KS Publishing, Inc. - Publications

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The Kansas City Establishment: Leadership through Two Centuries in a Midwestern Metropolis by Richard P. Coleman


		$26.00 - 10% Discount



	ISBN: 0-9754109-5-4 Paperback Black and White Maps and Tables 319 pages In the 1880s, as Kansas City approached a population of 100,000, some 210 prominent men and women coalesced into a Head Set, exercising leadership in the city’s social, cultural, charitable, and philanthropic associations. This Head Set became the foundation of an Establishment sector that continued as Kansas City’s top social stratum through the next 115 years, reaching a membership of nearly 2,000 at Twentieth Century’s end, while never exceeding more than one third of a percent of the metropolitan population. The Establishment’s continuity through the decades was provided by membership in a few exclusive private clubs, more than by family inheritance, with only fifteen family lines from the original Head Set lasting through to the Establishment world of 2000 A.D.; the typical family remained in only 50 years. A sifting process in the clubs was said to have produced this much change in membership, with the variables weighed in determining who would be “in” (and how high up) being: economic status, “a flair for Society life,” cultural tastes, prestige of education, participation in civic activities, and family background. The civic activities most highly valued were patronage of the arts, support of cultural institutions, volunteered service to charitable agencies, and appointive public office. A central contribution to social science from this research has been the volume of mobility recorded into and out of this top stratum; this is a very different picture than presented by social scientists and novelists for Boston, Philadelphia, and other older cities of the East and South where the top stratum has been described as a closed aristocracy. Kansas City’s Establishment top has all along been relatively dynamic and democratic. Richard P. Coleman began gathering data for this leadership history as a status analyst on a team assembled in 1952 by the University of Chicago’s Committee on Human Development that would study middle age processes in an urban center. Kansas City, as “an all American city,” was chosen as the research site. Through nearly five years of study, Coleman created an Index of Urban Status and produced a doctoral dissertation that showed how W. Lloyd Warner’s social class theories (developed in small towns) could be applied, with some modifications, in cities and metropolitan areas. Beginning in 1957, Coleman pursued a career in motivations research and consulting, first with Social Research Inc., of Chicago (through 1969), then at the Joint Center for Urban Studies of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University (1969-1981). During these years, three books of his joint authorship reached publication: Workingman’s Wife, Social Status in the City, and Social Standing in America. In 1981 Coleman joined the faculty of Kansas State University as a Professor in Marketing, retiring to Emeritus status in 1997. “No social scientist reveals a deeper understanding of the dynamics of elite social life than Richard Coleman. This Kansas City study, combining the methods of history and participant observation, shows the gains that come from detailed study over many years. The book is a signal contribution to urban social history, to American social stratification, and to urban sociology. —Lee Rainwater, Professor of Sociology Emeritus, Harvard University. “This book is unique in its wealth of statistical data that follows a city’s social leadership through more than a century. It greatly expands on other research into America’s Establishment level, uniquely illustrating the quantity and process of downward mobility out of the Establishment. If this book can succeed in reawakening the social science community to what class is all about it will perform a significant service. In the past several decades, social class has fallen out of research fashion among sociologists. I would like to see this book revitalizing American sociology. It is an enduring piece of work that no university library can afford to be without.” — Irwin Deutscher, Professor of Sociology Emeritus, University of Akron.

	The Wise Improviser: A Jazz Method for Instrumentalists (Book and Workbook) by Wayne Goins


$26.95



		ISBN: 0-9754109-7-0 Plastic Coil Bound Printed Musical Examples From the Preface: There are many young students involved in jazz who want to learn how to improvise. They want to play a good solo, but the right ideas don’t come to them. I believe this occurs for three reasons: 1) lack of practical jazz theory, 2) a limited vocabulary of musical phrases to build a good solo, and 3) lack of exposure to what a good solo really is. We all want to be able to build great solos and play like Miles Davis and Charlie Parker. But when we’re listening to all the sophisticated solos found in our jazz CD collection, we have to remind ourselves that every musician performing on those albums started their musical careers with some very basic tools—the same ones that are found in this book. So how do we begin to build great solos? I believe the best way to do this is to increase the level of intellect when it comes to the art of improvisation, because jazz is a thinking person’s music. This book, therefore, is specifically designed to help connect your brain with your instrument. What happens between your head and your hands has everything to do with your success in soloing. As you progress through the book, you will notice that the melodies are absent on most of these tunes. Unlike some other method books, I have deliberately chosen not to focus on developing your ability to learn the “heads” of jazz tunes. This is because when you’re learning to improvise, playing melodies isn’t where the biggest problem lies—the difficulty comes when it’s time to solo.


