years) be advised that the women soldiers often felt it wise to quickly pair off with the first decent men they met, lest they be sexual fodder for the rest.

And the third revelation has to do with the tone of this memoir: much vodka drinking, dancing, and general all-round emoting by Soviet soldiers. If you're now picturing these Soviets as a large, gun-bearing band of Gypsies, rub your eyes. The Soviet soldiers as portrayed here were dedicated, clever, inventive, and persistent while living lives as austere as the vaunted Wehrmacht soldiers. I wonder whether such emotive displays might have given impetus to their ability to re-tool their own war machine in the midst of a horrendous German occupation and conflict.

Mr. K goes to great lengths to present the most basic details of the war, from daily hygiene to smoking materials (tobacco or a local weed called machorka). It seems he remembers more of this sort of thing than the battles, the tactics and various implements of destruction.

Kobylyanskiy was married to his childhood sweetheart during the war. After the war, and as the nation sought to rebuild and restore electricity, sanitation etc., (this is something few consider, I think, in contemplating that Soviet "victory"), the couple lived in a one room apartment with his parents while he sought work and completion of his education as an engineer. One would think a grateful nation would bend over backwards to accommodate those such as Isaak, but this wasn't the case; he was turned down for work and had to fight for re-entry to school. Only through persistence did good things happen for him.
He emigrated to the U.S. in 1994. The great mystery to this memoir is why. Maybe he'll tell us more in a second, equally compelling book.

FROM STALINGRAD TO PILLAU
A Red Army Artillery Officer Remembers The great Patriotic War
Isaak Kobylyanskiy

(University of Kansas Press 2008)

Isaak Kobylyanskiy was an18 year old student, a Jew, in his hometown of Kiev when he joined the Red Army in October 1942. For the next three plus years (until his discharge in the spring of 1946) he was an artilleryman, first a noncom and then an officer. He was in a battery of 76 mm short barreled field guns which gave the infantry close support (many times they were within 100 meters of the line) in the fighting from Stalingad to Pillau; and this is his story. And it is a story that I respect - as I respect the author.
This is not your usual "war story". While I am as suspicious as any of you about any kind of "war story" this one comes across as true to me. This man writes with a voice of sincerity. I believe he probably had access to regimental records to record the names of his comrades in so many different circumstances and so many different places where they marched to do battle; but taking taking the book by its four corners this is the story of a decent soldier who was - and is - proud of his country and of what he did in its defense. (He emigrated to this country ten years ago after a successful career in electronics.) There's not much blood and gore. No heroics Just a real story about how it was to be a fighting man on the move day and night, a story of companionship and pride. I recommend it to you without reservation; and I know everyone of you who has the privilege of reading this would like to sit down and talk with the author . He's a good man. Maybe a bit matter of fact. Not much blood and gore. But a true story and a good one.

A VERY GOOD READ, TRUTHFUL, INFORMATIVE AND ENTERTAINING*
By Vadim Brevdo (Brooklyn, NY USA)

As a son of a veteran of the Great Patriotic War (GPW), I have been interested in the topic of the WW-II during most of my mature life. Particularly, I have read plenty of books and memoirs about the WW-II, especially about the GPW (1941-1945).

After reading this book I express my unbiased opinion to all readers who have genuine interest in the GPW's history and its dramatic but little known details: this book is the best war memoirs I have ever read. The author's complete truthfulness, openness, sincerity, and living language make the book unique. It is also evident that the book is perfectly edited by Stuart Britton.

In my opinion, the most valuable features of Isaak Kobylyanskiy's book become apparent and attract the reader when the author describes:
- his brothers-in-arms' and his own feelings while in combat;
- soldiers' interrelations in his multiethnic detachment;
- several characters (most but not all positive) of his brothers-in-arms. (Especially, Boris Glotov's portrait is so vivid!);
- his different reflections on the life in the USSR before, during, and after the war;
- loves and fates of several women who served in the same rifle regiment as the author did;
- his reflections on the anti-Semitism and how Kobylyanskiy being an ethnic Jew "fought" at the front with this phenomenon;
- his feelings and encounters with the Germans, both civilians and soldiers;
- his own one and only love.
I must stop this list - it's too long. Let the reader learn the features completely on his/her own.

