2019 Kansas Notables Books, Part Two

today and keep your presents the two thousand nineteen kansas notable books part two and j mcintyre each year the state library of kansas likes the fifteen best new books about kansas or why kansas others we're talking to the authors of about half of this year's cannes as noble books on today's program if you missed my kansas notable books program part one it's archived at our website kansas public radio dot org slash keep your prisons natalie parker of lawrence is the author of see fire natalie thanks so much for coming in today's thank you so much for having me cease fire is the story of an all female ship captain by caledonia sticks natalie talking about the moore's neighbors the moore's me this is they've reclaimed to set it once housed many families including toy delany as parents and many others but when she was very young it was attacked and everybody essentially was lost in that attack killed or taken captive except for caledonia and her

best friend and sister casey it's i'm so these two girls have reclaimed the ship they pulled it together from all the parts that they can find and gathered a crew of other way weren't girls in this world of extreme violence i'm the theory cover of your book is the quote sisterhood is survival tell me about the relationship between the girls and young women on the moore's neighbors so these girls have come together from very disparate parts of this world but it is a world that's very is shrouded in in violence so these girls are all very strong willed they have that some of them very dramatic backgrounds and they are sisters i think and about the truth since i could make them they fight with each other and the fight for each other and one of the things that i felt very strongly about going into the story was to make sure that they never we're undercutting one another

tom i feel like there is a there is a pervasive narrative in a lot of our stories about girls that requires girls to be in competition with one another or conniving against one another and that's not the story i wanted to tell i wanted to give it these girls a different sort of relationship one that was very powerful even if they were sometimes at odds with one another capping caledonia sticks and her crew are clearly the good guys in ceasefire the bad guys erica there and his crew of bullets tell me about them so eric affair has taken as his strategy to to accumulating power in this world i'm dismantling families and replacing family narratives with his own narrative of family calls himself the father and all of his bullets are but his sons and daughters and so there is this very destructive narrative that i am it becomes very toxic and allows for these

boys and girls in this world to arm become very dependent on him not only because he has placed himself in the position of being father at all but also because he has taken control the means of food production and as well as a very dangerous and addictive drug called silt on which he doles out very freely amongst his people and so they're very much in opposition to the kind of found family that caledonia has created on the morris davis and they are one that is much more destructive than is not are not the true family i'm visiting with natalie parker of lawrence sees the other of ceasefire one of the cancers notable books that we're featuring on today's keep your presents now the ship's name is moore's neighbors the captain's name is caledonia sticks her antagonist erica there there's a character named he may or as easy as lean on the lovely he may talk to me about how you selected these

beautiful and rich names for your characters have your step thank you well my approach to this world i which is a very futuristic vaguely post apocalyptic setting out was to think of it in terms of what might happen in a far far distant future we have more sustainable technology but we sort of reached that tipping point already and i'm not i'm not implying that this is our world but it is certain that this topic vision of what might occur in the face of severe climate change what is going to happen to the this oil that we use to grow our food what's going to happen to the ocean's what will happen to sea level and what will happen to the technology that we're continuing to create art when we've passed that tipping point and perhaps you know the impact of that is not enough to save the world i'm so to speak so this was really a vision of an exploded world one in which the it's a mass of diaspora of peoples and cultures

and so we get this very like spread out and mixed population and i was just thinking about what were some of the names that might stick in within that the context of that vast destructive violent diaspora and so i i stretched into a couple of different cultural directions from caledonia and eric and we're in or an obviously poll from more of the british isles but they also have some greek influence of airspace season aires and he may is told from the japanese culture so there's just this this sort of miasma of i loved and rooted people and more to people on and they are coming together once again on on the open ocean so there are just like little snippets of culture that that speak back reached backward to our world better not necessarily rooted in the same way i was originally parker of lawrence sheets of

