Kansas Books

This book is simply outstanding for anybody who has an interest in how the military manages media relations or who wants a different perspective on the Vietnam War. An abridgement of Hammond's two-volume set, this book is still packed with details covering the war from start to finish, providing lessons that remain relevant for today's changing battlefield. As one who is involved in media relations for a living, there's hardly a page in the book that isn't highlighted for future reference. And as one who has read several books on Vietnam, covering everything from tactical operations to strategic objectives, this book put the war in perspective for me as no other book has. However, as I was pouring over every page and sharing what I learned with those around me, one of my colleagues said he had read it as well and found it one of the most laborious books he had ever opened. So perhaps it is not for everybody, but it's a book I will return to again and again as I continue to study the unique relationship forged between the military and the media. And I am also ordering the two-volume set so I can find the even greater detail that was left out of this book.

This is a terrifically important analysis of the way the military and the press interacted during the Vietnam War. Mr. Hammond covers most of the important media events and reports important details of the statements and actions of those in the government and the military as well as those in the press. He also provides keen insight into the implications of those interactions and the effects they hand on later events.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough. I wish I could give it six stars. It is a book that anyone who wants to understand anything at all about the Vietnam War simply has to read. The articles in the two volumes of the Library of America series provide valuable background for this book and I think they should be read first. But even without them any reader would get a great deal from this book.

There are nearly fifty pages of notes, and index, and a generous number of pictures of the main events and participants. Just a wonderful achievement. Thanks to Mr. Hammond!

This is a highly readable and engaging book on the topic, covering the history of abortion laws from early 1800s to the Clinton years. To explain the legal shifts throughout those 200 years, the authors describe the social, political, religious and scientific forces that have lead up to each turning point, and how those shifts in turn have influenced further shifts in a seemingly never ending chain. They do so by presenting the various sides of the debate in an even-handed and concise manner, without losing depth on the one hand and without getting bogged down with technicalities on the other. What I found of particular interest was the behind-the-scenes debates of the Justices both in Griswold v. Connecticut and in Roe v. Wade that shed light on their final decision.

One of many controversial Supreme court cases in the United States is the case of Roe v Wade. Norma McCourvey was a 23 year old pregnant divorced women. Norma took on the name of Jane Roe to secure her identity infont of the public. Roe lived in the state of Texas. She wanted to terminate her pregnancy the only obstacle was that with in the state of Texas a women was not allowed to have an abortion unless her life depended on it.Roe was pregnant from an affair she had which caused her marriage to fail. Roe took the case to the Supreme court alleging that her rights were being violated and that under the amendments 1,4 9 and 14 she had a choice. The attorneys who would carry on this case were two young women named Sarh Weddington adn Linda Coffee. Both had recently graduated from the University of Texas. Sarah at the time was also pregnant,but would go on and have the child. Attorney Henry Wade was force with the decision to allow Norma nad other women to have an abortion. Two years after the case was presented the court decided that in fact a womens right to choose on what to do with her body was hers and nobody else.
I would reccomend this book to everyone who is interested in politics. Due to the fact that no matter how someone feels towards a certain topic you may never know what your decision might be. I might one day become a lawyer and reading this book opened my eyes ;to realize that I can not allow my morals and beliefs to get in the way of my profession. I would also reccomend this book to anyone who has strong feelings on whether abortion should be legal or not. Finally I just enjoyed this book because although abortion is a very controversial topic it is also one a very easy book to read and comprehend.

I recently checked this book out for my daughters from our local library. They loved seeing about all the things that make Kansas great. We enjoyed it so much that I'm purchasing one for us and one to give as a gift to a friend. Very educational for older readers too!

I purchased this book as a gift for the library where my step-daughter works. I enjoy books on Kansas so much I think the local libraries should have as many as possible in their collections.

Also available in a hardcover edition (1589010000, $39.95), School Board Battles: The Christian Right In Local Politics by Melisa M. Deckman (Assistant Professor of Political Science, Washington College, Chesterton, Maryland) examines ongoing local school board elections in America, and their effect upon shaping the culture and educational curriculum of the nation, a phenomenon that gaind widespread attention when the Kansas state school board, led by outspoken Christians, voted to delete evolution from the state's science curriculum and standardized tests. Especially focusing upon the electoral success of Christian Right school board candidates, School Board Battles strives to reveal why conservative Christians run for school boards, the extent of the Christian Right's influence upon school boards, and the manner in which conservative Christians in general tend to govern. A critical and insightful study of turbulent struggles to determine what will be taught to America's next generation.

Washington College Assistant Professor Melissa M. Deckman delivers readers a fresh new portrait of the Christian right which, although still critical of their ultimate end goals, wants to understand how they were able to achieve their successes or not.

Differing from the organizational research reports and partisan titles which already flood the market, Deckman's book has readers instead consider why the religious right enjoys so much electoral success even if a majority of American voters do not formally appear to support their ideas.

She then wants us to consider how waging a campaign/counter campaign against these candidates and public officials is literally impossible when we actually do not know about the people who we want to run against.

