Bleeding Borders: Race, Gender, and Violence in Pre-Civil War Kansas (Conflicting Worlds: New Dimensions of the American Civil War)

"This excellent and concise monograph is a model for how to use gender analysis to elucidate a fundamental issue in political history." Elizabeth R. Varon, American Historical Review"Bleeding Borders goes where few scholars have gone before. Oertel's race and gender analysis of political developments in pre Civil War Kansas provides a fresh perspective on the historical narrative." Charise Chaney, Western Historical Quarterly"A persuasive, innovative take on the contest over slavery in territorial Kansas." Brie Swenson Arnold, Journal of the Early RepublicIn Bleeding Borders, Kristen Tegtmeier Oertel offers a fresh, multifaceted interpretation of the quintessential sectional conflict in pre Civil War Kansas. Instead of focusing on the white, male politicians and settlers who vied for control of the Kansas territorial legislature, Oertel explores the crucial roles of Native Americans, African Americans, and white women in the battle between proslavery and antislavery settlers. Moving beyond a conventional political history, Bleeding Borders reveals how the struggles of this highly diverse region contributed to the national move toward disunion and how the ideologies that governed race and gender relations were challenged as North, South, and West converged on the border between slavery and freedom.