other artsy fire one of the two thousand eighteen kansas noble book selected by the state library of kansas can i have you read an excerpt from the fire she were these of her first two pages from chapter one of cease fire just before dawn caledonia climbed into the aft rigging of her ship the ropes were rough against her calloused palms as she scaled fifty feet of them has amassed confident and sure her hands and feet flying faster and faster daring the sun to beat her to the top the sky filled with the hazy blue glow of dawn and caledonia pushed harder relishing the first case of sweat against her skin she'd scarcely reached her chosen perch when she yelled to the team of girls on deck below hall eager voices repeated the command and four sets of strong hands took hold of the lines and heaved along the mast bullies squealed and churned caledonia kept her eyes on the

calf be moving toward her break she shouted as the gas rose level with her chest from it hung their treasured son sale hundreds of shiny black scales made to absorb solar energy and feed their engines the girls below began to secure the rope scar caledonia moved to balance the top of the beam the morning wind that was so gentle on deck was bracing to store up and a constant tension world in her stomach leaving one hand to grip the ropes she stretched to retrieve the peak anchor and pull it down stopping the cable in place the horizon was burning yellow now and the approach of the sun brought a smile to caledonia is slips below she could see a mina perched on the starboard railing tracking her with shrewd eyes it wasn't necessary for the captain to secure the sale anyone ever mean as knots could do this just as easily as caledonia but this moment was unlike any other aboard the more say this and caledonia

craved the feeling of the world at her feet trent import she called the sale angle toward sunrise just as the first gentle raised slid across the surface of the ocean light climbed the hall to paint the girls in their boldest strokes for just a second before it reached the black plates of the sun's sale it was like a fire light leapt from a hundred scales at once in fiber and yellows oranges and pinks a cascade of momentary brilliance washed up or as the son climbed higher in the sky and at the top of that all stood caledonia wind tugged at her sleeves in her hair light washed over her from blue to brow and she felt as alive as the ship beneath her feet charged and powerful it lasted for only a moment then that dazzling morning fire was gone that's natalie parker reading from ceasefire or one of

this year's kansas notable books selected by the state library of kansas natalie thank you so much for coming in today thank you for having me today pierre presents the best new books about kansas or by kansans i'm kate mcintyre and on today's program it's a look at the two thousand and nineteen kansas notable books part to selected by the state library of kansas this is the second time on the camp was notable less for linux artist daniel mirror as daniel welcome back to the cave your studio's i think strawberry night out is as sweet picture book about a lonely boy at a boys' school it opens with this boy sitting all by himself at an otherwise crowded dining room table dena hoff we just read through the first couple pages of night out and you describe what's going on there sure this is a night out by daniel mijares all alone

yeah and then that first read he's lying in bed this long row of beds all the other children are asleep except this one boy is wide awake with girl with a pensive look on his face i think we've all been there before i know i certainly have but in this image that it's also worth noting and for that the perceptive young readers get their hands on this one i think is his little pet turtle is common in its pole next page an invitation and now where is it small tiny pet turtle wants and so it's a little on the road with wood the tiniest little wet footprint flipper prince left on an umble oak without wax seal mindset bull and the boys looking on enemies look on his face he can't believe what he's seeing or not

seeing and the turtle is gone he's gone on the next spread the boys opens open the ample open inside the angulo is an invitation and a tiny little map and on the imitation it says the honor of your presence is requested and then this this little boy with with bad head is sitting in front of a giant picture window with the moon martin life on framing his head and the antelope a sitting on his bed but this isn't he decides to pack up his backpack put on this very jacket and climb up the window of course and there's an old rickety old beat up little bite waiting for him by a tree he and a journey begins and his journey thus began and so out of the front gates he rides on his bike with a lantern and hand an old fighter pilot

helmet and goggles on his riding off into the night apparently following his tiny now to answer the call of his in the kitchen and no spoilers would likely get any further into the story cause really that for listeners to discover for themselves that's a night out by daniel mijares of lenexa night out is one of fifteen kansas notable book selected by the state library of kansas the best new books by kansans or about kansas dimeo precht if i'm wrong that it seemed to me like there is no small resemblance between the little boy in that book and the illustrator of this work if this were a skype interview or something with something with dr this record we can put that restaurant just take my word for it you know a lot of a lot of what i try to do now with my art in particular is is really go back and look at the things that matter to me growing up and things are really kind of etched into