Finally, I urge everyone:
MUST BUY, MUST READ, WILL NOT REGRET

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* The Military Book Club named Isaak Kobylyanskiy's FROM STALINGRAD TO PILLAU the main selection of March 2008.

It's a good book to pull the stories from around my area into one source. The writer does admit to having only 1 source for 2 or 3 different stories. I almost gave it 3 stars, but she admitted it and that's worth an honesty point to me. I have only had it a couple weeks and already 2 friends have borrowed it. It's a good conversation starter for long road trips. It also give me an idea of something to do some summer nights. It reads easily, in good 'haunted book' format.

This book is really cool if you live in this area. It talk about addresses and areas that really do exist. Very interesting!

If you live in Southeast Kansas this is a very interesting book to read. I knew alot of the places mentioned in the book but had not heard all the stories before I read it! Very cool for residents here in the area.

This book is definite for those who want to know about the haunted history of Southeast Kansas or simply wants to read a good ghost story on those dark stormy nights. The stories within this book tells haunted tales of about ghosts that haunts Southeast Kansas. You can read about the haunted highway in southeast Kansas and the ghosts that haunts many homes.

This book is a definite for ghost hunters in Southeast Kansas or for those just wanting a good scare. This is the kind of book that you would whip out in October to get into the Halloween mood!

Great job, I hope to see more books like these come from Cheryl!

My daughter has all of these American Girl mysteries. They are excellent for Elementary School age girls. I have read them all as well.

Ever since her mother's death two years ago, twelve-year-old Ida Kate Deming has done all the housework for herself and her father on their Kansas homestead. The year is 1878, and life on the prairie is difficult, dangerous, and lonely. Ida Kate's father has decided the time has come for him to remarry. He puts an advertisement for a wife in an eastern newspaper, and a young widow, Caroline Fairchild, who has a one-year-old son, responds. Ida Kate is eager to have a mother and a brother, and her father is eager to once again have a wife. But all is not right with Caroline. Soon, Ida Kate begins to suspect that Caroline may not be Caroline at all, but someone else entirely different. But if "Caroline" is an impostor, what happened to the real Caroline? And are Ida Kate and her father in danger? This was a wonderful addition to the History Mysteries series that brought alive life on the prairie in the 1870s. Ida Kate was a spirited, adventurous heroine. I reccomend this book to all those who enjoyed the other History Mysteries books.

This book is all about Ida Kate. When her Mother dies, she is left all he chores, and can't attend school. A friend of Ida Kate's mother dies also. Her father sent away for a mail bride (that is where two people send lots of letters, and then the lady comes and they get married). Her friend's step-mother was very nice, so Ida Kates father decided to try. When Caroline (his mail bride) gets there she brings a big surprise with her. This is a very good story!

It's 1878. Ida Kate Deming and her father live on a farm on the Kansas prairie, several miles from the nearest town. Since the death of Ida Kate's mother, she has had to take on the household chores: cleaning, mending, cooking, etc. It's a big job for a young girl, and it doesn't leave enough time for Ida Kate to attend school or see her friends much. Small wonder, then, that Ida Kate is excitedly looking forward to the arrival of the mail-order bride that is coming from back east to marry her father. Trouble arrives with the new member of the family, however. Her hair is the wrong color, she's too short, she cooks too well and sings too well, she isn't allergic to the cat, and her handwriting is different from the handwriting in the letters they received. Who is this woman, really? What happened to the woman Ida Kate and her father were expecting?

While portraying the hardships of life on the frontier in the late 1800's, "Riddle Of The Prairie Bride" also gives kids an intriguing mystery to sink their teeth into. "Formulaic" it may be, but this is fine for kids. A plot with too many complications could be overwhelm a young reader. My ten-year-old daughter got quite caught up in this tale, and wanted to "keep reading" each evening until we finished it. Readers of other "history mysteries" will not be disappointed with this one. If you have never read one, give one a try.

