Review by Choice Review
The "bleeding Kansas" period in the history of territorial Kansas is well documented. Numerous books explore the link between the failure to resolve the question of slavery and expansion and ultimately the coming of the Civil War. Among these is David Potter's classic The Impending Crisis, 1848-1861 (CH, Jul'76). In To Govern the Devil in Hell, Ponce (Ithaca College) adds significantly to the scholarship on this subject. Ponce, who had an essay in Bleeding Kansas, Bleeding Missouri: The Long Civil War on the Border, edited by Jonathan Earle and Diane Mutti Burke (CH, May'14, 51-5191), approaches the subject from a decidedly political viewpoint. From her perspective, the struggle in Kansas was ultimately a failure by both the territorial and national governments. The settlers of Kansas, according to Ponce, deeply desired effective government. But the settlers' inability to manage their own affairs reflected the larger failure of the national mechanisms to manage the growing sectional divisions. Ponce's single greatest insight in this book is the lack of a political solution to the crisis of expansionism and slavery and the ease of resorting to war. Summing Up: Recommended. All readers. --Martin William Quirk, Rock Valley College
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
