Name: Wicked Kansas
Brand: Adrian Zink
SKU: 9781467143882
Price: 23.99 USD
Availability: InStock

Wicked Kansas

9781467143882

$23.99

Kansans like to think of their state as a land of industrious, law-abiding and friendly people, and for the most part they are correct. But its history has many tales of murders, cons, extrajudicial killings and other crimes. Its restive frontier attracted menacing characters, such as a cowboy who murdered a man for snoring, the serial-killing Bender family and the train-robbing James-Younger Gang. Although the area was eventually settled, the scandals did not cease. Learn about how a quack doctor nearly won the governorship, a decommissioned nuclear missile silo housed the largest LSD manufacturing operation in American history and more. Author Adrian Zink explores the salacious side of Kansas history in these wild and degenerate stories.

Mulvane

9780738598710

$24.99

Mulvane sits on the Sedgwick/Sumner County line, adjacent to the Arkansas River, and is roughly 10 miles south of Wichita. It was founded in 1879 by the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway on the rail line that comes south from Wichita and evolved as a railroad town and agricultural community. It has survived floods, droughts, tornadoes, and fires and is now the home of over 6,000 residents. Mulvane is a progressive city filled with people who have a keen eye on the future while celebrating their past. Thousands of residents and visitors come to town during the third weekend of August for the annual Old Settlers Days celebration, which has taken place each year since 1873; the event was actually established before the town was incorporated. Images of America: Mulvane offers a glimpse of the people and events of the past that helped shape the present of "The City of the Valley."

Notorious Kansas Bank Heists

9781626198357

$23.99

Bank robbers wreaked havoc in the Sunflower State. After robbing the Chautauqua State Bank in 1911, outlaw Elmer McCurdy was killed by lawmen but wasn't buried for sixty-six years. His afterlife can be described only as bizarre. Belle Starr's nephew Henry Starr claimed to have robbed twenty-one banks. The Dalton gang failed in their attempt to rob two banks simultaneously, but others accomplished this in Waterville in 1911. Nearly four thousand known vigilantes patrolled the Sunflower State during the 1920s and 1930s to combat the criminal menace. One group even had an airplane with a .50-caliber machine gun. Join author Rod Beemer for a wild ride into Kansas's tumultuous bank heist history.

Harvey Houses of Kansas:

9781626198470

$21.99

Starting in Kansas, Fred Harvey's iconic Harvey House was the first to set the standard for fine dining and hospitality across the rugged Southwest. In 1876, the first of Harvey's depot restaurants opened in Topeka, followed just a few years later by the first combination hotel and restaurant in Florence. Fred Harvey and the Harvey Girls introduced good food and manners to the land of Bat Masterson, Wyatt Earp and raucous cattle drives. In her third book on the Harvey House legacy, author Rosa Walston Latimer goes back to where it all began in this history of hospitality from the Sunflower State.

Botanica

9781467114097

$24.99

Growing from 4 gardens in 1987 to 29 in 2015, Botanica, The Wichita Gardens has become a regional attraction. The dream of a botanical garden in Wichita started in the early 1970s with John Firsching, superintendent of landscape and forestry with the Board of Park Commissioners, and in 1987 the gardens opened on the site of Wichita's Sim Park. Images of Modern America: Botanica, The Wichita Gardens tells the story of the people, events, and stories that have shaped Botanica into Wichita's garden. Included are images of Botanica throughout the gardens' 28-year history and the earlier history of Sim Park, many of which have never been published before.

Wichita

9780738593906

$24.99

Wichita, Kansas, was founded in 1870 as a small frontier cow town. By 1900, after having gone through one of the most remarkable real estate boom-and-bust cycles in US history, it had become the largest city in the state and a regional hub of commerce. Wichita flourished between 1900 and 1940, and its population quadrupled as it became a world leader in aircraft production. Picture postcards were introduced just as Wichita entered this latter phase of development, and the colorful new form of communication amply documented Wichita's history during those years.

Southwestern College

9781467114820

$24.99

Southwestern College is located in Winfield, Kansas, on a prominence that overlooks the Walnut River Valley. Determined to bring education to the plains of Kansas, Methodist leaders founded the college in 1885. These early pioneers and their successors built beyond their dreams, creating a strong, unique, and vital institution that has produced close to 25,000 Moundbuilders across the globe. Today, that Moundbuilder tradition educates thousands of students at the main Winfield campus and online.

