Overview

To live in the Kansas Territory in 1854 and survive through the Civil War would take courage and stamina. The entire population that year was either pro-slavery or they were against slavery. As Andy May reveals in this remarkable, well researched history of that period, there were both noble and shameful motivations in the two factions. The anti-slavery, or Free-State side included the abolitionists. They may have had the purest of motives; however, there were some anti-slavery settlers that just didn't want to compete with slaves for work. The pro-slavery faction was the faction of the South. In their minds, blacks were born to be slaves. Andy May's in-depth research and attention to facts makes this history come to life. It is the story that has been missing from our American History textbooks and it is not taught in colleges and universities. While this time in our history has been romanticized by Hollywood, those renditions are less than accurate. That is a shame since this period in the Kansas Territory is the prelude to the Civil War and served as the catalyst for that dreadful time in the nation. There is a family connection in this book as well. Andy May's great, great, granduncle was Caleb May, a signer of all three Kansas Free-State Constitutions. By 1857, about three-fourths of the voting population was anti-slavery and a growing minority were for equal rights for blacks. By 1861 a majority were for equal rights. This was a remarkably rapid change in views. It seemed that when people moved to Kansas, they often quickly became anti-slavery, as Caleb May did. The idea that slavery was morally wrong was an emerging idea.

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9781646698790

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Reviews

Andy May's book captivated me with the real-life stories of pioneers living in Kansas between 1854 and 1861. The reality of what happened during those years is sometimes difficult to accept and even more challenging to understand. Moral questions weighted heavily on the financial decisions that faced the state of Kansas prior to the Civil War. Mr. May's in depth research including maps, drawings and photographs successfully documents his story for future generations. A must read for Civil War historians as well as those seeking to understand why decisions made 165 years ago continue to influence society today. Billie Fulton Author & Selah Award Finalist of Faith Is Not Silent

Author Information

Andy May is a writer, blogger and author living in The Woodlands, Texas. He was born in Lawrence, Kansas, but never really appreciated how interesting Kansas history was until he researched this book. He enjoys golf and traveling in his spare time. He is also an editor for the climate change blog Wattsupwiththat.com, where he has published numerous posts and is the author or co-author of seven peer-reviewed papers on various geological, engineering and petrophysical topics. He has also written about computers and computer software. His personal blog is andymaypetrophysicist.com. He retired from a 42-year career in petrophysics in 2016. Most of his petrophysical work was for several oil and gas companies worldwide. He has worked in exploring, appraising and developing oil and gas fields in the U.S., Argentina, Brazil, Indonesia, Thailand, China, the U.K. North Sea, Canada, Mexico, Venezuela and Russia. He helped discover and appraise several large oil and gas fields. Late in his career, he worked on unconventional shale oil and gas petrophysics and developed many unique techniques for evaluating these difficult reservoirs. In cooperation with Professor Mike Lovell (University of Leicester in the U.K.) he developed a one-week course in shale reservoir petrophysics. Andy has a B.S. in Geology from the University of Kansas, which sits on Mt. Oread where the Robinson home was and near the grave of Thomas Barber. Andy is a great-great grandson of Isaac May, Caleb May's older brother by two years.

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