Jim,
As I understand it, Connelley's book is very good, although as highly biased as Edwards is. I would be interested in the site that has Edwards book online! I've only read half of it... my email address is voodoo@wdemail.com
The people on this history board could better recommend reading materials to you than I could... If you look into the ~border war~ (and expand it over the state of Missouri), I'm thinking that you will develope a reasonable good idea about what was going on... Bear in mind, what I say has a southern slant, but that doesn't mean that I am completely ~off tune~...
The archives on this Board have a lot of excellent information. ~Don