What Kansas Means to Me PDF Download

Author: Thomas Fox Averill
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 264

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Book Description
Essays and poems by Kansas writers past and present, illustrated with 25 woodcuts from the Prairie Printmakers. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Author: Christopher Brown
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0062563823
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 450

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“Timely, dark, and ultimately hopeful: it might not ‘make America great again,’ but then again, it just might.”—Cory Doctorow, New York Times bestselling and award winning author of Homeland Acclaimed short story writer and editor of the World Fantasy Award-nominee Three Messages and a Warning eerily envisions an American society unraveling and our borders closed off—from the other side—in this haunting and provocative novel that combines Max Barry’s Jennifer Government, Philip K. Dick’s classic Man in the High Castle, and China Mieville’s The City & the City The United States of America is no more. Broken into warring territories, its center has become a wasteland DMZ known as “the Tropic of Kansas.” Though this gaping geographic hole has no clear boundaries, everyone knows it's out there—that once-bountiful part of the heartland, broken by greed and exploitation, where neglect now breeds unrest. Two travelers appear in this arid American wilderness: Sig, the fugitive orphan of political dissidents, and his foster sister Tania, a government investigator whose search for Sig leads her into her own past—and towards an unexpected future. Sig promised those he loves that he would make it to the revolutionary redoubt of occupied New Orleans. But first he must survive the wild edgelands of a barren mid-America policed by citizen militias and autonomous drones, where one wrong move can mean capture . . . or death. One step behind, undercover in the underground, is Tania. Her infiltration of clandestine networks made of old technology and new politics soon transforms her into the hunted one, and gives her a shot at being the agent of real change—if she is willing to give up the explosive government secrets she has sworn to protect. As brother and sister traverse these vast and dangerous badlands, their paths will eventually intersect on the front lines of a revolution whose fuse they are about to light. “Futurist as provocateur! The world is sheer batshit genius . . . a truly hallucinatorily envisioned environment.”—William Gibson, New York Times bestselling and award-winning author

Author: Thomas Frank
Publisher: Picador
ISBN: 1429900326
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 340

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Book Description
One of "our most insightful social observers"* cracks the great political mystery of our time: how conservatism, once a marker of class privilege, became the creed of millions of ordinary Americans With his acclaimed wit and acuity, Thomas Frank turns his eye on what he calls the "thirty-year backlash"—the populist revolt against a supposedly liberal establishment. The high point of that backlash is the Republican Party's success in building the most unnatural of alliances: between blue-collar Midwesterners and Wall Street business interests, workers and bosses, populists and right-wingers. In asking "what 's the matter with Kansas?"—how a place famous for its radicalism became one of the most conservative states in the union—Frank, a native Kansan and onetime Republican, seeks to answer some broader American riddles: Why do so many of us vote against our economic interests? Where's the outrage at corporate manipulators? And whatever happened to middle-American progressivism? The questions are urgent as well as provocative. Frank answers them by examining pop conservatism—the bestsellers, the radio talk shows, the vicious political combat—and showing how our long culture wars have left us with an electorate far more concerned with their leaders' "values" and down-home qualities than with their stands on hard questions of policy. A brilliant analysis—and funny to boot—What's the Matter with Kansas? presents a critical assessment of who we are, while telling a remarkable story of how a group of frat boys, lawyers, and CEOs came to convince a nation that they spoke on behalf of the People. *Los Angeles Times

Author: Lisa Hefner Heitz
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
A collection of ghost stories and narration unique to the state of Kansas. The stories are a blend of mystery and menace. The ghosts are shown are to notoriously linked to a specific structure or landscape, whether it be an 18th century mansion or a bottomless pool.

Author: Becky Mandelbaum
Publisher: University of Georgia Press
ISBN: 0820351288
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 177

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Book Description
Kansas boys -- The golden state -- A million and one Marthas -- Go on, eat your heart out -- The house on Alabama Street -- Night of indulgences -- Stupid girls -- Thousand-dollar decoy -- First love -- Queen of England -- Bald bear -- Acknowledgment

Author: G. P. Schultz
Publisher: greg Schultz
ISBN: 0962632406
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 263