			*Both Sides of Nice* by Helen Lewis Brockman


			$29.95 - 10% Discount



			ISBN: 0-9754109-3-8 Paperback Black & White Photographs 570 pages From the Foreword: How many people do you know personally who have lived more than one hundred years? Among them, how many are an on-going creative force with a network of relationships across the country and around the world? When you opened the book you now hold in your hands, you began getting to know just such a remarkable individual – Helen Lewis Brockman. To understand Helen, or at least make the attempt, you have to grasp the reality that this woman has lived for more than a century in the most tumultuous period in history. Her life has spanned two world wars, the Korean and Vietnam conflicts, both Gulf wars, the Russian Revolution and the collapse of the Soviet Union. She saw the first human land on the moon and every space shot since. She has seen the computer move from punch cards to high speed parallel networks and the advent of the internet. Well, guess what. In her 90's Helen mastered the computer and even wrote a user's guide to the PC for beginners. In the midst of all these world changing events, Helen Brockman lived all the roles that impacted the lives of women in the twentieth century. Abruptly thrown over to her own devices during World War two, an Iowa girl in New York City of all places, she created a career out of thin air. On her own, on the spot. Helen became a ground breaking personality in apparel design. This led to a major publication, The Theory of Fashion Design. She also achieved success in the corporate world, including the insurance business and Bell Laboratories. The dynamics of that time changed the roles of women in this country forever, and Helen Lewis Brockman lived it on the front lines. A world traveler, she has been to China, Russia twice and western Europe six times. At the age of 65, Helen's prominence in fashion design brought her to what is now the College of Human Ecology at Kansas State University – a move that created lasting ties with both. Today her students are leaders in their field, and they still are fans of Helen Brockman. An observation about the title, Both Sides of Nice. This choice of words was not an accident of the moment. They were chosen by the author and those who know her understand the calculus. Helen Lewis Brockman is a complex woman. Engaging, insightful and witty with a great eye for color and proportion, she also is critical, penetrating, irreverent and, on occasion, acerbic. She is an astrologer with a sharp eye for what makes people tick. Not much escapes her notice. Helen sums it up herself in this verse: "Now I have lived both well and long, and not without committing wrong, so I'm equipped to give advice, since I have seen Both Sides of Nice."

			*Kansas Prairie Wildflowers* by Clenton E. Owensby


			$19.95 - 10% Discount



				ISBN: 0-9754109-0-3 Paperback Full Color Photographs 124 pages Kansas Prairie Wildflowers is a user-friendly color guide to the flora of the state, designed for the lay person who wants to know more. Wildflower and nature enthusiasts will rely on this valued resource reference for in-the-field botanical identification. First published in 1980, the work has been re-issued in 2004 by KS Publishing, Inc. of Manhattan, Kansas. Author Clenton Owensby has identified Kansas wildflowers by familiar common name, family name, and Latin name, and has included a handy map inset for each, indicating areas for native growth of the plants. Owensby provides simplified data regarding growth patterns and growing and blooming seasons, edibility of the plants, and uses or applications for humans and animals. Clenton Owensby, Professor of Agronomy at Kansas State University and specialist in Pasture and Prairie Range Management, is a nationally recognized authority in the field and a widely published author. He offers an enthusiasm and willingness to share his knowledge with his audience, speaking to prairie tour groups, as well as to gardening and historical organizations interested in the native flora of Kansas. “Common, showy prairie wildflowers that occur in the varied landscapes and soils of the Kansas prairies are shown.... An identification tool and a delight to view.” – Kansas Wildflower Society Newsletter “Readable, small enough to fit inside a coat pocket and loaded with information and color photographs, this guide lives up to its expectations as only few do. Anyone who visits the native grass prairies of Kansas should take this book along.” – Jim Suber, Former Topeka-Capitol Journalist, Rural Issues & People

Kansas Grasses
by Clenton E. Owensby

$24.95

ISBN: 0-9754109-1-1
Plastic Coil Bound
185 Black&White Illustrations
243 pages

From the Introduction:

The grass family, Gramineae (Poaceae), is a diverse, widely distributed group of plants. Its
wide distribution and large number of economically important food crops (corn, wheat, rice,
sorghum) make the grass family one of the most globally important plant families. Rangelands,
principally dominated by grasses, represent nearly one-half of the earth's surface. As
rangeland species, they provide tremendous grazing resources, shaped by evolution to
withstand grazing, fire, disease, and periodic droughts. They represent the best use for lands
that are typically unsuited for tillage agriculture, since most rangelands are too arid, rocky, or
rough to be cultivated. Domesticated grasses on the other hand provide the bulk of the basic
food resources, and world politics are influenced by production and distribution of corn, wheat,
or rice.

The grass family ranks third in number of genera and fifth in number of species among higher
plant families with some 620 genera and about 9000+ species. Kansas grasses include some
69 genera and 200+ species, of which 194 species have been included.

This manual is not intended as a taxonomic treatise; rather it is designed as an identification
tool. Consequently, the keys are strictly mechanical, and the species are presented
alphabetically. In order to use this manual, a working knowledge of certain morphologic
characters which aid in differentiation among the many grass species is necessary.

About the Author:

Clenton Owensby, Professor of Agronomy at Kansas State University and specialist in Pasture
and Prairie Range Management, is a nationally recognized authority in the field and a widely
published author. He offers an enthusiasm and willingness to share his knowledge with his
audience, speaking to prairie tour groups, as well as to gardening and historical organizations
interested in the native flora of Kansas.

