I read this book years ago and find it quite interesting. Many of the concepts in this books were explained in my transportation class. Mopac was an very important rail line in the Southwest and many of the present day U.P. Managers (i.e. Dick Davidson) came from this railroad. I hope people can draw the history and basic concepts to understand present day railroad operations.

This book gives a good look at the forces that shaped the Missouri Pacific Railroad during its final era, from job forces, line acquisitions and locomotives to corporate doings and "pleasing the stockholders." It also includes excellent black-and-white photographs and informative maps. Despite the fact that I am primarily a Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad fan, I still found this book to be extremely interesting and thorough. It reads quickly, presenting the information in a concise, well-organized manner. I highly recommend this book to any railroad fan who is interested in the history of railroads, particularly that of the "MoPac" and its closest rail competitors.

With much anticipation, I waited for this book to be released. There has been no general historical monograph of Kansas since Robert Richmond's Kansas, A Land of Contrasts, back in the mid-1970's. Kansas is overdue for a new basic history. My original review of this book gave it 1 star. Since that time I have had the opportunity to read the volume a couple of times and my original comments may have been too harsh. The book does go indepth into areas which have not been addressed by other state monographs, especially with regard to civil rights movements in the 1960's and especially important issues of the last 30 years in the later chapters. Miner's evaluations of recent political changes in the last chapters was also quite thought-provoking. My original argument regarding the organization of this history remains and keeps me from giving it 5 stars. There is an enormous amount of information contained here and it needed, for lack of a better word, more user-friendly organization, maybe even some side-bars where the author could have more freedom to digress in related topics. This volume was meant for a scholarly audience and it will appeal quite well to this relatively small percentage of Kansans and deserves four stars. Whether this book will attract a sizable number of non-scholarly Kansans remains to be seen. This is not meant as a derogatory remark, merely a realistic observation. With regard to its chosen audience, however, it appears to be successful. With regard to illustrations, maps, and graphs, I would have enjoyed seeing more. Why not show off a little bit of Kansas visually? The photographs dept of the KSHS has several hundred thousand images and over 10,000 pertinent maps. Why was this valuable resource underutilized? To address Mr Avid, there is certainly no jealousy involved as I am not a historian nor a college professor and I write about subjects that I have an interest in pursuing. I own every book that Miner has authored and have enjoyed his previous works very much. My expectations with regard to this book were apparently unrealistic-- I was expecting a bigger and better model of Land of Contrasts. This book will help to alter the image of Kansas in a positive way among academics in other states who have an image of Kansas as a flat, dull lifeless place. The details outlined in Miner's book portray a far more complex state of mind than the outside world realizes. That is a good thing.

I am not surprised at Mr. Fitzgerald's remarks regarding Craig Miner's fine new work on Kansas. Fitzgerald, who has published two successful books on "ghost towns" (actually "near dead" towns) in Kansas is a popularizer. His books, while fun to read, are by no means scholarly works. Miner's new book is scholarly, but interesting! Robert Richmond's book is a good survey of Kansas history, but is appropriate for a high school audience. Thomas Isern's book, Kansas Land, is written for a junior high audience. Until Miner wrote this book, there has been no survey of Kansas history that was apporpriate for college students and for scholarly study. Richmond's book has suggesstions for further reading at the end of every chapter. Fitzgerald seems to be underestimating Kansans in the way that they have been underestimated for 150 years, as simple, illiterate people of the land. Read Miner's book, and you will soon find out that Kansans are quite the opposite! Miner's book is written with the erudition that Kansans deserve. This is a fine book, a fitting history of Kansas for Kansans, and for others.
Historians will always bicker about each other's work, sometimes jealously, sometimes with clear reason. I cannot say that Mr. Fitzgerald is jealous, but he certainly did not make his argument with clear reason!

Craig Miner's exhaustive volume demolishes the marginalization of Kansas in the writing of American history. Arguing for the importance of regional history, Miner persuades the reader that Kansas is not a "Great American Desert" historically, but a fascinating land, chockful of colorful characters, dramatic events, and great influence on the rest of the United States.

Given the exhaustive nature of the volume, every reader will find something of interest in Miner's history, from agricultural history to political intrigue. Most Kansas histories simply scratch the surface, citing "Bleeding Kansas" and prohibition as everything interesting about Kansas. Not so with Minor's work. The pro-communist Waldo McNutt shares the stage with the anti-communist Gerald K. Winrod in a story that will remind Kansans of the richness of their history and amaze others with what historical treasures have yet be unearthed in the middle of America.

The final chapter demonstrates what separates Miner from many other historians. A finely woven look at Kansas and its future, the author weaves in cultural allusions from Bob Dylan to Reynolds Price in order to understand the struggle for Kansas' identity. This is a rich work for any fan of American history.