my heart and i think childhood has a lot to do about that experience and experiences in general do that for my childhood in particular a pleasant played a big role in who i am and who i aspire to be in iran you know my achievements my feelings and all that and and so at this point my life really interested in and what are all these things that i forgot about these are these worries these anxieties these things that i grew up with as a child ends and what the night which was estimate what to do with those and at best the fodder for my stories that i that i tell now that i write now straight and so it's easily fit into come up word proxies for myself in those stories because that's the thing that i think is going to be the most authentic to others and i mean i could be wrong but i think he and the closer i get

to you know how i feel and how i relate to the world in the stories i tell them hopefully others will be able to relate to what's going on in that way so that's why i think the character's i'm compelled to check not just two portraits of me but you know to not try to stamp out myself in this character's but encourage it so do so you know when you know if you saw my hair in the morning you know and might look like this little kids or yellow of the expressions that you see in his face might be how i feel and react would react to her mom the things he collects you know like i said this on social media recently that there's something about a good sturdy backpack that reminds me of adventure so this continued his backpack you know he knew it wasn't going to school they're using the ready for whatever came into it and so he has of a knapsack with you know there was room for anything you might add you know in the story i was as a kid i'd always

loved this all settles in bags because i could put whatever i needed you know a stranger buttons or you know things change or my water gone or what you know whatever it was i needed i'm from adventure you know i had on the back which that's just part of childhood plus you never know we're going to find when you're out on an adventure you never know which up to bring back daniel ers is the author and illustrator of night out it's one of fifteen kansas notable book selected this year by the state library of kansas daniel thank you so much for coming in today for thank you for having me it's always a pleasure today on k pr prisons it's the fifteen best new books about kansas or by kansas after his anti mcintyre and we're looking at about half of this year's kansas notable books if you missed part one of my cancer's notable book so it's now archive on our website for the nickel friesen of newton is the author of the pastor wears a skirt

stories of gender and ministry dorothy thank you so much for driving with me today it's good to be with you this but the details your life and career over three decades of ordained ministry within the mennonite church but to go back to the nineteen seventies he went to seminary not with the intention of serving in the pulpit so what were you thinking well i'm married to a man who was going to seminary who i thought are we thought he would become a pastor since he was the son of a pastor missionaries and so early on in our marriage it it was taken for granted we be at seminary the policy enter seminary ways that spouses of fulltime students could audit any and all courses free so i was only working part time as a as an editor of a small magazine and ice took a full of auditing and liked words unlike the

allergy and we were committed to that the church in that sense and down after two three years of auditing he became convinced that he would not be a pastor and i thought i would get a degree are increasing education because i was a teacher first and loved teaching so the reality as it was by happenstance than my fellow with with theology and ethics in history and but as one of the chapters notes and nineteen seventy four my advisor counseled me out of finishing a degree because good heavens what will you don't with this and it was just not the right time and i was i loved teaching so to be encouraged to go back to the classroom was not bad advice but it laid the seed for what later i would finished seminary and go into the

past you were ordained in nineteen eighty five and served as the pastor of a manhattan mennonite church from nineteen eighty four to nineteen ninety how your role as a female pastor wine different from your male counterparts but also maybe differ from to their female counterparts in other denominations i think in some ways in that congregation was non traditional in some ways we did not own a building we meet we rented space we were more time in a night which so we are related to several kinds of mennonites particularly in kansas that have the three mennonite colleges i was but i was full time i was everything and i loved them for it so that sense very similar to many other male pastor that's what you do if you're the sole a pastor what was different ways that in

manhattan there were yet that no other female a protestant ministers in the town at all at all so in nineteen eighty four when i came i was bit in manhattan except for the sisters of the catholic chaplaincy who became very dear friends and support of one another but i generally went to all the minister meetings as the only woman visiting a dirty nickel freeze on a unit and she's the author of the pastor wears a skirt stories gender and ministry i love the title of your book it goes right into that issue of your a woman serving in the ministry talk to me a little bit about the role of clothing and what that means to you well there's nothing more distinctive when i stand up i'm gendered but i

