Norman,

Thanks for your reply across the great Atlantic. My book is sold by Borders.com and Barnesandnoble.com, which should be easily contacted by you on the internet. Actually, you can buy the books cheaper on the internet than in the bookstores, perhaps by as much as $10 in U.S. money, 5 pounds in your money (roughly). That is, if they will ship overseas. But I would think you would have a Barnes and Noble in Britain which could order my book. My first five chapters cover the fight between Missourians and Kansans during the Territorial period (1854-1861), a knowledge of which I think is very important in understanding the Border War. Actually, we are still fighting the propaganda war that began during the Civil War, and my book is one Missourian's answer to what I consider the "Yankeefied" histories of the Border War, which oddly leave out a lot of sordid details and foster misinformation concerning the war that I think need considered, mentioned, and emphasized. I am accused of telling only the Missouri side of the Border War by Kansans and others who espouse Yankee interpretations of the war, while my Kansas friends and others of the "blue" ilk all insist they are only telling the Gospel truth! You likely gathered as much by reading some of the virulent exchanges and insults exchanged sometimes on this board. We even have people over here who love John Brown yet, for reasons hard to discern. John was involved in killing and plundering in this area.

I should have mentioned in my last email that General Joseph O. Shelby's men also collaborated with Quantrill on several operations, and some of Quantrill's officers, such as William Gregg, became officers for Shelby, when they fell out with some of their guerrilla colleagues.

Incidentally, I published an article on the Border War in England in 1993, in your prestigious journal, History Today, the title of which was "Revenge in Kansas, 1863."

Best regards,

Don Gilmore (Donald L. Gilmore in my books)