Customer Reviews
An in depth study of Missouri's protype guerrilla - By: , 07 Aug 1999 
I found this book to be an easy to read history of not only Anderson but the circumstances that helped create him. The authors have done an excellent job turning up new information & sifting old information to write a helpful new view of Anderson. The book is well footnoted & contains several never before printed photos including a photo of Anderson's wife, Bush Smith & one of the cord he used to keep track of his kills. This book is a must for anyone interestedin the Civil War on the Kansas-Missouri border.
Excellent, well represented, throroughly researched book - By: , 06 Aug 1999 Once I picked up this book, I could not put it down. Castel & Goodrich did a wonderful jobin researching the events that took placein Missouri & Kansas throughout the Civil War. As a previous reviewer had stated, this book is definitely "to the point" & "no holds barred" (not for the squeamish) when it comes to discussing the brutalities that took place against humanity. From robbing banks to kidnapping & brutally beating a wealthy Missourian who gave over 150 slaves their freedom (for those who stayed on, he offered them better pay) to the massacres that took place for those that were either Union soldiers or sympathizers, it was evident that Bill Anderson & his followers had only one mode of operation...that was to inflict as much pain as they could on the region. I never realized how much of a social & economic impact the rogue warriors (Bushwhackers) had on this region. Thanks Castel & Goodrich for a well written, non-biased book!
Excellent(but not for the squeamish) - By: , 12 May 1999 In most places, the War for Southern Independence, as brutal as it sometimes was, had rules which were more or less followed, at least early on. In Missouri, the War for Southern Independence had no rules & was fought that way, brutally & savagely. And the most brutal & savage Missourian of all during this time was William "Bloody Bill" Anderson.
This is an outstanding book, although not for the faint-of-heart(as was the war it describes). The only minor fault I found is that too many of the stories about Anderson come from Union sympathizers & sound like it. Of course, this is a limitation with any book written during this time. Not many of these men got a chance to sit down & write their memoirs, so any researcher must take what is available. And the authors present Anderson as they found him; I could detect no particular bias. This is as good a book as I've ever seen about the WFSIin Missouri & I highly recommend it.
