The Burning of Osceola, and Other Stories

Written and compiled by Richard F. Sunderwirth, Two Trails Press, Independence, Missouri, copyright 2007, 403 pages, illustrations and maps, $18.95, softbound.

Reviewed by: David S. Reif

David Reif has written a review of author Richard Sunderwirth's new book "The Burning" of Osceola, Missouri.

The timing of this book could not have come at a better time, since it is evident that with the upcoming Sequicentenial of The War of Yankee Aggression, Central Government entities, will be working over-time to "finish off" the job that Lincoln started, by erasing the last remnants of our Southern Heritage in Missouri.

Recent events, which I have detailed on this blog such as The Missouri Department of Natural Resourses, blatant attempt to rewrite the history of Osceola, Missouri and Kansas Senator Sam Brownback's federally funded "Freedom's Frontier" project, which will include 12 Western Missouri counties, thanks to former Missouri Senator "Chicken Jim" Talent's support of the government grants that created the "Jayhawker" project.

While we as taxpayers are going to be paying for this "re-education", a real community effort has taken place in Osceola, Missouri.

Author Richard Sunderwirth, has written and compiled "The Burning", which is about the history of Osceola, Missouri. As David Reif notes in his review of the book...

"The totality of this book includes more than the writing. Unlike the predictable grist from a land grant college press this book is all about a community effort. First the author is a resident of St. Clair County, Missouri, where the book's subject takes place. Beyond that nearly all the help he had in creating this book is the labor of a small town on a mission. Drawings, maps, photos, diary excerpts (many never seen before) and personal family memories are combined into a sort of "writing-bee" that is analogous to a neighborhood sewing-bee or barn raising in an earlier time. Although a little unconventional the book is assembled like a well thought out quilt the way Mr. Sunderwirth and his community wanted it to look instead of the product of a smarmy academic template."

Reif continues...

"The heart of the book is some thirty chapters that tell the story of Union General Jim Lane's Jayhawk Kansas troops and their burning, looting, and gleeful destruction of the Southern frontier town of Osceola on 22September1861. Although thorough about his telling he fails to mention that "jayhawk" was thought to be a regular verb on the frontier: meaning "to loot." Told from several points of view that evolve throughout the narrative the reader is treated to a variety of observations that builds a case. Sunderwirth has a point of view but allows the numerous stories to create a conclusion.