am i'm also clothed and that issue of clothing is one that all women in ministry must be aware of course historically veiled women or nun's habits or have been a symbol of authority and pastoral leadership the mennonite the nomination and generally does not close with robes are clerical collar is so any woman in a new roll or as the first woman in a n roll i'm doubly challenged by being the pastor of this minister of this speaker in and then i'm closed and so what to wear is always an issue and i'd like to read a little bit from one of the chapters i call liturgical clothing commandments and there are six but i'm going to read one that's called where seasonal colors to fit the liturgical calendar

so just again the practices that mennonites do not close so i have to figure that one out i wore purple and advent inland white on easter and christmas and read for pena cost and reformation sunday the bright gold jacket was reserved for epiphany and a black suit for good friday of course there were plenty of opportunities to varying colors and designs but the holy days seemed to be ones where my preaching and the preparation were enhanced by carefully chosen a tiger the most difficult choices of clothing are reserved for weddings not black to somber not quite conflicted with the bride no colors that clashed with a bridesmaid dresses and nothing dramatic or aboard navy was the choice modest than you'd addresses are part of the

most wedding portraits where i stand with the beating bride and groom early in my career i went to kansas city to shop for address because i had about four summer weddings coming up i tried on several dresses and finally went to a more formal dress shop a friendly clerk inquired and how can i help you today i explained i needed a dress for a wedding but before i could explain my role she said and what are the bright colors no no i said i'm officiating at a wedding i'm the pastor she looked startled and then perplexed she was quiet and went to one side of the store then to the other side and find i came back to me i'm sorry but we don't have clothes for someone like you that's dorothy and it'll freeze and of newton she's reading from the pastor wears a skirt stories of gender and ministry and what did you want to write this book i actually didn't want to write a

book i started off with post retirement i wanted to take one year to write stories for my children to to let them know i've two daughters and two grandchildren that i wanted you know behind the scenes a little bit here are some things that happened then and i loved i loved to write i always have and i thought and i love the short stories on her own as a way to do that and so i hired a writing coach and i said i'm going to write stories and so every month i interview thick stories and she would critique them and i am not the fourth month she said dorothy i think this is a book as i said ok but sort of surprised by that so after a year i had it i think had over seventy five stories and so i cut that down to about fifty had a manuscript set adopted for publishers to have an instant reviews all

one never never responded and the other one i hadn't heard from so i decided to self publish and as i was working with that process i heard from within stop that they would accept a manuscript so to be very truthful i hadn't really thought of haiti of book but i am delighted that it actually he was picked up and published and has enjoyed such an interesting response both from friends who are in my church too folks who are not searched and so to feel if they get to the peak in a new location and congratulations on your book being named a kansas notable book i'd been visiting with dorothy nickel for ethan newton she's the author of the pastor wears a skirt stories of gender and ministry or if you think you so much for coming in it's been my pleasure thank you today okay pierre presents its the two thousand nineteen kansas notable books part

to the best new books about kansas or by kansans tanya bolden is the author of the children's book no small potatoes genius she grows and his came down in kansas time you thank you so much for coming in today thank you pay for having me i'll be the first to admit that i had never heard of genius grants bail or who was he and how did he become known as not just the potato king of kansas but the potato came out the world was in a word to do our work jimmy's george grosz was born at fifty nine whose foreign slave but obviously he was enslaved very long and he was part of the movement of people from the south who went west and north seeking opportunity and land and basically what he did was he started doing odd jobs they need to give a farmhand on a potato farm then he

became foreman on that and he wanted his own land he had no money but he could keep working hard and so he was able to write many kids keep working hard hoping for so that he was able to write twenty acres and he didn't do it alone he had wonderful wife mathilde so anyway five he's able to rent sixty six acres and then becomes an opportunity for him to you purchase like there's so many interesting things about this story but i thought one of the most interesting things was who he bought that regional land from right he purchased land him in native american one which you would never because we think of the gentle narratives you know early today dunn take the illustrator he talked about he was trying to he does great research and it was one i think he originally depicted the seller as a white man and that is something that he checked with me as it