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Book Description
In settings ranging from Kansas City's West Bottoms to Quality Hill, you'll follow the lives and fortunes of five very different men, the women they love, and the families they create, in G.P. Schultz's historic saga about the settlement and growth of one of America's great cities. You'll follow the adventures of Jack and Kevin, two spunky Irish orphans just off the boat and determined to make their fortunes in America. They arrive in Kansas City when it is a rugged town built along mountainous gullies carved in the mud along the Missouri River--thus earning it the name "Gully Town." For Kevin, early Kansas City affords the opportunity to fulfill his ambitions to be a newspaper reporter and to pursue his avid interest in women--until the captivating Mary, herself and Irish immigrant, steals his heart. Jack settles into the business community and his life takes a completely different turn as he helps create the Boss System of politics that continues to dominate the city for half a century. Red is a young man who witnesses the horror of Quantrill's famous raid on Lawrence, Kansas, in the early days of the Civil War and later participates in the Battle of Westport. Red finds the woman of his dreams in the beautiful Melissa--only to lose her when she learns of his past and flees, taking with her the secret that could save Red from a life of crime. Adam, schoolteacher, historian, state senator and newspaper columnist, chronicles the lives of his friends and the growth of Kansas City in the journal he faithfully keeps through the years. Through him, we learn about the turbulent political system that puts Jack on top--and frequently threatens his life. We experience such history making events as the great Centennial celebration in 1900, and the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904. As the next generation comes of age in a more civilized Kansas City it faces its own challenges. Michael, a product of Gully town's Little Italy, grows up in violence and becomes chief of the Kansas City underworld. Michael falls in love with the beautiful Beth, and must face the inevitability of his career in organized crime destroying the life they have built together.

Author: Robert Day
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 282

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Book Description
The Thirtieth anniversary edition of THE Kansas cult novel--a wild romp across 1970s Kansas--with a new foreword by Howard Lamar, new afterword by the author, and a reprinted essay, "The Last Cattle Drive Stampede," that is a send-up of some of Hollywood's feckless attempts to make a move based on the popular novel.

Author: Joseph J. Millard
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 142

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Book Description
The invasion began with meteor strikes in Kansas. When the investigating team disappears, it signals the start of an alien invasion of Earth. At first, a number of humans are enslaved and forced to build a rocket aimed at the stars. Then comes the Crimson Plague, which sweeps across the world, ravaging civilization. Among the few who escape is astrophysicist Curt Temple, whose girlfriend, Lee Mason, is among the enslaved. Curt must pit his slim knowledge against the most perfect intelligence in the cosmos to save the world--and the woman he loves!A classic science fiction novel, originally pub.

Author: Nancy Pickard
Publisher: Ballantine Books
ISBN: 0345471008
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 370

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“Engrossing . . . beautifully written and carefully crafted . . . [a] work that explores the healing power of truth.”—The Boston Globe For seventeen years, a rural community in Kansas has faithfully tended the grave of an anonymous teenage girl christened the Virgin of Small Plains. And some claim that, perhaps owing to the girl’s intervention, strange miracles and unexplainable healings have occurred. Slowly, word of the legend spreads. But what really happened in that snow-covered field almost two decades ago, when the girl’s naked, frozen body was found? Why did young Mitch Newquist disappear the day after the shocking discovery, leaving behind his distraught girlfriend, Abby Reynolds, and their best friend, Rex Shellenberger? Now Mitch has returned to Small Plains, reigniting simmering tensions and awakening secrets. Never having resolved her feelings for Mitch, Abby is determined to uncover the startling truth about his departure. The three former friends must confront the ever-unfolding consequences of the night that forever changed their lives—and the life of their small town. Praise for The Virgin of Small Plains “Nancy Pickard . . . has evolved into a writer of substantial literary power. . . . [She] has fashioned a novel that accurately reflects the secrets and silences locked deep within the hearts of all small-town Midwesterners.”—The Denver Post “Tantalizing . . . Pickard writes with insight and compassion about an unresolved crime that continues to haunt a farming community.”—The New York Times Book Review “A class act . . . Pickard has a talent for adding depth to a story that conveys a sense of place and history.”—Orlando Sentinel “Crisply written, this new novel about loss of faith, trust, and innocence is utterly absorbing.”—Tucson Citizen

Author: C.J. Janovy
Publisher: University Press of Kansas
ISBN: 0700628347
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 310

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Book Description
Far from the coastal centers of culture and politics, Kansas stands at the very center of American stereotypes about red states. In the American imagination, it is a place LGBT people leave. No Place Like Home is about why they stay. The book tells the epic story of how a few disorganized and politically naïve Kansans, realizing they were unfairly under attack, rolled up their sleeves, went looking for fights, and ended up making friends in one of the country’s most hostile states. The LGBT civil rights movement’s history in California and in big cities such as New York and Washington, DC, has been well documented. But what is it like for LGBT activists in a place like Kansas, where they face much stiffer headwinds? How do they win hearts and minds in the shadow of the Westboro Baptist Church (“Christian” motto: “God Hates Fags”)? Traveling the state in search of answers—from city to suburb to farm—journalist C. J. Janovy encounters LGBT activists who have fought, in ways big and small, for the acceptance and respect of their neighbors, their communities, and their government. Her book tells the story of these twenty-first-century citizen activists—the issues that unite them, the actions they take, and the personal and larger consequences of their efforts, however successful they might be. With its close-up view of the lives and work behind LGBT activism in Kansas, No Place Like Home fills a prairie-sized gap in the narrative of civil rights in America. The book also looks forward, as an inspiring guide for progressives concerned about the future of any vilified minority in an increasingly polarized nation.