Kansas City-based Stalnaker is an independent history scholar, and a World War II living historian who takes part in reenactments of both the US and British armies. His research-based description of the Battle of Mine Creek offers the people of Kansas and Missouri, Civil War historians, and general readers a concise account of the only battle of the American Civil War that took place in Kansas. Through this text, Stalnaker hopes to demonstrate ways in which the generally ignored and mostly misunderstood battle--one of the largest cavalry battles of the entire war--had an important impact on Kansas, Missouri, the Trans-Mississippi theater, Lincoln's reelection in 1864, and the American Civil War as a whole. Annotation ©2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)