Missouri Books

Progressing from his study of slaveholding in Western North Carolina (Mountain Masters) and other explorations of Southern Appalachian History, John Inscoe has teamed up with Gordon B. McKinney, the editor of the microfilm version of the Zebulon B. Vance Papers and author of Southern Mountain Republicans to produce the first scholarly synthesis of the Civil War in Western North Carolina. The book breaks new ground in relying on the scholarship of the past twenty years to revise the portrait of a part of North Carolina that was considered to be staunchly Unionist. It explores mountaineers attitudes toward slavery, secession, and the war in general in very broad strokes; these insights are fleshed out with details from specific locales. From the historian's point of view, the authors have not met the rigorous burden of proof in many cases, choosing to base their conclusions on just one or two primary sources; in some cases, they are forced to draw from examples outside of the region (such as Tennessee) which would fail to satisfy the most demanding of those who want conclusive evidence. However, the book is a wonderful tale and in many cases shows the myriad of responses to what has been described as the most influential historical event in United States History.

A few pages into this book it occurred to me that it must be written by a college professor since it was text-book dry. Sure enough, not one, but two of them.
Having said that, it is loaded with an insightful peek into a specific region of our country during a very specific time. A good read for anybody interested in the history of the mountains of North Caroilina.

If one is looking for a detailed study of the skirmishes and battles of western North Carolina in the American Civil War, this is not the research. Inscoe and McKinney may only reflect on the skirmishes and battles, however, they skillfully present the detailed sociopolitical and geopolitical "tone" of western North Carolina and the American Civil War. To embrace western North Carolina's entry and struggle during the Civil War, East Tennessee and western North Carolina must be studied.

Equal examinations of the two regions allow a balanced view. Moreover, as border states, East Tennessee had a strong pro-Unionist sentiment. Tennessee and North Carolina were also the last two states to secede, and, with several North Carolina highlander regiments fighting numerous skirmishes and battles in East Tennessee, both states are examined. The Heart of Confederate Appalachia: Western North Carolina in the Civil War provides the reader with the war's "prelude to the aftermath" in Southern Appalachia. There are 368 pages, with 67 pages dedicated to accurate and detailed primary and secondary sources. It is considered a "must have" addition for the student and scholar of Southern Appalachia during the so-called War Between the States.

Matthew D. Parker

This book is written like a academic thesis, however it does not include the most significant information that would have made it worthwhile - the names of the individuals who were responsible for the lynching. One has to wonder what the motivation of the author really was. It seems only to meet the basic standards of "publish or perish". It is too important a topic to be used as a college term paper.

Must read for those who thought that these things only happen[ed] in the South. Informative and very well written.

As a 20-year old young lady, born and raised in Sikeston, Missouri (the subject of the book), I am thankful that someone has finally seen fit to make sure Mr. Wright's life wasn't in vain. This book is a scholarly, yet stomach-turning account of vigilante "justice", sociological cause and effect, and old-fashioned racism. Properly put into historical context, the tragedy is made painfully clear. May we continue to learn from our mistakes.

I really enjoyed this book. If you are familiar with St. Louis, Catholic nuns, or geneology this book is something you would enjoy. I appreciated the female lead and the spunky aunt that reminded me of one mine.

In English class, we were assigned a mystery book report. I found this in my school library. It was somewhat hard to understand not knowing anything of genealogy, but the rest was remarkable. The touch of romance even more enjoyable for my age group. Generations of children and adults will love it.

This book was very enjoyable. Escpecially if you enjoy genealogy. Wish she would write another soon.

I have been trying to find infnormation on the New Madrid Quakes for some time and this particular book while not lengthy, was sufficiently detailed to provide information I was not already familiar with. At the same time, and of course due to the dates during which the quakes occurred, there was, and is, limited factual evidence to rely on.

This book is well-written and organized. It was a very enjoyable read. The author researched the subject well and the reader can get a feel of what it must have been like to suffer in this enormous earthquake.

This book was very informative about the New Madrid Earthquake. It had great detail about the earthquake and is a great resource for term papers. I would highly recommend this book to students who are doing papers for Earthscience courses with there main interest of the New Madrid Earthquake.

This is a fantastic book for anyone visiting the Missouri river.

Book has handy maps, illustrations and reference points for the person making a modern day trip. Notes by Stephen Ambrose and Robert Redford at beginning and end of book commend book as well!

If you are only mildly interested in Lewis and Clark before reading this book - afterwards you'll be completely astounded by their feats!!