now he is about tradition and that you know she was a native american woman and then he of course checked we've come people you know about the cost and to make sure that they said no she would've dressed in this kind of western as if she's a businesswoman so yeah there's all sorts of fascinating facets to the story you first learn about genius groves when i was working on a book that became searching for sarah rector the richest black girl in america which is about you know them making a local home mom that divided up the land the allotments a lot of the cow creek friedman and creak children that the worst lamb liked farming it was like ok just one sixty acres but it turns out that it was and that allows the land there's a lot of black people so she becomes one of those very wealthy children doing the texas oklahoma's oil boom of the early nineteen hundreds when researching a life in someone tells me that you know after our family left oklahoma

moved to kansas city missouri he was saying that one when shia country how he and the person said it was a year when the talking at his home and taking that incident moved on and then the week someone slave and believe it or not i was going to do my archives of primary documents from previous books and one was a nineteen oh four issue of outlook magazine one of the feature story was a negro potato came by booker t washington so i thought ok lining is trying to get what it is so i think i need to look and so i read the article and then i said i obviously i need to follow this because this knocking on my door and i cited in the early summer time wimbledon is the other of no small potatoes genius she grows and his kingdom in kansas tanya i have to admit when i first saw the title of this i'd buy potato kenyan kansas normally known as a paid a state but she wants one

one of the things cancer store i think as you can go online and find these wonderful postcards celebrating the potato and kansas and what they will have is a man on a court in these humongous exaggerated potatoes but you know i don't know the history that apparently it was it was it was this part of kansas way back you guys would've taken no matter how why did we ever relinquished that idaho oh no small potatoes is a children's biography it's told as a narrative but it's interspersed way a primary source documents his letters newspaper accounts wasn't so important to you to tell his story in his own words i guess in a way to make it work for so you we have the primary documents you know and we have quotes from him and how else to

this very odd story does sounds so fantastic in the demands it will it was like he kept working hard but i think you had his voice it's how can i deny that to the readers so they're thinking a kid you know impress upon people that yes this was a real person and you can hear his voice and you can hear his driving and his hopes for the future when he was so proud of his children would be can say we a part of feeding america and having a tiny a bold and she's the author of no small potatoes genius she grows and his kingdom in kansas twenty can i have you read an excerpt from her book i'd be happy to pick up way era he's been renting has been dreaming dreaming he's been renting he's been dreaming of having a farm of his own an inmate at it for jenny is g head

is i won eighty acres this land was easton edwards will be the mass of the call its banks lined with cottonwood trees jimmy's gm until the essay that twenty two hundred dollars with the aviators the edwards will cost thirty six hundred dollars well what the fourteen underage ballot difference come from the wind a cloud some magic tree nursery it will come from art work that's virginia's do believe when he handed over those twenty two hundred bucks we did was promise to pay off the balance in india right quick journey is gene went to work turning those eighty acres into a real farm there was a small house to build more daunting than that was the back straining muscle taxing task of clearing the land for starters digging up a team tree stumps so many years to make a stepping stone up and the infield allow juniors jeter was doing all that the top on his mind but a dose but they do it could be far hard enough to pay off the money he still hold on

those eighty acres in the year if he didn't he was liable to lose the land and those twenty two hundred bucks negative meringues and they say neighbors make their way to germany as jesus years he did a done deal these people haunt he would never pay off that debt any that tut tutted when they look into julia's geez future those may say neighbors or nothing the negative merit kicked up a raucous engine is gees had made instead stared down discourage it wasn't like he had only himself to worry about there was matilda at what's more the couple had three young sons by then joffe walt and fred stance their kids maybe resonate was a write feature these g may be a dream to be bitten off more than he could chew what to do and the rest of the book tells you what he did that's tanya gold and she's reading from no small potatoes genius to groves and his kingdom in kansas it's one of fifteen books

