The Pan and Jerm Show

Book Report: Bleeding Kansas

I've been on a real reading kick lately (except for the books I NEED to read), which is supposedly a good thing. I received this book as a Christmas gift, so I was happy to actually take a break to read instead of doing the things that turn my brain to mush, like playing Wii and drinking beer. I still do plenty of those things, of course.

The book is Bleeding Kansas, by Nicole Etcheson. I've been interested lately in knowing more about the bloody formative time period for my native state, so I figured this book was as good a place as any to start. Most Kansans generally know about the northerner free-state Jayhawks and John Brown fighting against the Missouri slave-state faction, led by folks like Quantrill. The situation was obviously more complex.

I found it really interesting to read about all the competing interests involved in stacking the vote for either side when deciding whether or not Kansas would permit slavery. I had no idea about the political squabbles and various failed constitutions that were formed in an attempt to provide some rule over the territory. The book went into extreme detail when describing these different political factions and their competing interests.

I was hoping for a little more description of the violence that erupted; after all, it WAS "Bleeding Kansas." There was a fair amount of detail about the violence, including the infamous burning of Lawrence and the Pottawatomie murders, but I was surprised that there was little else.

Overall, I found it rather informative and interesting to fill out some of the holes that were in my working knowledge of Kansas history. It was also gratifying to read about the importance of what is now a "fly-over" state. The book was certainly worth the reading time.

Labels: books

posted by Jeremy @ 11:00 PM