This is a book that contains a very detailed state map broken up over 60-80 pages. It shows practically every road in the state, even unnumbered dirt roads. It shows railroad tracks, power lines, and even dry stream beds, so you absolutely can't get lost (if you are a halfway decent map reader). I bought this book to use while storm-chasing. It was a must-have. We always knew exactly where we were on the map. It is not the kind map book you would need if you are just zipping through the state on an interstate. It's more for people who will be traveling off the main roads.

They have done a good job on this Gazatter. I has been a few years since it was updated but can get you where you are going. They give Latitude and Longitude in Decimal and Degree,hour & minutes, which is a plus.

Once again, Delorme atlases won't lead you astray. Living in Kansas City, I often take excursions into Kansas when I want to get out of the city. With this atlas I can head onto almost any back road and not get lost. These maps are great for finding places that the basic road maps can't show. Whether you're birding, hunting, or camping, you'll find this atlas useful. You can get to Lyon County Fishing Lake, Quivera NWR, Morton County or any place in Kansas easily. Highly recommended!

I was born and grew up in Kansas, yet there is much of the state I've never seen. I recently began driving the back roads of Kansas to get from my house to my daughter's on the western side of the state. I am learning to appreciate the undervalued beauty of Kansas. This atlas, showing all the roads in Kansas, including county roads and minimum maitenance roads is an excellent resource for finding my way around the state. It's fun to look in the atlas and find the little dirt road that runs by the cemetery or to see the gravel road that edges the pasture owned by a friend. I didn't realize map reading could be this fun!

Kansas City Jazz is a chronicle of the golden age of jazz music, an era that put Kansas City on the map along with the more heavily documented jazz havens of New Orleans, Chicago, and New York. Jazz authority and former record executive Frank Driggs combines his talent Kansas City native and radio host Chuck Haddix to present an in-depth chronicle jazz styles that encompassed rough-and-tumble urban blues, and pounding piano music that would come to be known as "boogie-woogie". A tour of jazz cultural landmarks such as the Reno Club and colorful profiles of jazz figures from Mary Lou Williams and Big Joe Turner to Jimmy Rushing and Andy Kirk, along with an inset section of black-and-white photographs, distinguish this "must-read" for jazz music history enthusiasts.

Any serious student of Jazz needs to know about the Kansas City sound. The book reiterated what I already knew which is that KC was a major contribitor to bebop and to r&b due to the styles that came togteher from that part of the country. Generations of musicians were influenced by the Basie Band and Charlie Parker. You will also get an education of what life was like in the black community of a midwestern city. Kansas City, which happens to be one of my favorites among cities, had a parallel identity with the world of Negro Leagues baseball and both jazz and baseball are remembered through a museum which I plan to visit soon. I recommend the book to anyone unfamiliar with the subject and interested in jazz.

Great book, both of the other reviews so far are quite good. It's good to see a city with such a great history finally getting a thorough treatment.

As a Kansas City native, I would like to point out that co-author Chuck Haddix is quite possibly the best DJ in town, as well as a fine author. His Friday and Saturday night show The Fish Fry plays some of the best jazz and blues anywhere. You can learn more as well as listen to past shows at http://www.kcur.org/fishfry.html, there's a link to the archives on the righthand side.

With vivid descriptions of the "wide-open" town of Jazz era Kansas City and its dramatic denizens, you can envision the scenes of Basie's coming of age, Charlie Parker's KC childhood and musical evolution, big bands dueling each other, glamorous theaters and giant dance halls, bars open 24 hours, remarkable women, "sporting men," police looking the other way, and so much more. The extensive research really pays off with quotations from reviews and ads from "back in the day," interviews with legends, a generous array of photographs, and a cohesive and accessible presentation of information from many sources. The sights, sounds, scents, and sentiments conveyed by Chuck Haddix and Frank Driggs in Kansas City Jazz: From Ragtime to Bebop are the next best thing to a time-machine. Next, Oxford needs to put out a companion CD (or DVD with photos and copies of the original media) with the recordings of the music and performers to help us fully appreciate the musical innovations from the Paris of the Plains.

