Winner of the Missouri History Book Award, from the State Historical Society of Missouri Winner of the Arkansiana Award, from the Arkansas Library Association Geologic forces raised the Ozarks. Myth enshrouds these hills. Human beings shaped them and were shaped by them. The Ozarks reflect the epic tableau of the American people—the native Osage and would-be colonial conquerors, the determined settlers and on-the-make speculators, the endless labors of hardscrabble farmers and capitalism of visionary entrepreneurs. The Old Ozarks is the first volume of a monumental three-part history of the region and its inhabitants. Brooks Blevins begins in deep prehistory, charting how these highlands of granite, dolomite, and limestone came to exist. From there he turns to the political and economic motivations behind the eagerness of many peoples to possess the Ozarks. Blevins places these early proto-Ozarkers within the context of larger American history and the economic, social, and political forces that drove it forward. But he also tells the varied and colorful human stories that fill the region's storied past—and contribute to the powerful myths and misunderstandings that even today distort our views of the Ozarks' places and people. A sweeping history in the grand tradition, A History of the Ozarks, Volume 1: The Old Ozarks is essential reading for anyone who cares about the highland heart of America.

This book is a thorough study of all known guerrilla operations in Civil War Missouri between September 1864 and June 1865. It explores different tactics each side attempted to gain advantage over each other, with regional differences as influenced by the personalities of local commanders. The author utilizes both well-known and obscure sources (including military and government records, private accounts, county and other local histories, period and later newspapers, and secondary sources published after the war) to identify which Southern partisan leaders and groups operated in which areas of Missouri, and how their kinds of warfare evolved. This work presents the actions of Southern guerrilla forces and Confederate behind-Union-lines recruiters chronologically by region so that readers may see the relationship of seemingly isolated events to other events. The book also studies the counteractions of an array of different types of Union troops fighting guerrillas in Missouri to show how differences in training, leadership and experience affected actions in the field.

This surname index covers the section on Webster County in Goodspeed's History of Laclede, Camden, Dallas, Webster, Wright, Texas, Pulaski, Phelps and Dent counties, Missouri; History of Webster County, 1855-1955 by Floy Watters George; and Marshfield and her cyclone by Maria Allis Wilson. .

The train robbery by the James-Younger gang in 1874 at Gads Hill, Missouri, was a big news item of the day. Americannewspapers from as far away as New York and Boston carried the story, and journalists in St. Louis, Chicago, and even European cities wrote scathing editorials about the crime. In time, the excitement subsided, but the raid at Gads Hill had a lasting effect on the lives of the James and Younger brothers. Dramatic events that occurred during the robbery, retreat, and pursuit brought the bandits world-wide attention and became the source for much of the Jesse James legend we know today. Here, told largely by trainmen, passengers, farmers, detectives, outlaws, news reporters, and others who were directly or indirectly involved with thecrime, is a true, documented account of Frank and Jesse James, the Younger brothers, and Missouri�s first train robbery. Many of the photographs included have never been published.