I know this is technically not about communism, but I am having trouble finding any Marxist/leftist historical accounts on Bleeding Kansas/John Brown. Help would be appreciated.
Hi all! I would love any recommendations on Bleeding Kansas. So far I've found
Bleeding Kansas: Contested Liberty in the Civil War Era - Nicole Etcheson 2004, and
Bleeding Kansas, bleeding Missouri the long Civil War on the border - eds. Jonathan Halperin Earle and Diane Mutti Burke 2013
I would love any additional recommendations or commentary on the works above!
Thank you for your time!
Would anyone be familiar with any books on the Bleeding Kansas border war? Specifically I'm looking for a more Kansas-centered text. I'm more interested in knowing about what the living conditions, and day-to-day lives of people on the Kansas-Missouri border were like, as opposed to the military history of the conflict, so biographies and memoirs would also be helpful.
Note: I am from Italy, so this might not be accurate but this is the impression I have.
So, in Europe the issue of American slavery is almost not studied at all in high school (basically "Lincoln was elected, a war broke out, the Union won and slavery was abolished", maybe 3-4 pages in the manual). There is no mention of John Brown, the settlers moving to Kansas from both sides, the caning of Charles Sumner etc.
I hope in American high schools the Civil War is explained a bit more thoroughly, but is Bleeding Kansas well explained and studied? Historically speaking, this is fascinating to me, it was basically the prologue of the American Civil War, if not the American Civil War on a smaller scale, with staff like settling people in a state with no population to sway an election that I did not find elsewhere in history, in general. (Side-note question: Were the pro-slavery Missourians allowed to own slaves there before the referendum?)
Yet, there aren't that many books on that. I checked the recommended list in the subreddit, and I am reading McPherson's Battle Cry of Freedom, which has a chapter on it. I was under the impression that the Impending Crisis (Potter) would have a substantial description of the events, but from the index it only has one chapter on Kansas. I am not aware of many other volumes (and recent ones, in particular).
From what I gathered, most of the storiography regarding John Brown up until the 1960s-1970s is somewhat biased, as is the movie Santa Fe trail. There are some historical fiction novels more recently trying to paint a fairer picture, but no recent volumes.
How is it that a key aspect to understand the Civil War is so overlooked compared to the War itself? I mean, it has everything to be an Hollywood blockbuster movie, or an incredible TV show because of the many stories it tells, so I am somewhat buffled by that and I was wondering if somebody has an explanation, particularly for redditors in Kansas (is this part of history still talked about there?), was this just suppressed or obscured by the events of the war? Am I imagining that this is not talked about whereas maybe it is? Thanks for your answers.
Som im reading about bleeding Kansas https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bleeding_Kansas
It says people back then went to the Kansas state to vote for slavery or anti slavery. Particularly pro slavers did that. Could people back then just take a ride to another subnational state, vote, then ride home without immigrating?
Would anyone be familiar with any books on the Bleeding Kansas border war? Specifically I'm looking for a more Kansas-centered text. I'm more interested in knowing about what the living conditions, and day-to-day lives of people on the Kansas-Missouri border were like, as opposed to the military history of the conflict, so biographies and memoirs would also be helpful.