Lawrence

9781467114554

$24.99

With its skyline dominated by the campus of the University of Kansas, the history of Lawrence cannot be divorced from the history of the academy, its influence, and impact. The history of any town, however, is much more than the story of one institution or issue. Lawrence is also a river town, located in an agriculturally rich valley, and Massachusetts Street, its main commercial street, harkens back to its mid-19th century New England origins and influences. Lawrence is also a place of diversity and change, a community where space is contested and disparate opinions make for vital public discourse.

Kansas Oddities

9781467139229

$23.99

Touch down at Dead Cow International Airport and sample the state's bumper crop of bizarre history. The most commonplace sights contain unlikely stories, from the bulldozer's Morrowsville origins to the sunflower's journey from outlawed weed to state symbol. Some of this heritage lies submerged or buried, like the world's only saltwater spring, which now sits at the bottom of a man-made lake. Rumored caches of the Fleagle Gang's loot still draw treasure hunters in spades. From mariachi legends to rodeo roundups, Roger Ringer gathers in a vast and varied harvest of Kansas lore.

Murder & Mayhem in Southeast Kansas

9781467141406

$21.99

From railroad towns like Ladore to cow towns like Newton and Wichita, southeast Kansas pulsed with rowdy activity during the late nineteenth century.

The unruly atmosphere drew outlaws, including the Dalton Gang, and even crazed serial killers the likes of the Bender clan. Violent incidents, from gunfights to lynchings, punctuated the region's Wild West era, and the allure of the frontier also attracted the everyday people whose passions sometimes spawned bloodshed as well. Award-winning author Larry E. Wood explores thirteen of these remarkable episodes in the criminal history of southeast Kansas.

Wichita's Lebanese Heritage

9780738577173

$24.99

Wichita, a city of entrepreneurs, offered an ideal home for Middle Eastern Christians who started arriving in the 1890s. Initially identifying themselves as Syrians, they operated as peddlers across southern Kansas and northern Oklahoma. Peddling rapidly gave way to wholesale, grocery, and dry goods companies. Patriarchs such as N. F. Farha and E. G. Stevens established themselves in local business and civic circles. Primarily Eastern Orthodox, the Lebanese established two churches, St. George Orthodox Church and St. Mary Orthodox Christian Church, that became focal points of community life. After World War II, entrepreneurs responded to new opportunities, from real estate to supermarkets to the professions. In recent decades, an additional wave of immigrants from war-torn Lebanon has continued the entrepreneurial tradition.

Morris County

9781467111065

$24.99

The establishment of the Santa Fe Trail, along with the Kaw Indian reservation and the influx of white settlers answering the unyielding call of Manifest Destiny, set the scene for Morris County and its part in the epic story of the American West and Bleeding Kansas. Millions of dollars in goods and hundreds of thousands of men passed through Morris County during that era, and inevitably it became the stomping ground of many notable historic figures, both famous and infamous. "Bloody" Bill Anderson, Dick Yeager, Jack McDowell, Jesse Chisholm, and George Armstrong Custer are just a few of the names that have made Morris County legendary. Since Morris County has been tamed, it has been known as prime cattle country and farmland and is home to the Council Grove Federal Reservoir, which brings in thousands of waterskiers, anglers, boaters, and campers every year.

Mexican Americans of Wichita’s North End

9781467107693

$23.99

While the North End has long been the beginning of the American dream for many peoples including African Americans, Southeast Asians, and Anglo Americans, it is perhaps the Mexican American community that most visibly embodies the hopes and struggles in this part of the city. The first wave worked in the packinghouses, and communities with names such as El Huarache, La Topeka, and El Rock Island emerged nearby. As the 20th century unfolded, their children and grandchildren established a vibrant neighborhood along Twenty-First Street and Broadway. In recent years, the old industries of the area have faded, while a new wave of immigrants from Latin America has been able to redefine an area. Today, the Mexican American heritage in the North End has become one of its most defining features, an example of a broader diversity that has always made this part of the city special.