	*Kansas Cemeteries in History* by Albert N. Hamscher

	$14.95 - 10% Discount



	ISBN: 0-9754109-2-X Paperback Black & White Photographs 124 pages “A cemetery is not simply a repository for the dead.” —Albert N. Hamscher A compilation from Kansas History and Plains Anthropologist (1987-2002) over specific cemeteries in Kansas, including the memorial park system of interment. A benchmark resource for all Kansas cemeteries. This book will serve as a valuable resource to an important and often overlooked aspect of our human history. "Cemeteries, like funerals, are for the living rather than for the dead. Professor Hamscher's editing of the articles in this book demonstrate that cemeteries are services to their communities in Kansas–as memorial parks, as commemorations of events, even as boosterism for town promotion. As such, Kansas Cemeteries in History will give pause for many readers in their current lives, not the afterlife." —Roy Bird, Director, Kansas Center for the Book, author of In His Brother’s Shadow and Civil War in Kansas


Is That What It Means? II Metaphors: Our Most Fertile Power by Max Oppenheimer, Jr.


	$19.95



		ISBN: 978-0-9754109-8-1 Paperback 185 pages In this second volume of erudite musings, Max Oppenheimer unveils a world of language covering centuries, continents and languages. He is a master linguist and shares his learning with readers in a witty, compelling style. This isn’t dry or academic writing; you’ll be involved from page one in a marvelous, often comical journey into the written and spoken word. From the Introduction: Seven years ago to this day, a very auspicious sign I trust for the book I now introduce to you, I began writing columns or, if you prefer, essays, on English word origins for several local newspapers. Two years ago, one hundred-ten of these columns, revised and somewhat expanded, were published as a book under the title Is That What It Means? By the way, I beg your indulgence, if, from time to time, I interrupt my drift of thought, not so much to stray from the subject, but rather to pause and comment on some word I have just used, should its history merit your further attention. You see, life has made me a “word watcher.” In the preceding lines I wrote auspicious, the root of which originally meant “bird watcher,” from Latin avis, bird, and specere, to see, look at, observe. You can recognize the same root in “spectacle,” “spectacles,” or “spectacular,” all related to seeing. Roman soothsayers or priests would base their predictions on the flight of birds. Observing them coming from the right indicated a good sign, portending a felicitous or auspicious outcome for future events. If they flew over from the left, Latin sinister, the outcome was interpreted as being less encouraging, hence our word sinister. It was a bad omen, hence our “ominous.”

*Prisoners of War in Kansas 1943-1946* by Lowell A. May and Mark P. Schock


	$26.95



		There were a total of sixteen prisoner of war camps housing Axis prisoners in Kansas during World War II. POWs were held at the United States Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth as well. This book is intended to relate a story that has been largely untold. The majority of Kansans, like the majority of Americans, remain unaware that Axis prisoners were ever inside our borders, let alone interned in our own hometowns. This book provides an overview of what all the camps had in common and relates each camp's particular history. After World War I, a convention was held at Geneva, Switzerland, which set forth conditions stating how prisoners of war were to be treated. Commonly called the Geneva Convention, which the United States signed on 27 July 1929. During the war, the United States followed the articles of this agreement, even if its enemies did not. One part of the Geneva Convention authorized the use of enlisted POWs as laborers by the detaining power. Their employment in Kansas, particularly in the agricultural sector, helped offset a critical labor created by the 195,000 Kansans serving in the armed forces in 1944. As the authors illustrate quite clearly, the Axis POWs received ethical, humane treatment, and many went back to their homes after the war with a positive impression of America and Americans. Reminiscences from prisoners, and the farmers and townspeople who interacted with them, contribute to making Prisoners of War in Kansas 1943-1946 a welcome addition to the state's historical record.


			140 Years of Soul: A History of African-Americans in Manhattan, Kansas 1865-2005 by Geraldine Baker Walton


			$26.95



			ISBN: 978-0-9797788-1-0 Paperback Black and White Photographs 180 Pages From the Introduction: From time to time, people ask me why I’ve taken on the project of documenting the history of Black people in Manhattan, Kansas. I suppose it’s a combination of lots of things, including my own family’s history (six generations in Manhattan) and my profession as a reference librarian for more than 30 years…I realized that we knew very little about the Black community in Manhattan. Who were the people who came here before us and where did they come from? Many of the older generations had passed on and those who were still here hadn’t heard any stories about their families’ past or just didn’t remember hearing anything about their forefathers. I have been intrigued about my people’s past ever since. I wanted to learn about who they were, why they came to Manhattan, and how they got here. In 2005, Manhattan, Kansas, celebrated its 150th birthday, and I wanted the story of my people to be included in the festivities. Of the 150 years Manhattan has been a community, Blacks have been a part of it for 140 years. That in itself is something to be proud of, so I decided to begin this book in 1865 and carry it through to 2005 to let people know not only where we came from, but also what we have done to help build this city.