Too often recorded history serves only the agendas of the winners. We find this to be so in school textbooks and the publications of other special interests; our modern day newspapers are the most notorious example.

This was not so in the earlier days of this country; the newspaper editor was also the owner/operator and was answerable to no higher authorities than his conscience and convictions.

This newly published volume in the series of Cowley County, Kansas History:

For the researcher it provides an overview that - for example - shows connections between:

• J. Frank Dobie, author of "Fight at Adobe Walls"

• Kit Carson

• William Cody

• Bat Masterson

• Cynthia Ann Parker and her son, Chief Quanah Parker -
  known as Citra by the Quahadi Comanche band.

• Dodge City

• Washington Irving

• "The Wizard of Oz" and the Populist Party.

For the more casual reader the pace is quick, it is an "easy read," and the language and phrasing is a fascinating trip in a time machine.

Letters to the editors, announcements of new inventions and enterprises, and social events reveal the pride of a people learning to "make do" with respect for each other.

Neighbors were neighbors, whether they be the indigenous or the immigrant.

This book could heal many wounds. The book says it better. I love this book.

My thanks and congratulations to:
Richard Kay Wortman, Mary Ann Wortman, and Dr. William W. Bottorff
(our friend Bill), Historians Extraordinaire.