Mexican Americans of Wichita’s North End

Independence

9781467112611

$24.99

Independence, Kansas, is the perfect picture of Americana. Where else can one find a small town that holds an annual theatre festival named in honor of one of its own natives, William Inge, or celebrates the early settlers in the Little House on the Prairie novels? Where can one find the site of the first-ever night game in organized baseball or the first team of one of baseball's most prolific hitters, Mickey Mantle? What other town in America can claim achievers like safari traveler Martin Johnson, oil magnate Harry Sinclair, presidential candidate Alf Landon, and even an astronaut chimp named Miss Abel? Lastly, where else can one find a town that holds a weeklong festival with the whimsical name Neewollah ("Halloween" spelled backward)?

Celebrating Kansas Breweries

9781467151924

$23.99

A Tour of the Kansas Beer Industry

Breweries in the state of Kansas are opening at a fast pace, in communities from Council Grove to Olathe. As the industry grows, the opportunities for craft beer fans to enjoy the communities and beer abound. Check out Ryan Triggs and Nick Feightner at Tall Trellis Brew Co. where you can enjoy a pint while sitting next to hop bines. Visit Fields & Ivy Brewery, the only brewery in the state with an active grain silo. Author Michael Travis traveled for a year and visited every brewery, capturing the heartbeat and story behind the owners and head brewers who make the magic happen.

Kansas Forts & Bases

9781609498269

$21.99

The relationship between Kansas and the science of war is ingrained, consistent and evident, yet it seems antithetical to the quiet, conservative farmer who is the quintessential image of the state. It is not. The same values created both, and both created Kansas. From early exploration of America, Bleeding Kansas, the Civil War and the Plains Indian wars to the world wars and the modern era, the forts and bases of the Sunflower State have been central to America's defense. Beginning with Fort de Cavagnial in 1744 through to the defunct fields of Cold War missile silos, historians Debra Goodrich Bisel and Michelle M. Martin provide a guide to the forts and posts throughout Kansas.

Cover image for Kansas Forts & Bases, isbn: 9781609498269

Kansas University Basketball Legends

9781626193758

$19.99

The University of Kansas's men's basketball team is one of the oldest and most successful in the history of college basketball; the very inventor of the sport, Dr. James Naismith, was KU's first coach. Its long and illustrious history began in 1898 and includes some of the biggest names in the game, from legends like Wilt Chamberlain to "secret weapons" like Andrea Hudy, the only female strength and conditioning coach in the division. Longtime Jayhawk enthusiast Kenn Johnson offers up a unique and in-depth look at the players, coaches and other personalities who helped make the University of Kansas basketball program the unparalleled tradition it is today.

Kansas Music

9781626191778

$21.99

Despite its sparse population, Kansas is well represented in the annals of music history. The state claims some of the most popular acts from the past century, including Kansas, Count Basie, Big Joe Turner, Martina McBride, Melissa Etheridge and Charlie Parker. A wide variety of genres plays and prospers here, from blues to bluegrass. Beloved venues from mega-festivals like Walnut Valley to jam sessions just off the front porch preserve the state's tuneful heritage. Join Deb Bisel in celebrating this lyrical legacy, from "Home on the Range" to "Dust in the Wind" and beyond.

Cover image for Kansas Music, isbn: 9781626191778

Wabaunsee County

9780738560779

$24.99

In 2009, Wabaunsee County will celebrate its 150th anniversary. Although Wabaunsee County was first created in 1855 by the Kansas territorial legislature as Richardson County, it had no county government and was attached to neighboring Shawnee County in legal jurisdiction. In 1859, the legislature renamed the county Wabaunsee, after the Potawatomi Indian chief, and in March of that year, the first election for county officers was held. The county lies in the heart of the Kansas Flint Hills, and it boasts some of the most beautiful landscapes in the state. While located only 30 miles from the state capital in Topeka, it retains its rural atmosphere, even today. The largest of its seven incorporated towns has less than 1,000 residents. The earliest settlers lived among large populations of Native Americans. During the Civil War, the Underground Railroad operated actively in the county. In 1880, the first railroad was built in the county, and the towns along its line boomed. When a second line was introduced in 1887, the county saw its greatest growth. Today residents enjoy the breathtaking beauty of the rugged Flint Hills, lush pastures, and fertile bottomland sustaining the local economy as it has for a century and a half. A large section of highway across the county has been designated the Kansas Native Stone Scenic Byway, and tourism has begun to play an increasingly larger role in the county's economy.