selected by the state library of kansas as two thousand nineteen kansas double booked time to thank you so much for sharing judaism store jeff thank you so much my conversations with tanya bolden and dorothy nickel freeze them were taped at the two thousand nineteen kansas book festival in topeka kbr has a number of kansas notable books to give away if you'd like a chance to win a copy leave a comment on k pr is facebook page we'll have more cans of notable book out there is coming up as kbr present continues right after this from the university of kansas this is kansas public radio we're ninety one five lawrence and eighty nine nine acheson were unaware that kansas public radio dot org support for kbr comes from the university of

kansas transforming students and society through academics discovery service and steal information about the possibilities of a k u education his online ad kay use dot edu thank you today on k pr presents is the two thousand and nineteen kansas notable books part to each year the state library of kansas picks the fifteen best new books by kansas others or about kansas today and keep your prisons were featuring about half of the kansas notable books if you missed part one of my cancer's notable book so it's now are kept on her website kansas public radio dot org ken boehm have to peek at is the author of brown enough detail

of a mixed race baseball team can thank you so much for listening to me you're welcome good to be here brown enough tells the story of your time playing for the emporia brown bombers back in the summer of nineteen fifty six the brown bombers was an all black baseball team and this is radio so i'm going to do a spoiler alert you are not african american now although in nineteen fifty six i had a very good tan and dark and this was able to convinced the manager that maybe they knew another picture on their staff and then i desperately needed to play a place to play baseball at summer how did you convince and that they should let this white kid play on their team got a couple things they had the manager of the power william possum wayans an african american we thought at the time he probably was about fifteen years old but an old duffer for we ninety year olds or later only found out he was actually seventy that summer but the

ah i just finished playing baseball are for my freshman year in korea state end of the game of baseball still do today so i am at possum that he was a young shoeshine boy in a local barber shop and although their barber their charge fifty cents for a haircut which neighbors cannot afford we went to the twenty five cent haircut guy down the street are we would still visit possibly get some historians and he said some tragic stories about his experiences he was at red ran with a minstrel show and his early days out but anyway ah i had been in construction and i had been done some work and hay fields of kansas and i had a really dark tanned and i thought this is my only chance i'm going to have and that's after i had found a short little advertisement in the oregon set that said the tryouts for all black baseball team and be like next wednesday at six o'clock of peter pan partner in korea off i got never

enough two go to the barber shop and as they would have it the barbers were on break to adjust cost money and he can recognize me for two reasons number one i had been there a number of times before they say to hear some of his stories and he also watched the pitch to work again for emporia state that spring so i still have a hard question asked passengers yes or no is all i need to know is that i'm looking for a place to play baseball the summer and the pitcher as you may know and down and also you can see i have a rather dark tan do you think the way or there's a way i could get away with paying for all black baseball team he took a few moments me if i said you know i think you're brown enough that's given to try and therein lies these the key to my title of my book and that started ten weeks somerset a period where i live baseball and of course a regular part of my life and it is in effect a ten week a novel based upon true facts

many of them drew facts of that summer and fifty six did you get any flack from either the other players or from the fans the spectators the that the book has no almost every incident where there was a biracial tone to it but it forms of players themselves that blossomed in given the chance and as it turned out the first time i showed up with the team was not our practice because we had rain first time was an actual baseball game and he invited me just to show up and so i got there with a great deal of nurse and that he's simply shouted to the group when we all got together the kisses kenny omega he'll be playing with this period he didn't use the word period but that was the implication so it and so there was no no outright flak at that point there was ups and downs during the year during the course of the summer as a group would be but but they're most but i feel that

even comparing comparison to the day situation i'd go along pretty well with the consumer you've heard a type a little bit about past and williams' coaching manager of the team tom a little bit more about your relationship with him well bob at first the record the relationship at first of course was cordial as it could be because he was a no nonsense type a guys aren't as fate would happen in my first or second game i struck out with the bases loaded pitchers better than those days i'm struck out with the bases loaded we if i had even got a walk we would've tied in stolen by will i was a furious with myself had my own bat that i purchased for a quarter and a no i used store earlier i cracked that battery crossed home plate into a million pieces and she came storming out possibly ago the dugout and we lost the game and he said you've got to buy me a new bet you

