BiblioVault - Books by Hallwas, John

Cultures In Conflict

A Documentary History of the Mormon War in Illinois

John Hallwas and Roger Launius

Utah State University Press, 1999

Cultures in Conflict offers students of history an invaluable source of documents regarding the history of the Mormon presence in Illinois. Few local histories are so academically sound. —Illinois Times Hallwas and Launius have compiled and written the most balanced and thorough account yet of the events and circumstances that led to the forced Mormon exodus from Nauvoo following the mini civil war that erupted in Illinois during the 1849s

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Dime Novel Desperadoes

The Notorious Maxwell Brothers

John Hallwas

University of Illinois Press, 2011

A thrilling true crime narrative and groundbreaking historical account, Dime Novel Desperadoes recovers the long-forgotten story of Ed and Lon Maxwell, the outlaw brothers from Illinois who once rivaled Jesse and Frank James in national notoriety. Growing up hard as the sons of a struggling tenant farmer, the Maxwell brothers started their lawbreaking as robbers and horse thieves in the 1870s, embarking on a life of crime that quickly captured the public eye.

Already made famous locally by newspapers that wanted to dramatize crimes and danger for an eager reading audience, the brothers achieved national prominence in 1881 when they shot and killed Charles and Milton Coleman, Wisconsin lawmen who were trying to apprehend them. Public outrage sparked the largest manhunt for outlaws in American history, involving some twenty posses who pursued the desperadoes in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, and Nebraska. Some of the pursuers were intent on a lynching, but the outlaws escaped against incredible odds. When a mob finally succeeded in killing Ed, in broad daylight on a courthouse lawn, that event generated widespread commentary on law and order. Nevertheless, the daring desperadoes were eventually portrayed as heroes in sensationalistic dime novels.

A stunning saga of robbery and horse stealing, gunfights and manhunts, murder and mob violence, Dime Novel Desperadoes also delves into the cultural and psychological factors that produced lawbreakers and created a crime wave in the post-Civil War era. By pointing to social inequities, media distortions, and justice system failures, John E. Hallwas reveals the complicity of nineteenth-century culture in the creation of violent criminals. Further, by featuring astute, thought-provoking analysis of the lawbreaker's mindset, this book explores the issue at the heart of humanity's quest for justice: the perpetrator's responsibility for his criminal acts.

Every overview and encyclopedia of American outlaws will need to be revised, and the fabled "Wild West" will have to be extended east of the Mississippi River, in response to this riveting chronicle of major American desperadoes who once thrilled the nation but have since escaped historical attention for well over a century. With more than forty illustrations and several maps that bring to life the exciting world of the Maxwell brothers, Dime Novel Desperadoes is a new classic in the annals of American outlawry.

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Kingdom on the Mississippi Revisited

NAUVOO IN MORMON HISTORY

Edited by Roger D. Launius and John E. Hallwas

University of Illinois Press, 1996

     "A significant collection . . . that provides a depth and breadth
        of understanding reflective of the latest and best in Mormon history."
        -- Paul M. Edwards, author of Our Legacy of Faith: A Brief History
        of the RLDS
      Who were the Nauvoo Mormons? Were they Jacksonian Americans or did they
        embody some other weltanschaung? Why did this tiny Illinois town
        become such a protracted battleground for the Mormons and non-Mormons
        in the region? And what is the larger meaning of the Nauvoo experience
        for the various inheritors of the legacy of Joseph Smith, Jr.?
      Kingdom on the Mississippi Revisited includes fourteen thoughtful
        explanations that represent the most insightful and imaginative work on
        Mormon Nauvoo published in the last thirty years. The range of topics
        includes the Nauvoo Legion, the Mormon press, the political kingdom of
        God, the opposition of non-Mormons, the martyrdom of Joseph Smith, and
        the meaning of Nauvoo for Mormons. The introduction provides a critique
        of Nauvoo scholarship, and a closing bibliographical essay analyzes the
        historical literature on the Mormon experience at Nauvoo.

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Spoon River Anthology

An Annotated Edition

Edgar Lee Masters. Edited and with an Introduction and Annotations by John E. Hallwas

University of Illinois Press, 1992

What lies beneath the surface of Masters' timeless classic

One of the most striking and original achievements in American poetry is now available in a remarkable edition that comprehends the poet and his book in an entirely new way.

This edition of Spoon River Anthology probes the social background of the small-town world that Edgar Lee Masters loved and hated--and finally transmuted into powerful literary art. Extensive annotations identify the people whose lives inspired the 243 poetic accounts of frustration, violence, struggle, and triumph that shocked American readers.

The most extraordinary feature of this edition is the extensive introduction that provides the key to this misunderstood American classic. The book's relationship to Whitman is clearly established, and the important influences of Browning, Goethe, Spinoza, and others are revealed for the first time. John Hallwas' approach combines cultural, biographical, philosophical, psychoanalytic, mythic, and symbolic insights--and concludes with a stunning reassessment of "Our New Poet."

The annotated Spoon River Anthology supersedes seventy-five years of largely misdirected critical commentary. It will send a new generation of readers back to this surprisingly complex book that probes so deeply into the American consciousness.

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