Shelly's Book Journal

This is not just a book about Jesse James. While James' life provides the framework for this book, it is really about the Civil War and how the conflict played out in the state of Missouri, both before, during, after and beyond the war. There is a lot of detail in here, which is why it took me so long to read it. I wanted to wrap my brain around exactly what was going on, never having studied Missouri and it's political positions before. The fist part of the book seemed to drag on as Stiles laid the groundwork of the conflict and then slipped Jesse's life into context. James's life is minimally documented during this time, but Stiles presents the facts of what was going on, working out the probabilities of James involvementOnce we get beyond the civil war, James' life and deeds are more easily identified. And as Stiles walks us through each step, he builds a case for Jesse's state of mind. We see how the climate of the times moved and shaped him, how his own pride and arrogance took him to the next level, and how the media played him as a "hero" of sorts, only helping his cause (that never happens today, ha ha). But James is not a folk hero, he's a criminal with a political based agenda rooted deeply in the Civil War era South.I really wanted to love this book, but too me, it was a little over detailed and repetitive at times. While Stiles definitely builds his case through the detail, I found it overly annotated at times, especially in the first section of the book. Once we saw the true Jesse James, it seemed to zip right on by.I have not previously read any JJ bios. I watched one short documentary on him, which tried to point the reader toward the "conspiracy" theory that it really wasn't James who was killed in St. Joseph on that day in April. Stiles squashes that theory with reference to dna analysis.Certainly, the media has continued to romanticize James throughout the years. This book puts to rest the idea that he was a hero of society in any way, shape or form.