Bleeding Kansas: Slavery, Sectionalism, and Civil War on the Missouri-Kansas Border

by Michael E. Woods

Between 1854 and 1861, the struggle between pro-and anti-slavery factions over Kansas Territory captivated Americans nationwide and contributed directly to the Civil War. Combining political, social, and military history, Bleeding Kansas contextualizes and analyzes prewar and wartime clashes in Kansas and Missouri and traces how these conflicts have been remembered ever since. Michael E. Woods's compelling narrative of the Kansas-Missouri border struggle embraces the diverse perspectives of white northerners and southerners, women, Native Americans, and African Americans. This wide-ranging and engaging text is ideal for undergraduate courses on the Civil War era, westward expansion, Kansas and/or Missouri history, nineteenth-century US history, and other related subjects. Supported by primary source documents and a robust companion website, this text allows readers to engage with and draw their own conclusions about this contentious era in American History.

230 pages, ebook

Published October 4, 2016

Reviews

[EP]

"These stories reveal much about American memory of the Civil War. Historical memory is not a simple act of recalling facts. Rather it is an active, collective process, in which people craft narratıves that fit their present needs and future goals....There are always new things to say because our perspective on past events continues to change, As long as people care about freedom and slavery, violence and power, nationalism and sectionalism, they will study Bleeding Kansas. And as long as they study Bleeding Kansas, they will debate its meanng"