Lane, Henry: Man of Douglas, Man of Lincoln: The Political Odyssey of James Henry Lane.(Brief article)(Book review)

Lane, Henry

Man of Douglas, Man of Lincoln: The Political Odyssey of James Henry Lane. Ian Michael Spurgeon. Columbia: U of Missouri P, 2008. 291 pp. $42.50.

'"Man of Douglas joins a rash of recent books on Lane, perhaps an indication that antebellum actors on the Kansas stage long overshadowed by Brown now benefit from a resurgence of interest. Spurgeon's book promises to be the most useful, given its sound scholarship and portentous chronological range--from Lane's 1854 migration from Indiana to his 1866 suicide.... Ironically, the strength of Spurgeon's book--its close political analysis and tight chronology--is also its primary weakness. In Minerva-like fashion, …