''Engrossing.''--Monthly Review ''Recommended.''-- Choice ''A concise and thought-provoking description of events throughout the Civil War era in a region ignored first by contemporary officials and later by historians caught up in the war in the East.''-- American Historical Review ''A bold, eye-opening study that lays bare the multiple struggles that underlay the Civil War west of the Mississippi. Sophisticated and startling.''-- Arkansas Historical Quarterly ''A necessary read.''-- Against the Current