STORY of KANSAS CITY, Crossroads of America - Garwood, 1948 - fine condition hb

Description

Crossroads of America
The Story of Kansas City
by Darrell Garwood
This is a fine hardback book published in 1948 by W. W. Norton & Co. It measures 6 x 8.5 inches and is 331 pages long, plus 8 pages of illustrations on glossy paper. It is in excellent and attractive condition, appearing to scarcely have been read at all. It has a dust jacket,
but this dust jacket is in bad condition, with tears, and a third of its back cover missing
.
(See photos.)
Of his subject the author writes:
“
Kansa City has played a key role in stirring and dramatic events. Different influences in the city's development were represented in strong personalities, some of whom are included in this book. I have attempted in each period to associate the best-known personalities with the main facts concerning the city and to connect the whole in a narrative as nearly continuous as the subject would permit.”
The book's inside dustflap says:
“The story of Kansas City is, in large measure, the history of the country for the last one hundred years. The city stands at the place where the nation's historic borderlines crossed. Here, literally, was where the West began, where the trails, wagon caravans and river boats met and divided and mountain men and mountain men and traders said good-bye to the civilized United States before taking off for the unknown. And the city also stood squarely on the border between North and South and its countryside was battleground before the Civil War.
“This is the story of Kansas City in terms of personalities. Out of the currents of change and conflict that surged through the region, the author has taken certain strong individuals, certain salient episodes, and connected them into a narrative whole. Enormously fresh and vital, this
narrative makes the past come alive; the fur traders and trail blazers, Kit Carson, Fremont, the magnificent Senator Benton, who hailed Kansas City as the ‘Gateway to India’; John Brown, and the Border Wars out of which rose Jesse James and his brother, Charley Quantrill and his guerillas; and the artist, George Caleb Bingham. The story goes on to tell of Colonel Coates of Quality Hill, whose railroad deal saved the city; Arthur Stilwell, crystal gazer among empire builders; Colonel Swope whose mysterious death makes a classic murder story. It describes the rise and fall of the Pendergasts, and the return of the native, Thomas Hart Benton, and vividly recounts the great days of the Kansas City Star under its dynamic founder William Rockhill Nelson. These, and many others, make a parade of colorful figures that are a part of the fiber of America.”
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3310gsp
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_gsrx_vers_856 (GS 7.0.20 (856))