This book is not meant as a precise historical account of the journeys of Lewis & Clark, but a study of the Missouri River and its surrounding areas as the explorers saw them, vs. how these areas have changed since then. Also, the portion of the Lewis & Clark journey west of the Rockies is not included, as the book sticks to the Missouri River. The most blatant changes in these ecosystems are the straightening and channelization of the river itself, which has led to massive environmental (and economic) damage for a pathetically small amount of barge traffic; plus the conversion of vast prairies to farmland which has led to serious losses of native flora and fauna. The book becomes a messy mixture of travelogue, as Botkin describes how to reach key areas of the river, and musings on the environmental health of these areas. While Botkin has had well-deserved success in environmentalist circles, his attempts to draw up naturalist ethics and morality significantly weaken this book. A lack of focus and the squishy writing of a college freshman are also damaging. Botkin is prone to god-awful metaphors, starting the main narrative awkwardly with "Rocks are nature's books; minerals are its words" and populating the rest of the book with more groaners like "Rocks Tell Stories and Soils are Nature's Braille" (subtitle of chapter 25). His attempts to wax philosophical on mankind's modern lack of connection with nature, while correct in spirit, are also unsuccessful in the writing department. See the awkward comparison of a pelican's spiraling flight path to society's shifting concerns for the environment in chapter 6, or the predictable comparison of prairie dog towns with an ideal human society in chapter 32. This book had the potential to be a real winner as both a travelogue with a historical twist and as a treatise on environmental philosophy. Unfortunately it merely flirts with those two strengths without really nailing them, and is sunk overall by weak writing.

Nothing is as constant as change on the unfettered Missouri River. Few stretches of the Missouri remain as Lewis & Clark observed them. The river, as Botkin observes, is "nature's landscape painter". The canvas is continually changing in response to the forces of a river draining one-sixth of the U.S.

Botkin presents us with the story of the first navigation of the river by Lewis and Clarke, through the river's channalization by the Army Corp of Engineers, to present efforts to restore and interpret the river.

But, this book is more than an inventory of facts and issues. It contains vivid illustrations of nature's interrelationships and wry observations on the irony of man "improving" nature.

This is a very practical, pragmatic, yet poetic book.

If you are interested in the 1932 Springfield Police Massacre open your wallet and buy this boook. The author truly hits the mark when it comes to describing the actual gunbattle,the folks involved, and the investigation. The only problem is-- he apears to be out of his element when he attempts to give historical background concerning the depression era in the Ozarks,Pretty Boy Floyd, Oklahoma, etc. While he clumsily attempts to work in the Civil War battle of Wilsons Creek and the Bald Knobbers(in all the wrong places) he fails to mention such things as the Leonard Short Gang (A very high profile bunch of area bootleggers and bank robbers operating at the time)or the Bilyeu-Meadows fued. The book is also a bit structurally disorganized in places. But--best work to date concerning this interesting subject. Well written (style-wise). All in all--a bit flawed but a good read... R.D.Morgan... author of "The Tri-State Terror" and "Taming the Sooner State"

Very good history of Springfield and Greene County, Missouri during the 1930's for those dreadful days.

One of the better books I have read about deadly force incidents. It actually included photographs and, more importantly, diagrams of what occurred. Few authors bother with any diagrams and spend almost all their effort on background of the participants; as a result, readers of most such books know plenty about the actors but little about the actual event.

This author took the time to describe the events in detail and included the court testimony and diagrammed the incident. A much better account of this event is the result. I wish more books about unfortunate incidents took this author's approach.

Good rough location map. Good spreadsheet on hikes. 1 for Mo and 1 for AR but I added page numbers to find the hike rather than use his hike numbers. I only checked some AK hikes but the MO hikes are of the same caliber. The hikes are in the north west part of AR in a tight cluster so you can stay at a central location. They range from 1 to 12 miles. Entering the state you can pick up flyers for the more public state park hikes further south. Directions to trailheads are good but sometimes you may have to ask for help. This is a function of location and nothing to do with lack of detail. GPS Coordinates are listed for each place. The hikes appear to be at more remote locations tnen are mentioned in some other MO and AR hiking books. Each hike has a black and white picture of a feature found on the hike.
This is a worthwhile book to have and is in the same style and detail as his other books.

This is a very handy little book to own if you are into the hiking thing at any level. I say this, but always remember that not any one book can meet all needs. I certainly would not use this book, and this book alone to plan my entire book. I have hiked many of the trails; both in Missouri and Arkansas over the years, and can say for certain that the information in this volume is pretty accurate. That being said.....

