{"id":15580,"date":"2016-08-14T05:52:47","date_gmt":"2016-08-14T10:52:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/brianjnoggle.com\/blog\/?p=15580"},"modified":"2016-08-14T05:52:47","modified_gmt":"2016-08-14T10:52:47","slug":"book-report-wicked-springfield-missouri-by-larry-wood-2012","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brianjnoggle.com\/blog\/2016\/08\/14\/book-report-wicked-springfield-missouri-by-larry-wood-2012\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Report: Wicked Springfield, Missouri<\/i> by Larry Wood (2012)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Book<\/a>I received this book<\/a> as a Christmas present. You can find a pile of books from the same publisher in the local interest section of the book store, and I guess my mother-in-law picked it up when she bought me the new Woody P. Snow novel, which she also gave me for Christmas.<\/p>\n

At any rate, this meticulously researched book covers crime in Springfield from its establishment as a town to the 1910s. Unfortunately, the information is presented as an era-per-chapter docket from the crime report section of the newspaper (one of the historical sources). We get a lot of citations for liquor violations, a lot of prostitution, and a little other murder and mayhem, but it’s presented very drily in a who did it and where fashion. A couple incidents, including the Wild Bill Hickoc shootout and the murder of Sarah Graham, get full chapters with a bit more flavor and narrative, but otherwise it’s just a litany in paragraphs.<\/p>\n

It could certainly have been improved with more local flavor or more in-depth looks at some of the people involved, as the chapters that focus on the individual incidents are the best in the book.<\/p>\n

I’ll probably steer clear of these titles and other thin roll-up local interest books from now on. Unless they’re fifty cents at a garage sale or a gift.<\/p>\n