Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Product Description
In the summer of 1950, a con man comes to Wetumka, Oklahoma, telling about his fabulous circus, and although he swindles the townspeople, two young girls grow from the experience.
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Customer Reviews (4)

The Flimflam Man is fun for kids and nostalgic for adults
I'm always on the lookout for books about Oklahoma and Oklahoma history. The Flimflam Man by Darleen Bailey Beard is a delightful addition to my collection.

Although the story is fiction, it's based on an actual event that took place in 1950 in the town of Wetumka, Oklahoma, and resulted in the annual Sucker Day Festival that continues today.

The story is about two girls, Clara Jean and Bobbie Jo, and how they become friends through their experience with F. Bam Morrison, the Flimflam Man, who is selling advance tickets to Bohn's United Circus Shows.

What I love about the book is the memories it evoked. As an Oklahoman, I had to smile as Clara Jean talked about the cow-chip throwing contest. I cheered Clara Jean and Bobbie Jo on as they raced their bikes through oil fields in an attempt to catch the Flimflam man. I became nostalgic as I read about Bobbi Jo's reel-to-reel tape recorder and Clara Jean's clear plastic rain boots. The Flimflam man is a trip down memory lane for anyone who grew up in the 50's.

Kids will love the book because it's entertaining. The girls are funny; the illustrations are adorable; and the plot is interesting. Whether you're studying Oklahoma history or just looking for a good book to read to your child, I heartily recommend The Flimflam Man.

A flimflam man is a two-faced weasel
"A two-faced weasel is someone who shows one face in public but hides another face for his evil deeds," Mr. Morrison said. He turned around and parted his hair. "Do you see another face back there?"

Mr. Morrison is the flimflam man in this story, and he has conned two vulnerable girls, former foes who gradually become friends, into helping him promote a circus that is supposedly coming to town.

This story, a chapter book written at about the third grade level, appeals to students all the way up to 6th grade in our school. It has a genuine feel for small town Wetumka, Oklahoma, in 1950, which is where this historical fiction story (based on actual events) takes place. Darleen Bailey Beard makes the plot and characters work on at least two levels: first, it serves as a warning that not everyone can be trusted, and secondly, it's a heartwarming tale about a friendship that develops out of adversity.

The lessons taught in this short (85 page) book are those that children need to hear. Recommended.

The BEST Book Ever
This book was very good.I read it because the author was coming to my school.When I first heard she was coming, I wasn't that excited.Then, after I read this book, I couldn't wait!I think you would like this book.

A fun, delightful story of an Oklahoma scoundrel
Darleen Beard's book, The Flim Flam Man, made me laugh out loud. Kids of all ages will this tale and, at the same time, learn a little about Oklahoma history, too. Can't wait for this author's next book!

What fun! ... Read more

Product Description

Controversy rages about capital punishment as innocent men and women are being released from death rows all over the country. Into the debate steps Mark Fuhrman, America's most famous detective, and no stranger to controversy himself.

Are innocent people being executed? Are death penalty cases being investigated and tried as if someone's life depended on it? Is capital punishment justice or revenge?

Fuhrman seeks to answer these questions by investigating the death penalty in Oklahoma, a place where a "hang 'em high" attitude of cowboy justice resulted in twenty-one executions in 2001, more than in any other state in the nation. The majority of these death penalty cases came from one jurisdiction, Oklahoma County, where legendary district attorney Bob Macy bragged about sending more people to death row than any other prosecutor, and police chemist Joyce Gilchrist was eventually fired for mismanaging the crime lab. These two figures loom large in Fuhrman's investigation.

Examining police records, trial transcripts, and appellate decisions, and conducting hundreds of interviews, Fuhrman focuses his considerable investigative skills on more than a dozen of the most controversial Oklahoma death penalty cases, including two in which innocent men nearly lost their lives.

When he began Death and Justice, Mark Fuhrman was a firm believer in the death penalty. What he saw in Oklahoma changed his mind. It may change yours.

