Briefly Noted

One of the last of the bad men in Missouri was Mack Marsden. For over three years he was suspected of every major crime in Jefferson County. Though the newspapers labeled him a desperado, he was tried only once and never convicted of any wrongdoing. When he was ambushed, shotgunned, and left dying on a dusty road, his life became even more mysterious. Who murdered him? And if Mack wasn’t the desperado behind all those crimes, who was? For the first time, all of the available resources, including oral histories, are mined for the clues that answer these questions and more. This narrative nonfiction book is a true mystery that bears striking parallels to the life of Missourian Jesse James—and is as thrilling as any of the more famous tales of the Old West.

He Stopped Loving Her Today, the story behind the making of the song often voted the best country song ever by both critics and fans, offers an overview of country music’s origins and a search for the music’s elusive Holy Grail: authenticity. The schizoid bottom line-even though country music is undeniably a branch of the make believe world of show biz, to fans and scholars alike, authenticity remains the ultimate measure of the music’s power.

“In these pages, professional treasure hunters Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz chronicle their road trips across the American countryside in search of “rusty gold” to buy and sell among the picking world’s one-of-a-kind characters. Whether you are a fan of the show or just like finding hidden riches, you will love seeing what Wolfe and Fritz dig up and enjoy meeting the devoted collectors, extreme stockpilers, and elite dealers who they encounter along the way.”

“Barsky has managed to pull together the strands of a complex life with warmth, humor, and archival research of unusual depth. Harris emerges in this book not only as one of the giants of a golden age for linguistics in the United States, but also as a political activist and thinker of great subtlety. Barsky lucidly explicates Harris’s fearfully complex ideas on language as well as recreates the lively debates and utopian brio of the Zionist organization, Avukah. With this book a new member joins the pantheon of American originals.”

“Drawing from his own legal background, Penegar deftly blends his discussion of personalities and events into a narrative that will entertain general readers while providing the nuances that scholars of the American colonial and revolutionary periods will appreciate. Although he does not conclusively solve the mystery of how Franklin got access to the letters, Penegar examines the evidence and offers possible solutions. This work is an important contribution to scholarship, and I have no doubt that it will long remain the key explication of this important historic event.”