It Happened in Kansas features over 25 chapters in Kansas history. Lively and entertaining, this book brings the varied and fascinating history of the Sunflower State to life.

'Swift-moving tales, always readable, often captivating. Dary is ever the master of narrative. This is a contribution to the literary heritage of the state.' -Thomas Isern, coauthor of Plainsfolk

Long before the first shot of the Civil War was fired at Fort Sumter, violence had already erupted along the Missouri-Kansas border—a recurring cycle of robbery, arson, torture, murder, and revenge. This multifaceted study brings together fifteen scholars to expand our understanding of this vitally important region, the violence that besieged it, and its overall impact on the Civil War. Bleeding Kansas, Bleeding Missouri blends political, military, social, and intellectual history to explain why the region’s divisiveness was so bitter and persisted for so long. Providing a more nuanced understanding of the conflict, it defines both what united and divided the men and women who lived there and how various political disagreements ultimately disintegrated into violence. By focusing on contested definitions of liberty, citizenship, and freedom, it also explores how civil societies break down and how they are reconstructed when the conflict ends. The contributors examine this key chapter in American history in all of its complexity. Essays on “Slavery and Politics in Territorial Kansas” examine how the border region was transformed by the conflict over the status of slavery in Kansas Territory and how the emerging conflict on the Kansas-Missouri border took on a larger national significance. Other essays focus on the transition to total warfare and examine the wartime experiences of the diverse people who populated the region in “Sectional Crisis and Civil War on the Western Border.” Final articles on “The Border Reconstructed and Remembered” explore the ways in which border residents rebuilt their society after the war and how they remembered it decades later. As this penetrating collection shows, only when Missourians and Kansans embraced a common vision for America—one based on shared agricultural practices, ideas about economic development, and racial equality—could citizens on both sides of the border reconcile.

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.

The Encyclopedia of Local History addresses nearly every aspect of local history, including everyday issues, theoretical approaches, and trends in the field. This encyclopedia provides both the casual browser and the dedicated historian with adept commentary by bringing the voices of over one hundred experts together in one place. Entries include: ·Terms specifically related to the everyday practice of interpreting local history in the United States, such as “African American History,” “City Directories,” and “Latter-Day Saints.” ·Historical and documentary terms applied to local history such as “Abstract,” “Culinary History,” and “Diaries.” ·Detailed entries for major associations and institutions that specifically focus on their usage in local history projects, such as “Library of Congress” and “Society of American Archivists” ·Entries for every state and Canadian province covering major informational sources critical to understanding local history in that region. ·Entries for every major immigrant group and ethnicity. Brand-new to this edition are critical topics covering both the practice of and major current areas of research in local history such as “Digitization,” “LGBT History,” museum theater,” and “STEM education.” Also new to this edition are graphics, including 48 photographs. Overseen by a blue-ribbon Editorial Advisory Board (Anne W. Ackerson, James D. Folts, Tim Grove, Carol Kammen, and Max A. van Balgooy) this essential reference will be frequently consulted in academic libraries with American and Canadian history programs, public libraries supporting local history, museums, historic sites and houses, and local archives in the U.S. and Canada. This third edition is the first to include photographs.

Prohibition came early to Kansas in 1881, driving more than 125 breweries out of business or underground. Refusing to even vote on the 1933 national repeal, the state remained dry until 1948, with liquor by the drink finally being approved in 1987. Lawrence's Chuck Magerl worked with the legislature to pen new laws allowing something (little known at the time) called a "microbrewery." Chuck started the state's first brewery in over a century, appropriately named Free State Brewing Company. John Dean of Topeka's Blind Tiger Brewery counts more awards than any other brewer in the state, including Champion Brewer at the World Beer Cup in 2014. Props & Hops Brewing, in tiny Sylvan Grove, is owned and operated by an enterprising pilot who also owns and operates a crop-dusting business on the weekdays. Author Bob Crutchfield explores the state's breweries and recounts the Sunflower State's hoppy history.