Customer Reviews (13)

Another winner from Mark Fuhrman
Mark Fuhrman is a master at True Crime Books. I had never heard of these cases before. Fuhrman examines a high % of people put to Death in Oklahomain one County by 1 DA and with most of the forensic evidence verified by 1 or 2 females. Because of either bias or incompetence Joyce Gilchrist made false and/or misleading statements that led to Guilty verdicts in Death Penalty Cases in Oklahoma County (Oklahoma City.)Fortunately some of the verdicts were overturned. Prior to reading this boos I (as was Fuhrman) was a strong supporter of the Death Penalty. These cases changed Fuhrman's mind. There is one great quote in the book, to paraphrase " since Humans make mistakes there has to be a way to correct the mistakes". (Obviously if a person is put to death the mistake can not be corrected.)

Great Book!!!!!!!!!!!
Everyone who is in favor of the death penalty ought to read this!!!!They may change their minds!! Oklahoma ought to be ashamed.I am glad my immigrant grandparents left that awful state.

An Interesting Book
I enjoyed this book and the in-depth look at the criminal justice system in Oklahoma County. The writing - as in Fuhrman's other books - was top notch. The book attempts to show us - through a series of criminal cases - how the death penalty in Oklahoma County may be overused, particularly by one Bob Macy (the county DA). At times I did feel like this was mostly an expose of Bob Macy and his crime lab assistant, Joyce Gilchrist. While I did come away with a feeling of dislike for both the work of Macy and Gilchrist I'm still not convinced that the death penalty is wrong. Fuhrman looked at isolated cases in just one county, and in a rather unpopulous state at that. The book was good, but I missed the "detectiveness" that was in all of Fuhrman's other books. I felt in this book that he was just relaying a series of events that I could read about anywhere, whereas in his other books he was an active searcher/researcher on the trail of something much more interesting and less mainstream. I also expected more interplay between him and the local townspeople, but we really aren't told how he went about his research, and there isn't much dialogue between him and anyone else. I will look forward to his next book but hope it is something more `detective-like' and not something written on topic that anyone could have done.

An eye-opening experience for an Okla. Native!
I wish I could make every Okla. Co. citizen read DEATH AND JUSTICE.It might not change their mind regarding the death penalty, but it surely rocks the foundation of sand their arguement stands on.This book should be read by every person who is interested in the death penalty (pro or con).

The only problem with the book is that if the reader is not familiar with criminal procedure, the book may seem a bit confusing at times. But, press through it!It all makes sense in the end!

Fuhrman's work no expose
I was excited to hear about Mark Fuhrman's latest work, since I'm a reporter who has covered forty-plus executions in Oklahoma. "Finally," I thought, "There'll be a book about the death penalty in this state."
I was wrong. Out of Oklahoma's 77 counties, Fuhrman focused on one so there is no way he could address the death penalty in Oklahoma overall.
Here's a review I wrote for our newspaper, which has also been picked up by quite a few others:

Fuhrman's work is no expose

Doug Russell
© McAlester, Oklahoma, News-Capital & Democrat

Before the publication of Mark Fuhrman's newest work, there had never been a book providing an in-depth look at the death penalty in Oklahoma. There still hasn't, but Fuhrman's work is one that can be read quickly.
This book flew from my hands - quite literally, as I repeatedly slammed it down or slung it across the room.
"Death and Justice: An Expose of Oklahoma's Death Row Machine," has a very misleading title. The work is not an expose of the death penalty in Oklahoma. Instead, it is more of an indictment of former Oklahoma County District Attorney Bob Macy and Oklahoma City police chemist Joyce Gilchrist. Although the indictments may be, and probably are, deserved, Fuhrman does not refer to any death penalty cases from outside Oklahoma County, apparently preferring to let readers draw the conclusion that every court in the state is as wrought with problems as Oklahoma County's during Macy's reign as prosecutor.
Nothing could be farther from the truth.
As someone who has some slight familiarity with the death penalty in Oklahoma, I've read numerous court documents in which judges criticized Macy and his work, often harshly. Although it's true that Macy sent more persons to death row than any other prosecutor in the state, it's still interesting to me that the same appellate judges who've written blistering decisions about his conduct in the courtroom have seldom leveled the same types of criticism at other prosecutors.
When I finally made it past the forward, (after repeated slingings,) I found "Death and Justice" to be a well-written and very readable work. However, I'm not certain the book is a work of non-fiction, as the author and publisher claim.
After all, the publicity hype is fraught with easily-discernible errors and so is the book's 15-page forward. I'm not talking about simple mistakes, such as printing "Joseph Hart Correctional Center " rather than "Joseph Harp Correctional Center" or thinking the prison's original buildings are now used as a stable for the prison rodeo stock. I'm talking about major mistakes, exaggerations or out-right lies.
In promoting "Death and Justice: An Expose of Oklahoma's Death Row Machine," Fuhrman has gone on national television and made such fraudulent statements as claiming that Oklahoma executed 21 persons in 2001. While it's true that this state did execute more inmates than any other that year, Fuhrman's numbers are off: Oklahoma executed 18 persons in 2001, three less than Fuhrman claims.
Most readers aren't at all familiar with Oklahoma State Penitentiary's H Unit, which houses death row, much less with executions themselves. And whether through honest mistakes or deliberate misleading, Fuhrman uses that to his advantage. He describes cell LL, the one used to house death row prisoners in their final hours, as opening directly into the state's execution chamber (it doesn't). He says the microphone in the chamber is lowered into place when an inmate gets ready to give his final statement (it isn't).
Perhaps the author has watched too many movies, or perhaps he is simply confused, but either way he is completely wrong when he writes that the gurney to which inmates are strapped is raised until the inmates are almost in a seated position as they prepare to give their final statements. Inmates are strapped flat on the gurney and can raise their heads to peer out of the execution chamber, but the gurney itself is never raised. He's also mistaken when he writes that the warden of the prison meticulously records everything that happens in a log -- a log is kept, but the warden does not do the recording.
Fuhrman also writes about things that sometimes happen as if they always happen. Inmates don't always bang their cell doors in the minutes leading up to an execution. (I've asked several inmates about why this is sometimes done and was told a number of reasons, from "It's our way of showing respect and saying a last good-bye" to "I don't have any idea. It's the younger guys that do that").
As I said, the book flew from my hands -- quite literally -- a number of times before I made it to the first chapter. After that, it was easy reading; a well-written work that points out some of the problems in certain death penalty cases, including some cases in which persons spent time on death row for crimes they did not commit. The book goes far in showing how capital punishment, as a system, is riddled with problems and inconsistencies, but in my opinion, it doesn't go far enough.
Fuhrman raises some serious questions about capital punishment as he uses the book, and his findings, to completely change his point of view, from avid supporter of the death penalty to death penalty opponent. While doing his research, he was able to talk with a large number of detectives, attorneys and others -- including many who rarely speak on the record -- which makes the book worthy of being read by any person interested in capital punishment in Oklahoma.
But with the glaring exaggerations and fallacies at the very beginning, it's hard to know just how much of what follows can be true. ... Read more

Product Description
When it adopted a new constitution in 1969, the Seminole Nation was the first of the Five Tribes in Oklahoma to formally reorganize its government. In the face of an American legal system that sought either to destroy its nationhood or to impede its self-government, the Seminole Nation tenaciously retained its internal autonomy, cultural vitality, and economic subsistence. Here, L. Susan Work draws on her experience as a tribal attorney to present the first legal history of the twentieth-century Seminole Nation.

Work traces the Seminoles' story from their removal to Indian Territory from Florida in the late nineteenth century to the new challenges of the twenty-first century. She also places the history of the Seminole Nation within the context of general Indian law and policy, thereby revealing common threads in the legal struggles and achievements of the Five Tribes, including their evolving relationships with both federal and state governments.