If you liked the first one, you're gonna love this one! Mason is back in full force. He's wise-crackin', in danger, and taking you for the ride. I won't bother with a summary. You can get it all from this site. Read it and have a good time.

Anyone who expects to make it in business or politics in Kansas City had to deal with Jack Cullan until someone killed him. The circumstantial evidence heavily points towards ex-cop and now bar owner Blues Bluestone. Last night Blues interceded and roughed up Jack when he was physically bullying Beth Harnell, Chairwoman of the Missouri Gaming Commission. During the one sided scuffle between the males, Jack scratched Blues' hands leaving the barkeep's skin (DNA) under the political fixer's fingernails.

Homicide Detectives Rymer and Zimmerman arrest Blues for murder; Blues retains Lou Mason as his attorney. No bail is granted because someone with strings wants the pressure of prison time to either break Jack into a confession or have him killed in jail. Either way the case closed. Knowing the system is already heavily rigged towards the prosecution and this case is perfect for the other side, Lou realizes he cannot win in court so he must find the real killer.

The second Mason legal thriller is an exciting tale that reads more like a private investigative novel. The legal aspects of the plot show how the game is fixed to overwhelmingly maximize the odds in favor of the government regardless of whether justice is served or even whether a convicted person did the act (Governor Ryan). Besides the eye opening look at the American legal system, Lou is a wishbone pulled in two directions by his friendship for the accused and his loving respect for the lead detective. All together this combo makes for an entertaining, shockingly educational who-done-it.

Harriet Klausner

It is very hard for an author to duplicate the power of the first novel. Sometimes the author can, and on rare occasion, exceed the first book. Joel Goldman certainly has managed to do so in this new sequel to his very enjoyable first book, Motion To Kill. As always, I recommend that any interested readers read the first book, which is mentioned occasionally in this sequel. Kansas City trial lawyer Lou Mason as well as most of the other characters are back in this novel. This time Lou Mason has to defend his friend, mentor and landlord, Wilson "Blues" Bluestone who has been accused of murdering Jack Cullan.

Jack Cullan was the mayor's lawyer as well as the political fixer for the powers that be as well as anyone else with enough need and money in Kansas City. Rumor had it that he had files on everyone in town and could have taught J. Edgar Hoover a thing or two in that area. When Cullan is found dead after a violent conformation with Blues in the bar Blues' owns, suspicion naturally falls on Blues.

But suspicion had lots of help and Blue and Lou realize a complex frame is underway. Not only does Lou have to fight Blues' case in court, he also has to stay alive on the wintry streets of Kansas City as various forces, for their own clashing reasons, seek to stop him one way or the other.

Once again, Joel Goldman weaves an interesting complex tale of intrigue, deceit and murder with the occasional dry humorous comment about the world and the legal profession. Unlike John Grisham, Joel Goldmoon, does not ever mount the soap box to lecture the reader on the evils of the legal profession and does not allow the occasional side comment to interfere with the flow of a good story. Tight writing, plenty of action and a very good twisting mystery puzzle make this another great book of his to read. With two done and two more featuring Lou Mason on the way, he soon should supplant Grisham at his own game and does it by writing a simply better book.

Kansas City trial attorney Lou Mason is asked to defend an old friend, ex-cop Wilson "Blues" Bluestone who is accused of murdering a local political bigwig, Jack Cullan. The police feel they have a slam dunk case and are no longer actively investigating it. Therefore, Mason must investigate it himself to set his friend free. Pursuing the truth, however, takes him into contact with some unsavory characters and Mason soon sees his own life in danger.
One of the problems any mystery writer who is writing a story about an amateur detective must overcome is the justification for their character's investigation. What must also be addressed is why should their investigation prove any more successful than the police investigation? Joel Goldman accomplishes this in two ways. First, the police feel they have the murderer and stop the investigation. However, more importantly, he makes the politics such that corruption is the true culprit behind Blue's arrest and the corrupt officials shut the investigation down. Joel Goldman is a trial lawyer. With his main character also a trial lawyer, I was expecting a good solid legal thriller. A strong courtroom scene can add impact and another layer to the story. Instead we have a reasonably well told amateur detective story of no real significant worth. The story appears padded and the competently created characters are a bit too numerous. (A character list at the beginning might have helped.) This is a reasonably entertaining but highly forgettable mystery novel and, in actuality, a disappointing Edgar nominee.