Kansas Tycoon Emerson Carey

9781467140799

$21.99

"I've seen a fly make a bull switch his tail" is a homespun quip attributed to Emerson Carey, the powerful salt magnate of Hutchinson, Kansas. True or not, the quote epitomizes the fearless and tenacious character of the legend who became Reno County's benefactor. Young, awestruck Carey arrived in boomtown 1880s Hutchinson and went on to create an immense empire. Coal, ice, salt, strawboard, egg cases, bags, soda ash and streetcars--he presided over it all. From Carey's sleeping in a coal yard with a quarter in his pocket to the founding of the exclusive Willowbrook community and attaining a net worth of more than $15 million, authors Lynn Ledeboer and Myron Marcotte relate the epic story.

The KOM League Remembered

9780738533407

$24.99

The late 1940s and early 1950s was the Golden Age for minor league baseball. The National Pastime thrived in small town America with hundreds of professional teams in over 50 leagues playing at every level. The lowest rung of professional baseball--Class D, the "bush leagues"--was an exciting mix of returning soldiers and recent high school grads, all with dreams of climbing up the ladder to make it to the "big show." For seven seasons (1946-1952) the Kansas-Oklahoma-Missouri League offered some of the most memorable bush league baseball of the era. Of the 1,588 young men who donned a KOM League uniform, in places like Independence, Kansas and Ponca City, Oklahoma, 30 made it to the majors and one made it to the Hall of Fame.

Wichita State Baseball Comes Back:

9781626193826

$21.99

There were no bats or balls on the campus of Wichita State University in the spring of 1977. Five years later, the resurrected varsity baseball program was in the final game of the College World Series, fulfilling the seemingly impossible promise made by Gene Stephenson when he began recruiting players to a place that didn't even have a practice field. Stephenson would lead the Shockers for over three decades, but those first five years with the team set him on the course that put him among the winningest coaches in college baseball history..

When the Daltons Rode

9781455615353

$21.95

Autobiography of an Old West outlaw. Known for his scandalous career as a train and bank robber, Emmett Dalton remains a significant figure in American Old West history. This candid autobiography details his years with the Dalton gang, his courtship of Julia Johnson, and the fourteen years he served in prison. Peppered with anecdotes, this book provides a peek into the mind of an outlaw.

Lucky to Live in Kansas

9780738527987

$16.99

What do you get when you cross a read-aloud storybook with a write-in memory book? Magic moments between kids and adults! The Lucky to Live in Kansas book is the perfect tool to jump-start meaningful conversations between generations. Read-aloud rhymes set up interesting topics. Then write-in prompts invite children to record their own views to create a personal Sunflower State keepsake. The real gift lies in the interactive nature of the book as it offers the perfect opportunity for adults to share their own stories and wisdom about such issues as friendship, community, team spirit, and other topics that help develop a child's social and emotional skills. Customized Kansas content—from favorite local cuisine (bierock) to interesting attractions (Monument Rocks)—provides an even more personalized experience.

Lansing

9780738561929

$24.99

Founded by Civil War veteran William Lansing Taylor, Lansing is home to a population quickly approaching 11,000 residents. It is also home to the Lansing Correctional Facility (formerly the Kansas State Penitentiary), the oldest prison in Kansas. Designed by Erasmus Carr, architect of the Kansas State Capitol, the building has stood watch over the area for more than 140 years. As one will find, Lansing and the prison have grown together and mutually benefitted each other. Lansing is also home to Mount Muncie Cemetery, one of the oldest cemeteries in the state. It is the resting place of several famous people, including Fred Harvey. The photographs in this book are glimpses into time of a small village with one-room schools to a bustling community with one of the busiest north-south highways in Kansas.

Mayday Over Wichita

9781626190528

$21.99

On the cold Saturday morning of January 16, 1965, a U.S. Air Force KC-135 tanker carrying thirty-one thousand gallons of jet fuel crashed into a congested African American neighborhood in Wichita, Kansas. When the fire and destruction finally subsided, forty-seven people--mostly African American children--were dead or injured, homes were completely destroyed and numerous families were splintered. As shocking as it may sound, the event was seemingly omitted from the historical record for nearly fifty years. Now, historian D. W. Carter examines the myths and realities of the crash while providing new insights about the horrific four-minute flight that forever changed the history of Kansas.