As Work amply demonstrates, the history of the Seminole Nation is one of survival and rebirth. It is a dramatic story of an Indian nation overcoming formidable obstacles to move forward into the twenty-first century as a thriving sovereign nation. ... Read more

Product Description
This masterful summary represents a major synthesis of the history and culture of the Six Nations from the mid-sixteenth century to the Canandaigua treaty of 1794. William N. Fenton, renowned as the dean of Iroquoian studies, draws on primary sources, in both French and English to create a readable narrative and an invaluable reference for all future scholars of Iroquois polity.

Central to Fenton's study is the tradition of the Great Law, still practiced today by the conservative Iroquois. It is sustained by celebrations of the condolence ceremony when participants mourn a dead chief and install his successor for life on good behavior. This ritual act, reaching back to the dawn of history, maintained the League of the Iroquois, the legendary form of government that gave way over time to the Iroquois Confederacy. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

a wonderful, life's work
Fenton is the reigning expert on the Iroquois and has publishedextensively on a multitude of subjects relating to them.This is hislife's work and it is a tremendous achievement.Not a book to curl up to,nevertheless it is a must for anyone who professes interest in Americanhistory.Worth owning. ... Read more

Product Description
The road from dispossessed people to successful nation was a long one, but for the Choctaws it has been worth the journey. This book examines how one tribe moved beyond setbacks to establish a powerful modern tribal government.

The Choctaws in Oklahoma begins with the Choctaws' removal from Mississippi to Indian Territory in the 1830s and then traces the history of the tribe's subsequent efforts to retain and expand its rights and to reassert tribal sovereignty in the late twentieth century. As Kidwell explains, Choctaws adapted to the very structures imposed on them by their colonizers: courts and laws. Tribal politicians quickly learned to use the rhetoric of dependency on the government, but they also demanded justice in the form of fulfillment of their treaty rights, and the Choctaw Nation confronted the government as a legal adversary to achieve its own ends. The Choctaws have adroitly negotiated with the United States and created the Choctaw Nation that exists today.

The Choctaws' story illuminates a key point in contemporary scholarship on the history of American Indians: that they were not passive victims of colonization and did not assimilate quietly into American society. The Choctaws in Oklahoma illustrates one tribe's remarkable success in asserting its sovereignty and establishing a national identity in the face of seemingly insurmountable legal obstacles. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Excellently sourced history, if a little thin at the end
This is a solid, well-sourced book for anyone interested in Indian and specifically Choctaw history, including law and Federal policies.Dr. Kidwell, always a superb writer, has a firm grasp of her sources (including an 1855 book by Peter Pitchlynn that I really HAVE to get over to the Library of Congress to see), and includes a chapter of her own family history to add a good personal touch.At no point in this work did I ever have a question about where an assertion was based in the extant record.

I do disagree slightly with Dr. Kidwell's take on two events (one being the excitement following the 1902 election), based on documents she does not appear to have touched (at NARA DC).This is always the fun part of being a researcher/scholar-- finding new sources to further lift the veil of time.

The two final chapters have the feel of an author rushed to deadline.I have no idea if this was the case, but I was really hoping for more in-depth examination of the circumstances related to the re-emergence of public Choctaw tribal political activity.

Seeing Dr. Robert K. Thomas (may his memory be for a blessing) mentioned and cited is wonderful."Uncle Bob," as he was known by his students, is still missed for his unvarnished opinions and concern for the development of both Indian scholars and scholars of Indian Studies.

An excellent work.

Attempts to draw the lines connecting the past of this Native American tribe from their wrongful displacement
A people displaced, a people whose history has been hard to track. "The Choctaws in Oklahoma: From Tribe to Nation, 1855-1970" attempts to draw the lines connecting the past of this Native American tribe from their wrongful displacement back in the mid nineteenth century to over one hundred years later. A story of how a tribe tries to stay true to its heritage when everything around them tries to change them, "The Choctaws in Oklahoma" is both saddening and intriguing about the cruelty and resolve of human nature.
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Product Description
The bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City brought terror to the heartland of America. This book examines the devastating attack on America through firsthand accounts of those who survived and witnessed the bombing and reactions to this act of terrorism. (20020701) ... Read more

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more