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War to the Knife: Bleeding Kansas, 1854-1861
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Product Description
In 1854 a shooting war developed between proslavery men from Missouri and free-staters in Kansas over control of the territory. The prize was whether Kansas would become a slave or a free state when admitted to the Union, a question that could decide the balance of power in Washington. War to the Knife is an absorbing account of a bloody episode in our nation's past, told in the unforgettable words of the men and women involved: Robert E. Lee, William Tecumseh Sherman, Sara Robinson, Jeb Stuart, Abraham Lincoln, William F. Cody, and John Brown—hailed as a prophet by some, denounced as a madman by others.
Because the conflict soon spread east, events in “Bleeding Kansas” have largely been forgotten. But as historian Thomas Goodrich reveals in this compelling saga, what America's “first civil war” lacked in numbers, it more than made up for in ferocity.
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #627133 in Books
- Published on: 2004-11-01
- Original language: English
- Dimensions: .90 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 296 pages
Editorial Reviews
From Booklist
From the admirable Black Flag (1995), a history of guerrilla warfare in the western theater of the Civil War, Goodrich turns to the rehearsal for that warfare: the "Bleeding Kansas" struggle of 1854^-61, when proslavery and free-soil militants slaughtered one another and innocent bystanders over whether Kansas should be a slave or a free state. During the fighting, both John Brown and William Quantrill began their careers, and the fighting also polarized supporters of both factions elsewhere in the country, accelerating the slide toward war. Goodrich is exemplarily impartial (unless one can call a distaste for bigoted thuggery a partiality), omits few of the gory details of his subject, and generally offers a more-than-adequate history of an episode whose horrifying body count is passed over too lightly too often. Perhaps the book is for dedicated (not to mention strong-stomached) Civil War students, but all of them, and collections catering to them, will find it invaluable. Roland Green
Review
"A violent tale of insurrection, rioting, drunkenness, principle, politics, and self-interest... Goodrich has made effective use of sources from the state archives to present a coherent and credible vision of the dress rehearsal for the Civil War." Library Journal "A high-decibel retelling of the story of sectional strife in the settling of Kansas... An absorbing chronicle of surface events." Journal of American History
About the Author