As the title would indicate, this is a book dealing with 50 hiking trails located in the Missouri and Arkansas Ozarks. It should be noted that a few of these trails are outside the area that traditionally are known as the Ozarks, some of those located in Eastern Missouri being the most notable. Each of the trails is given an entire chapter and one black and white photo to represent some aspect of the trail. The author has included total distances, hiking time, vertical rise, rating (easy, mild, difficult, etc.), and maps with GPS coordinates. The author has done a pretty good job of describing the trail, identifying and specific difficulties and letting the hiker know the nature of the facilities at each location. It should be noted here that the author's distances will differ somewhat from government and local literature. I would highly recommend that you go by the author's figures rather than the government figures as they are much more accurate. I would also recommend that you pick up local literature at the site of the trail before you begin the hike, ignoring the distances, but paying close attention to other trail tips and camp locations, if applicable.

Some of the location directions of some of these trails are a bit general and I do recommend you purchase a map of the local area, or at least a good, detailed state map. The author's directions are very accurate, but due to the nature of Arkansas and Missouri roads, it is good to have all the information available possible.

All in all, this is a useful book to have around if you are contemplating hiking the area. Most of these hikes are an absolute delight. Do keep in mind that some are quite difficult and you should take heed to the author's comments concerning these difficulties. Other trails are quite easy...all, easy or difficult are worth the effort. I am giving this one four stars as I feel some of the directions as to actually getting to the location of the trail are a bit confusing. Also, I have some mild issues with the author's opinion as to what constitutes the difference between "difficult, easy, moderate, etc." This is a pretty subjective area. Other than that, this is a fine book.

I really liked this book, which is a collection of stories from Cardinal fans. The stories cover the whole 20th century of Redbird teams, and a wide range of subjects. Some tales focus on a one-on-one meeting with a player, others recall particular games or seasons, and still others revolve around the Cardinals peripherally but are really about the ways baseball allows us to bond with family, or other fans, and the ways idols and heroes can impact our lives. Among my favorites were one fan's humorous story of an encounter with a Cub fan at Wrigley Field, and a tale of two friends in a fierce competition to get Lou Brock's 1964 baseball card. Other stories in the book are more serious, and may cause the reader to shed a tear or two. I like that this book is written from the fans' perspective, and it brought to life players who retired before my time. Most of all, it glorifies the good things about baseball. There still are some!

I really liked this book, which is a collection of stories from Cardinal fans. The stories cover the whole 20th century of Redbird teams, and a wide range of subjects. Some tales focus on a one-on-one meeting with a player, others recall particular games or seasons, and still others revolve around the Cardinals peripherally but are really about the ways baseball allows us to bond with family, or other fans, and the ways idols and heroes can impact our lives. Among my favorites were one fan's humorous story of an encounter with a Cub fan at Wrigley Field, and a tale of two friends in a fierce competition to get Lou Brock's 1964 baseball card. Other stories in the book are more serious, and may cause the reader to shed a tear or two. I like that this book is written from the fans' perspective, and it brought to life players who retired before my time. Most of all, it glorifies the good things about baseball. There still are some!

I first read the diary of Mary Dodge Woodward several years ago. Because I love the sound of Mary's written voice, I've reread it several times. It never fails to enchant. Reading this book is almost like time traveling back to the Bonanza Farm days. I found this story so compelling that I actually searched out the site of this old farm and visited with it's current residents. The site of the old Dodge farm is just west of Sheyenne Road, a half mile west of the Garrison Diversion substation. I stood in the remains of Mary's old cellar, and showed my children the location of the old barn that had the skull and crossbones sign painted on it. The location of the machine shop continues to hold so much old oil from Mary's time that grass does not grow on the site. This is a wonderful book for anyone that likes to read about the early days of Dakota territory.

A friend loaned me The Checkered Years, and after reading it, I purchased two copies, one to give away and another to lend and ultimately to keep in my library. From the day-to-day writings of Mary Dodge Woodward, the reader begins to understand the central role of weather in the life of the early Dakota settlers - the awesome cold, wind, and heat; the blizzards, drought, and flood - all matter-of-factly but beautifully described in an unpretentious diary. The diary entries give a hint of the tremendous effort it took on Mary's part and that of her family to build up a large wheat farm, and along with that, the uncertainties she faced as a widow growing old. I wish the book had more background information in its introduction and more diary entries that, even though they probably would have seemed repetitive, may have given more focus to the people mentioned in the selections.

Although the title says "Introduction", this is an intermediate level book on microeconomics, and as such, it is very good.

First of all, I must admit that my major isn't related to economics, so I had little previous knowledge of economics when I began reading the book. I was simply looking for an introduction to microeconomics and sort of randomly bumped into this book. I found that the authors' exposition of various topics is not very clear and the explanations are sometimes lacking sufficient detail. More importantly, the order of presentation needs improvement; quite often I found myself going back and forth in the pages of the book, trying to understand what the authors want to say. If you are looking for an introductory textbook in microeconomics, you can probably find something much better (I might suggest one of Varian's books, depending on your mathematical background; I found "Intermediate Microeconomics" quite good).