gonna buy us a new budget and he was furious that he will shortz elle i'm a rather tall one so looking down his buddy's eyes were flashing and he was very very upset so i felt at that point that my career was a brown bomber should be over was it turned out to be he didn't say they more after i she shared with him that the battle with i own that that it wasn't a team that will have three bats for the whole team it was my back and done do i can't imagine the new eras before than before this game when he walked away mumbling and then the next day or two i practice it has a word about sweatshirt with some of my teammates you know am i still in pretty brave and water what and they said now he's issue is worrying about losing the game really nothing much to do with you and when she found out that the bet with my then all of all was forgiven so that's part of my story

is that the ten homes keep their he's the author of brown and the sale of a mixed race the faulty summer of fifty years today on k pr presents is that two thousand nineteen kansas notable books part two and j mcintyre every year the state library of kansas likes the fifteen best new books by kansas others or about kansas today i keep your prisons we're featuring about half of the kansas notable books if you missed part one of my candles local book so it's now archive on our website when a word myers of newton is the editor of the diaries of

rubinstein at kansas settler and civil war soldier when it is great to see you again thank you to back to eighteen fifty four who was reagan's ribbons there was an extraordinary man for fifty years he preaches payday and events that shaped the state of kansas and he captured those experiences and diaries but i think his stand apart from others because they are just minding daily logs their poignant narratives and during us fifty years he describes some of the most tumultuous times an early kansas history he sailed from england to america and at fifty four as a young man and came last and was a farm laborer for a couple of years decided he went out on his own father and so he set his sights on the new territory of kansas and

on he did that not just because of the tea plant that because he might help but become a free state and that desire to help it become a freeze they shaped very rich career in the military and in active service and support some a little bit about that part of his life well since he just completely adopted this country and thought it was the best in the prius country he decided that you know he would immediately volunteer when the war began and so for the next four years through his writings we get to see not only the escalation of the civil war but the evolution of snare from an inexperienced volunteers soldier to a seasoned officer and a government spy i think you come across the

story of brooklyn's when i was a graduate student at wichita state university i've worked in the department of special collections where there are rare books and the research materials were kept and when i was organizing a manuscript collection of kansas poet may williams ward i came across an excerpt from her grandfather's diary and and yet he described his voyage from england to america and at fifty four and it was it was fascinating the heat he included everything from the work songs sung by the sailors to just a very somber ceremony of a burial at sea and i found that once i started reading it i couldn't stop and so now fast forward thirty years later and when i was finishing my last book which was a biography of new

lanes ward i learned by accident that the descendants of snubs had given out but the complete set of the regional diaries to the kansas historical society so the next time i was visiting the state archives i had to see those diaries and i had the same reaction that i had had thirty years earlier i couldn't stop reading and so it was then that i know what my next project would be what was the most challenging thing for you as the added or in putting this collection of his diaries into what ended up being the published on the diaries of britain's no well there were several things i am i honestly you know he he wrote these for fifty years and if i became clear as i was working with them or i didn't need to include all of the

injuries the things that happened to our city but he had a fascinating stories that that put you right there when he was talking about these early times that were important in the history of kansas and so i wanted to highlight those and and make this into a progressive historical narrative what would you like people to know about rhythms oh i think he says that himself in the last paragraph of the introduction i let him introduce himself oh with one of his reminiscences that from gay that he wrote when he was sixty five and he would like i'd be happy to read that as i lay upon the quiet waters of the narrative seen river and this event my soldier life pass before me interview i looked upon it as the most unselfish proudest

period of my life i had not lived so only for myself but for others i had risk my life that future generations might live under a government without a surf a servant or a slave i am not comrades and down with a large share of this world goods and the greatest and richest heritage that i can leave to my children is that their father was a soldier the war and the rebellion and that he offered his life for his country might live that's lana word myers she's reading from the diaries of prudence met kansas subtler and civil war soldier it was named one of fifteen kansas notable books by the state library of kansas whether thank you so much for coming into their thank you for asking me our left kansas notable book for today eisenhower becoming the

