Gifts that will go down in history

Last time around we reviewed and recommended as a Christmas gift the new book about Gen. Joseph Bailey, "Hero of the Red River." The first buyer, appropriately enough, was a descendant of the general.

It's anything but the only work of regional history to have recently appeared. If many of them concern the Civil War, remember, the 2011 sesquicentennial of that war will be upon us sooner than we think. Interest, great to start with, is growing by leaps and bounds.

"The Civil War's First Blood. Missouri 1854-1861," by James Denny and John Bradbury. Boonville: Missouri Life, Inc., 2007. Softbound, 8 1/2 feet x 11," 138 pages, illustrated. $29.95.

As the title indicates, this work sets the stage for the war, bringing in the 1850s Kansas troubles, and then focuses on the war's first year, making the little-known point that first blood indeed was shed not in Virginia but in Missouri, and not just in minor skirmishes but inthe big battle of Wilson's Creek, where the first of many generals died in action.

The book, co-authored by two well-known Missouri historians, tells nothing not already knownto adepts. But for those less familiar with the story it's a good summary of the period covered, recommended especially for young or youngish readers. The lavish color illustrations and the quality enameled paper explain, and perhaps justify, the rather stiff price. (Like everything else these days, books are expensive, and getting more so.) "In Deadly Earnest: The First Missouri Brigade, GSA, by Phil Gottschalk. Missouri River Press, 1991. Hardbound, 562 pages, $35. Sixteen years old, this newly reprinted book is thefavorite among several works about the Missouri Confederate brigades. Even an adept will find new things here. The brigades had their beginning in a camp at the Sac-Osage overlook west of Osceola, where in 2002 a monument was dedicated to the 12,000 men and 15 generals (already or about-to-be) who convened there in the fall of 1861.

The Missouri State Guard, Missouri's independent army, was already facing its end when Gen. Sterling Price camped there and allowed regular Confederate officers to set up a recruiting post nearby for volunteers for regular Confederate service.

The Missouri Brigades racked up one of the best records of any comparable unit, better, some say, than the better-known Stonewall Brigade and Iron Brigade. Another author titled his brigade history "The South's Finest." Praises came from all sides, from Jefferson Davis on down. Of those 12,000 men, only 800 were left alive to return to Missouri at war's end.

"Frank and Jesse James: The Story," behind the Legend, by Ted P. Yeatman. Nashville: Cumberland House Publishers, Inc., 2000. Softbound, 480 pages. $18.95.

Of all the scores of books, old and new, about the James boys, this is the one we'd most strongly recommend among the more recent.

By putting Frank James' name ahead of Jesse's, Yeatman somewhat rights an imbalance that's long existed. Frank wasn't merely the older brother, he was also the smarter. Borrowing from Jane Austen, we could call Frank "Sense" and Jesse "Sensibility" (passion).

Frank, for example, looked only with misgivings on the disastrous Northfield, Minnesota, bankrobbing project. And he foresaw the looming end of the outlaw era, and was trying to live in peace and normality when Jesse was assassinated, the event that brought on Frank's sensational surrender to Missouri's governor and his eventual coming to live for a time in Nevada. Yeatman brings out some lesser-known data about that latter part of Frank's life.

And of course, besides those old-reliable objects, books, historical CD's and DVD's are available for the technologically addicted.

Bad Blood: The Border War that Triggered the Civil War. If you happened to miss this well-done 90-minute show, produced and aired by Kansas City's KCPT a year or so ago, you can own it on DVD for just $24.95.

Bushwhacker Museum staff met with the producers and offered input andadvice. One reenactor is identified just as "Vernon County man." And a CD titled only "Vernon County History" is available for a mere $12. A bargain at twice the price, since it contains all the 900-plus pages of "The History of Vernon County, Missouri," that venerable 1887 treasure-trove, otherwise now out-of-print. Also on the same CD are selected pages from the 1913 Redbook, "a wealth of detailed information about VernonCounty," plus Vernon County maps for 1851, 1902, 1904, 1913, 1920, and 1929.

Proceeds from sales of these items go toward the care and feeding of Vernon County's very own, very nonprofit Bushwhacker Museum, where they're on sale 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., weekdays.