Book Description

Jim Lane: Scoundrel, Statesman, Kansan is historian Robert Collins’s revelatory biography of one of America’s most controversial politicians. As the life of US senator James Lane unfolded on the Kansas frontier, so did his saintly and dastardly deeds. Some called him a murderer while others affectionately called him a good politician. Carefully preserving the character of the misunderstood senator, this book tells the untold and largely forgotten story of the controversial Civil War-era figure. James H. “the Grim Chieftain” Lane was the most powerful politician west of the Mississippi River during the Civil War. Born in 1814, he spent his early life in military service during the Mexican War and he eventually entered into a life of politics. At the age of thirty-one, Lane spent his earnings to run for a seat in the Indiana legislature. Although his attempt was unsuccessful, he didn’t have to wait long before taking the first of many offices as the lieutenant governor of the State of Indiana, a position he won by a single vote in 1849. From there, his career took him along an aggressive path that led him to Kansas as he argued for popular sovereignty during the state’s formation. Early on, he gained a reputation as a fanatic who was responsible for leading Kansas into the Civil War. In a series of controversial and compelling chapters, Collins illustrates a long line of federal patronage, which served as the senator's power base from which he drew upon allegiance and loyalty. The lost story of Jim Lane will interest anyone seeking a historical perspective of “Bleeding Kansas.”