Books
The Jayhawker Cleveland:
Phantom Horseman of the Prairie
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The Free State of Kansas and the slave state of Missouri are the backdrop of this tale of heroic deeds and fatal mistakes. David Hann takes the reader on a trail ride through a gritty time in the American West when people were pitted against each other and some had to choose sides in a life-and-death battle of ideas.
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Not all of the settlers in Kansas and Missouri had an opinion on the slavery question, but having no opinion was not an option. Those who settled in Missouri and the Territory of Kansas were caught in the middle of two conflicting ideas, and a wrong answer given to strangers could result in loss of property and sometimes loss of life.
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THE JAYHAWKER CLEVELAND is a story of a man and his times. Culled from 1860s newspaper articles and published reports of a tumultuous, violent era in American history, Hann describes Cleveland's brief but deadly fame during the Kansas-Missouri Border war.
Now available from Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Intended for the Young Adult audience, older folks will surely enjoy the bravado and adventure portrayed so adeptly in Hann's THE JAYHAWKER CLEVELAND.
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Featured in the Lawrence Journal-World.
River Memoir and other stories
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Stories of the unexpected.
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A circus brings the Masked Strangler to a small town. Practical jokers get their comeuppance. A chance meeting with a mysterious dog takes a few mysterious turns. An old man turns the tables on two smart alecks. Fishing trips alternate with fun and danger.
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A storm in the North Pacific makes life exciting for young Marines on a troop-ship heading for Okinawa. A 1966 clash within the Vietnamese army brings confusion and tension for Marines in DaNang. A peaceful float trip turns into a fight for survival in a flash flood. An elderly Ursuline Sister spins a tale of emigrant life in Chicago.
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A young man finds that his guardian angel can’t always protect him in a summer job at a steel plant. How do chickens get to market, and what if turkeys figure things out? A deer and a would-be-rescuer come to an understanding. Two friends discover the virtue of knowing the phase of the moon.
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And more stories of fun, fear, and folly.
Now available on Amazon
Kansas Past: Pieces of the 34th Star
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KANSAS PAST is a compilation of 28 historical vignettes, all true, illustrating the lesser-known people, places, and events that were shaped by, or helped to shape, the state known as Kansas.
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"Kansas has seen them all. Confidence men who sold get-rich-quick schemes in the silk industry; dreamers of utopias, such as the vegetarian community near Humboldt; successful entrepreneurs like Junius Groves and Cannonball Green, and not-so-lucky speculators like the founders of the Center Motel in Smith County; artists like Blackbear Bosin; black and white soldiers; exodusters; inventors and refugees; all with stories comic and tragic, some inspirational, some whimsical. All Kansans."
- From the introduction
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"David Hann's book offers a quirky look at some of Kansas' forgotten characters, places and adventures."
- Lawrence Journal World, November 8, 1999
Now available on Amazon
• A compendium of the people, places and things that made Kansas Kansas
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• Black Exodusters who founded Nicodemus
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• The "Potato King of the West"
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• Blackbear Bosin: Artist of the Inner Song
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• Origin of Kansas county names
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• The Story of Kansas Day
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• Pioneer nurses and doctors
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• Fantastic flying machines that did not fly, and one that did
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• Fort Larned: The Camp at Pawnee Fork
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• And more!
KANSAS PAST has 150 pages documented with footnotes and maps, 96 photographs, 20 illustrations and 27 Kansas State maps locating the stories. Please note that due to binding drying out I have reinforced spine with staples.
Sampling Kansas:
A Guide to the Curious
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SAMPLING KANSAS is a non-fiction work about lesser known and off-beat places, people, and events in Kansas.
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With maps, photos, and stories, this book portrays a unique blend of the fortitude, fantasy, and foibles of Native Americans, settlers, adventurers, and passers-through to whom Kansas was home in the 19th Century.
Now available on Amazon
SAMPLING KANSAS has 120 pages documented with footnotes and maps, 43 photographs, 6 illustrations and 23 Kansas State maps that show the location of stories.
• Spans the state's history and illustrates its ethnic and cultural diversity
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• The highs and hazards of the Pony Express
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• Grave of the Unknown Indian in Morris County
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• Madstones use by Indians and pioneers for rabies
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• Windwagons sailing on the sea of grass to the West
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• And more!
• A Kansa spirit rock in Lawrence
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• Liberty Bell made out of wheat in Goessel
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• Martin and Osa Johnson Safari Museum in Chanute
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• A cattleman's hoax that worked too well
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• Chalk formations in Western Kansas
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