The thesis of Deckman's book is that both sides in a community demonize each other in the process of school board and local elections in an attempt to win support from undecided voters. The Christian right is at once both more similar and more complex than previous attack campaigns/counter-responses publicly have conceded. Articulating this complex nature will then enable myself and others to win more campaigns and more effectively sell our own policies to that swing public.

Starting out with wanting to make major change, the Christian right candidates and/or elected officials subsequently are required to alter their grand world views in order to be a part of the system which they ultimately seek to change. Built on compromise, the American political system is subsequently not receptive to radical changes which these people (and other candidates) would like to make. Our campaign portrayals of these people might therefore indicate what they would like to do, but it does not actually acknowledge what they are permitted to do; held in check by the American government's system of checks and balances.

Deckman's data includes case studies of elections held in Fairfax County Virginia and Garret County Maryland. These case studies prove that although they share some important group characteristics and goals, not all Christian right campaigns and then the candidates who run them are virtual `carbon copies' of each other. A vulnerability to internal dissent among various religious right candidates and office holders further lessens their being the `mighty boogeyman' of political jargon.

She also suggests that both the `far right' candidates and my beloved liberal counterparts are much more alike than we actually are different. The research in this book uncovers that non-religious right school board candidates are also likely to be religiously affiliated and also are more likely to come from the community elite---who can afford to run in an election and hold public office. We have more in common with each other than we have previously thought and/or let on in campaigns and debates.

Although I also read the more conventional broadsides against the right, and tend to agree with the left, Deckman's book is a critical step for defeating Christian right candidates.

Silence is a difficult concept for us to understand, especially when we really need to hear from God. Silent God teaches us to listen through the silence when God seems so far away- a concept I also explore in my book Direction: Discernment for the Decisions of Your Life. In his book, Bentz has not only given us answers to the question of God's silences, but also tools for hearing God in the midst of the noise of everyday life.

Joseph Bentz is one of my favorite authors, and this is one of his very best books. It's true: God sometimes seems silent, and distant, and preoccupied, and slow-to-respond. In this book, as always, Bentz is unfailingly honest. But instead of whining and complaining, he helps all of us to wrestle with God's silence by putting it into its biblical context, expanding our understanding of the whys and hows, and showing us what we can do while we wait and listen. Make no mistake: even though the topic is daunting, this book is surprisingly cheerful. The clear writing, fitting examples, practical helps, and great stories make this book a joy from cover to cover. And it will lead to breakthroughs. Recommended for anyone who ever worried about hearing the voice of God.

This is an excellent account of how our forefathers dealt with the day-to-day struggles in the frontier. Excellent as history, entertaining as drama, it's hard to put down.

At 550 pages, this classic social history of the first decades of settlement in Nebraska, Kansas, and the Dakotas is informative, entertaining, sometimes poignant, and one heck of a read. For anyone whose knowledge of this period is as limited as mine, it's also full of surprises -- lots of them. Historian Everett Dick dips into a substantial collection of documents, listed in his 10-page bibliography, and organizes what he's found into 35 chapters, each on a different subject, including the sod house of the title, homesteading, prairie towns, vigilante justice, farmers vs. cattlemen, extremes of weather, Indians, hunting and trapping, the railroad, sports, education, the church, journalism, doctors, lawyers, and entertainment. And that covers only about half of them.

Settlement moved quickly and furiously across the Missouri River, while the federal government was still negotiating the relocation of the current residents, i.e. Native Americans, then spread across the territories in a surge of speculation and rapid development in a series of booms and busts. Cliches and stereotypes from movies and television quickly fall left, right, and center, as the author revels in the rich tapestry of human endeavors portrayed against a raw, still alien landscape. Law and order were virtually nonexistent, and a recurring theme in the book is the frequency of scams, fraud, graft, and chicanery of all kinds that were the order of the day. In such an environment, the carrying of weapons was universal, and differences of opinion were normally settled with bloodshed and no questions asked afterwards.

There is the land rush, featuring claim jumpers and speculators with no interest in tilling the soil or putting down roots but turning a quick buck, usually in total violation of whatever law existed at the time. There are the wild cat banks, printing their own money, all of it eventually worthless to those left holding it. There are the crooked investment schemes that raised capital for towns that were never built. Prairie communities lure railroad companies to build lines in their direction with outlays of cash. Elections are rigged, bribes paid, and blood spilled over the location of county seats. Phony local governments elect themselves into office and after borrowing money for public projects abscond with the funds and leave the area's legitimate settlers under a crushing load of debt. And on and on. It's a fascinating account of the frontier as a kind of bonfire of vanities.

But this is only one theme in the book. There are many others, and much to relish in descriptions of the daily life of more ordinary folks who are typically jacks of all trades, short of cash, either hard-working or hard-drinking, often overwhelmed by the isolation of their circumstances. It's a delight, for instance, to read of country and small town pastimes and pleasures from baseball to dances that go until sunup.