Lochner v. New York was a 1905 Supreme Court case where an anodyne state law regulating working hours in bakeries was ruled uncontitutional because it breached the "freedom" of workers and employers to form employment contracts on any terms the market allowed. The notion of liberty of contract had no constitutional basis -- it was invented by conservative social theorists after the Civil War -- but it had been smuggled into American jurisprudence by activist judges in the guise of enforcing the 14th amendment. It was a godsend to business groups that wanted to beat back state efforts to regulate working hours and minimum wages.

The libertarian ideas animating Lochner were already losing popularity by 1905, but the court continued to police state regulation of business for more than thirty years, hampering social reform and causing huge damage to the credibility of the judiciary. As an example of sheer judicial assertion, Lochner was the Roe v. Wade of its day.

This book is short, clearly written, and alive to the ironies (and hypocrisies) of judicial activism, where one's view tends to depend on whether the activism in question is conservative or progressive. My only complaint is that parts of the book meander off the main subject and seem to have been stitched together from research the author did for other projects. For example, there's way too much material on New York state politics, and the long discussion of the libertarianism of Justice Stephen Field, although fascinating, is a bit misplaced, since Field was long dead by the time Lochner was decided! That said, history buffs and law students will get a lot out of this book.

"Lochner v. New York" is one of the best known and most despised US Supreme Court rulings. In Lochner, the Court voted 5 to 4 to invalidate a New York law that limited bakers' working hours to 10 a day or sixty a week. The Court found that it was a "labor legislation", and therefore unconstitutional. To this day, Lochner v. New York is remembered as one of the most extremist judicial activist opinions, and gave the name to an era of conservative judicial activism, which lasted well into the New Deal.

Professor Paul Kens' "Lochner v. New York" (I shall henceforth refer to the decision as "Lochner" and to the book as "Lochner v. New York") is not the type of book I was looking for. I wanted a legal analysis of the infamous decision. Kens' book is less a legal analysis as a social, political and intellectual history, explaining the various trends that shaped the law, the case, and the decision.

Too often, Social History can be merely a list of practices, or a description of conditions that are entirely predictable to anyone with even a slight familiarity with economic and social concepts (see respectively Eric Poner's Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877 and John Dower's Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II). "Lochner v. New York" on the other hand is revealing of the working conditions and social and economic situation of the baking industry, and Kens judicially uses statistics to chronicle its evolution from the mid 19th century to the early 20th.

As Intellectual history, Kens offers an in depth look at the thought of various Lessez-faire and Social Darwinist ideologists, as well as their progressive opponents. Although Kens clearly has little sympathy for Social Darwinists, they come out quite well - Social Darwinist thought, while extremist, is not all that different from modern Libertarianism.

Kos does a good job of describing the politics surrounding the Baking hour law's passing, and the ironies with which it abounded - including the fact that one of the Law's chief backers were later to argue its unconstitutionality before the Supreme Court.

After contextualizing Lochner, Kens gets down to legal analysis. Essentially, the court applied the doctrine of "substantial due process" to declare the 10 hour law unconstitutional. The court used the 14th amendment requirement against deprivation of liberty to protect the "Sanctity of contract". The state must not deprive a person of the right to work at whatever terms he sees fit, unless it is for reasons of public health or safety, or unless the person is in need of paternalistic protection, if he is a minor or (in Victorian America) a she.

The vast majority of the Court, including Dissenter John Marshall Harlan, subscribed to this interpretation. Harlan only claimed that the Court should give the state the benefit of the doubt - if it claimed that the Law meant to protect bakers' health, then that is what it did. Only Oliver Wendell Holmes articulated a completely different vision: "The 14th Amendment does not enact Mr. Herbert Spencer's Social Statics" he famously wrote in his classic dissent. The sanctity of Contract was not in the constitution, and states should have no problem overruling it.