Marymount College of Kansas

9781626195738

$21.99

One year before the United States granted women the right to vote, the Sisters of St. Joseph broke ground on the construction of the first all-women's college in Kansas. Escalating construction costs put the school's future in jeopardy until Mother Antoinette took her plea for additional funds to Pope Benedict XV himself. Dubbed the "Million-Dollar College," the hilltop campus overlooking the Smoky Hill River finally opened its doors in 1922. The thousands who matriculated throughout its sixty-seven-year existence created a lasting legacy in the Sunflower State. Join alumnus Patricia Ackerman as she preserves the inspiring history of Marymount College.

People of the Flint Hills:

9781626197237

$21.99

The Flint Hills stretch across eighty-two thousand square miles of American history in a long, rocked-up, grassed-up finger pointing from the Oklahoma border all the way to Nebraska. This history winds though the mythos of the cowboy, climbing among families built on fierce independence, respect for the land and the water, and stubborn refusal to sacrifice a way of life to enforced economic change. These stories tell the hard truths of hard people whose traditional values have carried them, have helped them prosper for five generations. Ancestral land belongs these days only to those willing to fight for it. Heaven's own sunsets wait only for the strong and the certain. The world would do well to know these hills and those who live here.

Dodge City

9780738552255

$24.99

The founding of the American West can be studied in no better place than Dodge City and Ford County. Whether it is frontier forts, trails and cow towns, or farms and ranches, Ford County holds original examples. The best-known Wild West lawmen and gunfighters--Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, and Doc Holliday--gained their fame in Dodge City. Its history began with Francisco Vásquez de Coronado crossing the Arkansas River in 1541, leading to the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 (Dodge City is on the 100th meridian border) and the 1821 opening of the Santa Fe Trail by William Becknell. Fort Dodge, built in 1865, still stands as a reminder of the millions of people who passed through Dodge City. The Santa Fe Railroad arrived in 1872, and the buffalo hunters and the Great Western Cattle Trail grew around Dodge City. The pioneer era did not end in the 1800s but continued through the 1930s dust bowl and beyond--demanding the same tough work, cooperation, and high ethics that made surviving possible in the "Great Western Desert."

Arkansas City

9780738560496

$24.99

Arkansas City: People, Places, and Events is a continuation of the story of Arkansas City. The first Arkansas City told a general history of the community and its origins, the major events that occurred, and the people who built and shaped the community. Arkansas City: People, Places, and Events delves deeper into the early pioneer history of this Kansas town. It covers more of the major founders who came into Osage territory not only making a home but creating a thriving community, major entertainers and athletes who lived and played in Arkansas City, law enforcement origins and events, and organizations that helped support and shape the area.

Arkansas City

9780738552408

$24.99

Arkansas City has often been called "the gateway to the West." The name lends a lot to describing the town--a town that was founded as a border town to Indian Territory, a major trade hub to the Indian agencies in Indian Territory, and a major transportation center for those wishing to travel through the territory and farther west. Arkansas City started off as a small town with false-fronted stores but became a bustling community where the people were forward thinkers and pushed for quality and modernization in everything they brought to the city whether that was business, industry, or entertainment. Arkansas City is known for the Cherokee Strip Land Rush of September 16, 1893, interaction with the Native Americans in Indian Territory, farming, ranching, and aircraft. Although Arkansas City was a civilized community, it was a city on the fringe of a lawless and unsettled territory where outlaws lurked and Native Americans were forced to settle. People loaded their wagons or went by train to cross through Oklahoma to Texas, New Mexico, or Arizona, leaving from Arkansas City. Due to Arkansas City's location, interaction with major figures and events in history, and its importance to travel farther west, Arkansas City was truly "the gateway to the West."

More University of Kansas Basketball Legends

9781626196889

$19.99

KU alumnus and Jayhawk enthusiast Kenn Johnson is back with even more legends and firsts. Notable coaches like Danny Manning, who won the national championship as a player in 1988 and again as part of the coaching staff in 2008, have shaped and molded the team throughout the decades. Players like Raef LaFrentz, who became the first Jayhawks player in twenty-seven years to average a double-double over an entire season, keep the fans coming back for more. From the history of the famous Allen Fieldhouse to current coach Bill Self, Johnson offers a closer look at the team's unique contribution to the sport of basketball.