Given the book's origins in the 1930s, it tends to neglect the lives of women (an oversight that has been corrected in many more recent books), and while it seems to want to give a balanced view of Indians, it tends to focus its interests elsewhere. Unfortunately, the treatment of African Americans is somewhat condescending. Those faults aside, the book is a page-turner, especially for anyone who, as I did, grew up in this part of the world with only a glimmer of an idea of its actual history.

Song of the Second Wind is an invitation to join Jesse on a gentle and absorbing remembrance of his history and the realization that the values and friendships of that time still guide him.
Jesse travels through time and territory on a search for peace and purpose. The "gasps" along the way are unexpected and real. I was drawn into Jesse's world skillfully and subtly. Stillmore captures the essence of small town reality in the 60's and 70's. By the end of the book I was yearning for my own chance to catch a "second wind".
I loved this book.

This is a tender and poignant journey that examines the choices that we make through life and the value of true long-lasting friendships. Some friendships you can call on forever.

This rumination and reflection asks many questions and offers fascinating responses as an everyday man is brought face to face with the mirror of his life to help make the most important decision of his life as well as discover and acknowledge the truths of his past.

This is the first book about social history of the Red Army. The russian historian.

Reese does maginficent job at describing the poor state of the Red Army before the Second World War. According to Reese the main reason for the defeats that the Red Army suffered during the opening phases of the Second World War was due to the lack of training prior to the German attack. Soldiers spent more time working in factories or collective farms rather than training for war. To make matters worse the huge expansion of the army according to Reese left a huge shortage of junior officers and NCOs to train the new recruits. Stalin only excerbated the situation by abolishing the national guard in order to spend money on the new recruits, this only led to a lack of any reserve units in case of a emergency. Due to the above mentioned factors, Reese concludes that the Red Army suffered massives defeats during the opening phases of the Second World War. I would highly reccomend this book for anyone who wants to understand why the Russian army performed so poorly at the outset of World War II.

I normally don't like period mysteries, in part because many of them are not very well written and/or because the "let's remind you what time it is" becomes forced (little lessons about what people wore, traveled, social relations, etc.) This is the second book in this series that I've read, and because I'd read another in the series, I was more prepared for the style and enjoyed it from the beginning.

Dorrie Lennox is a tough young female private eye who lives in Kansas City around the beginning of World War II. The book begins with her tailing Thalia, the spoiled daughter of a wealthy woman who is dying of cancer. Thalia's mother fears for her daughter's well-being, given the fast life this girl is living. Dorrie begins to suspect that the choir director of the choir that this night-clubbing young woman belongs to is not on the up-and-up. She starts checking into him further.

All this is hindered by the fact that she's on parole for stabbing a man who couldn't take no for an answer, and she can no longer carry a weapon -- her trusty switchblade -- so when she runs into nasty people, she is vulnerable. Additionally, the police are giving her grief and haul her in from time to time.

This is one of those books that absorb you into another world, and without explicitly describing how it was different then, you get the feel for the time and place.

I am looking forward to reading the next book in this relatively new series. I'd like to find out what happens next to Dorrie. If you like those old black & white "noir" movies (for example, The Maltese Falcon) and you like tough but likeable women detectives, I think you'll enjoy this book.

Dorie Lennox's assignment is to tail the spoiled heiress-to-be, Thalia Hines, daughter of an old acquaintance of Dorie's partner and fellow private eye. Evaline Hines is dying and desperate to be sure her beautiful but wild only child doesn't become involved with too many of the wrong kind of fortune hunting men that she seems so drawn to. So she has hired Amos Haddam and Dorie to keep an eye on Thalia. The assignment means lots of late nights in night clubs and dance halls as Thalia jumps from admirer to admirer.

The present front runner for Thalia's affections seems to be Barnaby Wake and there are rumors that Mr. Wake is involved in a lot of unsavory pastimes, when he's not directing the Hallelujah Choir at the Plaza Methodist Church. Wake is not only married; he has been linked with several other women and his politics seem to lean toward support of political troublemakers in the days just before America enters the second World War. Definitely not prime son in law material!

This book is a terrific look at 1940s Kansas City as seen through the eyes of tough but vulnerable Dorie Lennox. Many of the characters from the first book are back, along with the tight plots and fast paced action that kept the reader guessing in 'One O'Clock Jump'. Can Dorie stay out of jail and out of trouble long enough to do her client's bidding?

I hope that Lise McClendon is already working on her next Dorie Lennox book. There is still a lot I want to know about this character. I also really enjoy the early 1940s setting and the fact that the action takes place in my hometown of Kansas City, Missouri. This is a real winner of a book and a definite "5"!

The second novel in the Fighting Fletcher series lives up to the promise of the first. A seventeen-year-old fiesty woman and her younger brother who is trained to perfection with a Winchester rifle take on the bad guys with the help of their gentle giant sidekick.

I enjoy a good, off-the-beaten-trail type of western-adventure story that rings true and upholds the tradition of good over evil. The characters come to life on the first page and refuse to fade into the sunset even after you put the book down. This is an enjoyable tale--one of the best I've read lately. But you should read THREE ACROSS TEXAS first for this one is the sequel and while it stands alone, you'll find greater pleasure in it after reading TEXAS.