The first half of the book is really about the Civil War in Missouri, but that history of division and its creation of the bushwhackers is what led to James' life of crime. The author does an incredible job unpacking the story. I loved learning the story behind his eventual crime spree. This was my Missouri nonfiction book and it's perfect for the category. I'll certainly be reading more from this author as well.

“Perhaps nothing destroys a political system more quickly and efficiently than paranoia. The situation can be grave enough when one party to a quarrel believes the worst of the other, when it pictures its opponents as conspirators. But when both sides see the other as ruthless, treacherous, and unwilling to abide by the rules, then all room for compromise disappears.” ( )

Great historical contextualisation. I came for the bandit and left with intensive knowledge about the political landscape around the US civil war ( )

Really fascinating biography, despite not having much documentary evidence from the man himself—Stiles instead explains how James was a product of the Confederacy. He shows how white Missouri was internally torn by the conflict that trained James in brutality—a young teen at the time, James learned to kill in cold blood and brutally executed people both during the war and after—but how Confederates managed to create a post-war narrative about invading Yankees, in which James was a populist/Robin Hood figure. Recommended. ( )

More an account of the Civil War in Missouri with the occasional mention of Jesse James for the first half of the book. No what I had hoped for. I didn't need all of that background. The author appears to be trying to impress everyone with his research. ( )

I am enjoying this book immensely. Jesse James in the minds of most folks I think is a legend and more mythical than a real person understood within his context as someone like George Washington or Johnny Cash is on a common level. This book reaches into past before Jesse James emerges as the general understanding most people have of him. This account lays the ground work that made his world, invented his context and shaped the way he saw existence amidst the tumultuous times in which he lived...

The author brings to life an entire environment surrounding Jesse James with quotations from letters, orders, newspaper accounts involving politicians, soldiers, personal friends and family. Many notorious individuals of the period figure into the times and direct interactions of Jesse James which otherwise are stand alone: contextualless for many. William Quantrill, General Sterling Price, "Bloody" Bill Anderson, William T. Sherman and countless others enter into this story of Jesse James.

Without Jesse James and T.J. Stiles handling of both James and his context in a conflicted state, one would not have a comprehensive picture of the Civil War nor how things were outside of the specific battles and personages that made it a historical event. Missouri and Kansas figure big into the overall picture of the Civil War, even though they did not represent the huge battles like Vicksburg, Pea Ridge, Gettysburg or Antietam. Even so, Missouri and Kansas were a steadily boiling cauldron of conflict, barbarity and wavering loyalties: an entirely different type of war which was fought and lived through by many more than just soldiers.

Jesse James never waivered in his perspective, which is what made him perhaps the most notorious figure in Missouri's history for sure and perhaps of post Civil War in the entire country. This book is gripping, detailed but not tedious.
f ( )