THE TERRITORY

Writers of alternate histories love to ask "what if?". So, what if during the Civil War a young and impressionable Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) fell in with such historic scoundrels as Frank James, Cole Younger, and Colonel William Quantrill as they planned the infamous 1863 Lawrence [Kansas] Massacre to avenge their Southern-sympathizing Missouri Bushwhackers against the hated Kansas Red Legs? Jared Doreck reads with a youthful energy and intensity. His Southern accents get a little shaky at times, but his eagerness carries the day. Like most good alternate histories, this story gives one pause to think, and gives one reason to find a history book and look up what really happened. B.P. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine [Published: DEC 06/ JAN 07]