Kos agrees with the dissenters. He convincingly (in my view), demonstrates that the framers of 14th amendment did not intend to protect the liberty of contract, and that laissez faire Capitalism was not an antebellum ideology (although he may underestimate the extent to which laissez faire was latent in pre Civil War America - most ideologies only take shape when challenged, as laissez faire was by the increasingly powerful state of the late 19th century). Ken clearly thinks that the Court should not enforce values that are not clearly articulated in the Constitution text or its history.

Kens realizes that his position requires opposition not only to Lochner, but also to Liberal rulings such as Griswold v. Connecticut, which ensured the right of married individuals to use contraception. Kens argues that this also requires expansive, ideological reading of the Constitution and thus should be avoided.

But the very purpose of a constitution is to check the majority's power against minorities. Because times change, the means of oppression can change also. The specific clauses of the US constitution - the ones that protect against abuses that were known at the time of framing - are mostly outdated. Think of the 3rd amendment's prohibition against the stationing of soldiers at private houses. It is the more general, opaque clauses of the constitution (like the prohibition against abridging the Freedom of Speech or inflicting "Cruel and unusual punishments") that can deter present day majorities from manhandling minorities and protect the little citizen from Big Brother.

But can Lochner v. New York be distinguished from expansive Liberal rulings? Does adherence to Griswold force on us to accept Lochner?

I think there are good pragmatic reasons to say no. First, we should acknowledge that the Court's decision is right in treating suspiciously governmental intervention in the freedom of contracts. But the Court erred, in my view, in seeing Lochner as essentially a question of Liberty. I think Lochner is actually a question of wealth redistribution.

By regulating the terms in which bakeries and baker workers contract, New York improved the relative position of the workers vis a vis the owners. But government policy can most assuredly do that. The government is entitled to levy taxes in any form it wishes, whether progressively (taxing the rich more then the poor) or regressively (the other way around). It may levy tariffs on incoming goods, improving the lots of US manufacturers and worsening those of exporters. It can supply welfare benefits for the poor. The competition between the various interests is the very essence of the democratic process and should be left (within reason), to the democratic process. The time for the Court to intervene is to prevent Government from abusing citizens, not to keep the spoils out of the hands of the winners in marketplace of ideas.

As a junior political science major at UNC, I have had to read a lot of books similar to Kens's. These books focus on a particular case, be it the Skokie trial, the Tinker armband case, the Chadha legislative veto case or the Bakke affirmative action case. Anthony Lewis's Gideon's Trumpet book seems to be the first of this kind.

Kens' book is by far the best of its type that I have read. The other books of this genre I've read in this genre deal too much with the proceedings of a case. For instance, Mr. Chadha had this legal problem, he got this lawyer, they went through this legal proceeding, they had to refine their arguments, they went to the next appellate court, blah blah blah. Frankly these kinds of details are boring, and give little if any insight into the importance of a given case.

Kens's has a different approach. Instead of going into great detail about why Mr. Lochner picked a given lawyer, Kens goes into great detail of the impetuses for the passage of the law that Mr. Lochner was challenging. He talks about the social and political climate of the times, tying in influential theories of the day like Social Darwinism and laissez-faire economics. Kens clearly places the case of Lochner v. New York in its historical framework. This, it seems, is a superior method for studying an important case like this one.

I would strongly urge this book to any professor teaching a constitional law/history class. I would also strongly recommend it to a student looking for a good introduction to the study of substantive due process.

This is a great book. I like long books, but this one is short and sweet. Moves the story along, and explores the fascinating background to Lochner (including the history of the baking industry and the conflicts of interest -- to give but one example, the attorney for anti-union Lochner was in fact not an attorney and in fact was a union organizer in the past.

Also discusses the Negative Rights (Substantive Due Process in law) doctrine and has a great bibliography.

The author is clearly a world expert in this field and I wish the book could have been longer. The author does not appear to be heavily biased either for or against Positive Rights (read Big) government.

Bibliography and timeline at the end of the book is great too.

Outstanding.