This collection of fifty short articles from prize-winning journalist, Mark E. McCormick, examines Kansas from three angles: the important history in danger of erasure, Kansans who have invested their lives in positive social change, and issues currently in the forefront in Kansas (and nationally), especially those where Kansas has taken a lead. McCormick writes pithy prose that reveals perspectives and factual information new to general readers. The history he reveals is often unknown to Kansans and to those who view Kansas as only "fly over" country.
From the early experiment in multiracial democracy called Quindaro, to the key roles Kansas and Kansans played in the civil war, student-led sit-ins, affirmative action, and school desegregation, readers will find these short pieces surprising and enlightening. McCormick discusses individual Kansans, highlighting ordinary people doing extraordinary things out of their commitment to justice. The final section of the book explores the state's leadership in issues like the right to choose abortion, police/community relations, the impact of bail, and the unfortunate tenacity of Jim Crow behavior in the state legislature and its formation of policy.
McCormick is a beloved commentator on the state of the country. Here his views shine through the lens of Kansas, a state full of contradictions with a history of setting precedents the nation both political parties would follow.
Thirty photos illustrate and enhance the text.
About the Author :
Mark McCormick is a New York Times best-selling author with nearly thirty years of experience as a reporter, editor, and columnist. He was appointed by Kansas governor Laura Kelly to two state commissions and is a trustee of the William Allen White School of Journalism at the University of Kansas. He was inaugural director of the Kansas Black Leadership Council and has earned numerous other awards and recognitions during his career, including, in 2025, being inducted into the Kansas Press Association's Newspaper Hall of Fame.This is Mark McCormick's third book. His others are: Bye Bye Barry (written with Barry Sanders) and Some Were Paupers, Some Were Kings: Dispatches from Kansas. Mark is also much in demand as a speaker.Mark grew up in Wichita and graduated from the University of Kansas School of Journalism. For five years he was on the staff of the Louisville, Kentucky's Courier-Journal. For nearly fourteen years he was an editor and columnist at the Wichita Eagle. He subsequently spent time in the nonprofit sector, including six years as Executive Director of the Kansas African American Museum. He also served as communications director and deputy director of the ACLU of Kansas. Currently he is a Fellow at the Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas and opinion writer for the Kansas Reflector."Mark ... watches this state and its people with a keen eye and big heart. He speaks out for the little guy. And he doesn't put up with any nonsense from those in power," says Clay Wirestone of the Reflector. "Talking to Mark makes me feel smarter and better informed. He thinks deeply, and his wisdom serves as a guidepost to the rest of us."
Review :
"Historians of the United States like me perpetually ask WHY? Why did this nation maintain human bondage nearly half a century after our colonizer, Great Britain ended it? Why is racialized behavior so persistent? Why has a state dominated by farmers and working class laborers voted for MAGA Relpublicans and a return to the Gilded Age where wealth concentrates more and more in the hands of the few?
Mark McCormick looks at the canvas of America's history and what he sees resounds with his deep compassion for others and the pain he feels at injustice, whether or not ihe knows the persons involved. He, like the historian he is, asks the whys and guides his readers to supply their own answers. This is a provocative book with profound insights about our time, written in McCormick's powerful prose."
--Gretchen Cassel Eick, PhD, Author of eight books including Dissent in Wichita: The Civil Rights Movement in the Midwest and They Met at Wounded Knee: The Eastmans' Story
