Thomas H. Olbricht relishes his Missouri upbringing. In this book he narrates the details of his many experiences in the 1930s and 40s. The author was interested in multiple aspects of Ozark terrain, social life, and culture, and often situates them in their historical setting. He writes with multifaceted concretion regarding the influence of his mother, father, and his extended family, which included persons of Irish, Scottish, and German heritages. He not only helped with his grandfather's gas station-grocery but also his uncle's farming operations. Because of his commitment and education...

In 1929, in a remote county of the Arkansas Ozarks, the gruesome murder of harmonica-playing drifter Connie Franklin and the brutal rape of his teenaged fiance
captured the attention of a nation on the cusp of the Great Depression. National press from coast to coast ran stories of the sensational exploits of night-riding moonshiners, powerful "Barons of the Hills," and a world of feudal oppression in the isolation of the rugged Ozarks. The ensuing arrest of five local men for both crimes and the confusion and superstition surrounding the trial and conviction gave Stone County a dubious...