leader of the free world dr louis columbus is emeritus professor of history at johns hopkins university in baltimore welcome professor glad to be here it's wonderful to be in the midwest to court early we tend to think of president eisenhower as this brilliant military commander especially for his role in d day and world war two when you start out your book detailing a couple incidents that threatened to derail his military career early on and argued that by his early thirties he looks like the military maybe a dead and courier for eisenhower yes he could easily have retired as a major lieutenant colonel and gone back abilene to work in the creamery but he met a man who changed his life general foxconn are a terrific mentor not just a mentor and a sponsor so we help guide eisenhower's career he are

aroused his ambition and he focused on mastering the details of his profession and it's a good lesson for anyone who wants to know how to make it so yes that turned his career around when he was thirty years old before becoming president eisenhower served as supreme commander in world were two chief of staff of the us army and as nato supreme allied commander for europe how does physicians prepare him or not for being president he learned early on as supreme commander how important unity was so he stressed unity in all his commands he stressed unity between air sea and land and when he got to the presidency one of the things that irritated him the most was the interest group that didn't recognize that once you

just made a decision he had to you know the fi around the national national interest and that irritated him no end and it came out in his farewell address they came as military industrial the military industrial complex was an attack upon those interest groups and what they were doing to the american system of democracy he believed in abilene style of democracy which was personal and not framed in terms of big lobbyist and big organizations i'm visiting with dr louis the lamppost professor emeritus at johns hopkins university and author of eisenhower becoming the leader of the free world professor landis you came to this project with a really unique perspective talked about your role as editor of the eisenhower papers when you edit papers you do it one day at a time one paper at a time and

you create the head so and then you produce books that are about two and a half inches across and i call them chest crushers if you try to read one at night when you're going to bed they come down on you when you fall asleep and they hurt so i decided to write a book a book that could be read by a reasonable person in a reasonable amount of time so that shaped that it also meant because i had picked up editing the papers that when he was chief of staff at the end of the war the second world war it meant i had to dig back into his early life and that was the most exciting parts of doing the book was finding out how the boy i emerged from abilene kansas he was a typical small town boy fed his interests were primarily football girls and then school and wasn't for his mother who would do

marvelous person a saint i said oh she guided all those boys to professional careers and that included it eisenhower becoming the leader of the free world is all of interesting insights about ike's relationship with military and political leaders george patton and you've already mentioned his relationship with foxconn eric general douglas macarthur george marshall told me about his relationship with charles degaulle bill leader of the french resistance eisenhower was i think a brilliant leader but he never understood charles de gaulle and i think charles de gaulle outfoxed him several times and i don't think he or a franklin the roosevelt our president understood the gall i don't think general marshall understood the goal and it was difficult the

french are different and there he had a different style and and the americans were not very well attuned to that i work very well very smoothly with churchill there was only one time in his career when he threatened to resign i don't think he ever that one time threatened to resign working with churchill but de gaulle seemed to be another kind of person and i cattle are trouble handling him and visit with dr louis countless he's the author of the eisenhower becoming the leader of the free world in your biography of eisenhower you say that it had a particular story to tell about his life and that that story changed a number of times over his life and career explaining what you mean by that well i think he put a gloss on things in his early life when he looked back at abilene an atoll how he developed

i think he kind of rob got the bad places and emphasize the good places and all we saw things he is a very positive man and then he saw everything and positive term so in the book i had to lean against that i could lean on his low valuations it get my own understanding of how the boy who merge into a professional and then into an enormously complex and accomplished leader i've been visiting the director louis columbus he's the author of eisenhower becoming the leader of the free world professor thank you so much for coming in today you was wonderful thank you today and kbr presents weekend featuring the two thousand nineteen kansas notable books the best new books by kansas or about kansas if you missed part one of my kansas notable book so its archive on our website kansas public

radio dot org we've got a number of kansas notable books to give away for a chance to win a copy leave a comment on k pr as facebook page i'm j mcintyre kbr presents is a production of kansas public radio at the university of kansas