Lat Me Thank: Fact-Based Fiction of The Sociology of Rural Kansas

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"Lat Me Thank: Fact-Based Fiction of The Sociology of Rural Kansas" is an irreverent saga of rural Kansas based upon the author’s boyhood and later contact with his home state. Written as somewhat fictional humor and a little autobiographical, the book is based upon incidents and conditions that have prevailed in rural central Kansas since it was first wrested from its original Native American occupants and settled by people from the Eastern States and a variety of immigrants from other countries. Its title comes from the manner of communication practiced by many members of that society, most of the males of whom are not overly verbal but like to think before they speak, and make liberal use of nonverbal cues as they communicate. The book is based upon Bush County, Kansas, and its county seat of Bushapolis. The county and its county seat are fictional, but most of the stories in the book are based upon things that actually happened, many of which the author heard in the “jailhouse barber shop,” a hair-styling salon where county jail prisoners were taken to get haircuts. As the author explains, you could always tell who the prisoners were because they were cleaner-shaved and fresher-bathed than the other patrons, besides which they were hand cuffed, wore striped suits, and accompanied by a uniformed deputy carrying a “sawed-off” shotgun. Because of the origin of these stories, the subsub title of the book is Stories from the Jailhouse Barber Shop. In addition to addressing topics of historical interest in Kansas, the book comments on various aspects of modern life. For example, a section on “Internet Hate e-Garbage” discusses how the Internet and e-mail allow for a high degree of anonymity so that the people can write things that they would not ordinarily say, some of which ends up in our e-mail inboxes. The other specific topics addressed in the book are the following: Roots in the Dirt of Kansas, The Jailhouse Barber Shop and the Subtitle of this Scholarly Work, Communication in Bush County, Names and Nicknames, Stormy Weather, Buying Pigs, The Faar, Dawgs, The Germans, Dodge Darts, The Young Man and the Gasbag Horse, Man As an Old Pickup Truck, The Bush County Badass, Flora and Fauna of Bush County, Traffic Circles and Other Things that Screw Up Automobile Transport, When the Horse is the Designated Drive, Another Sad Horse Story, Old John, Religion and the Lack Thereof, Be Careful What you Pursue; it Might Catch You, Hak Hansen, the Radio Man, Peeing into a Kansas Wind , The Dogs and the Goal Posts, Be Careful What You Touch If You Might have Touched Poison Ivy, Saved from Death by the Undertaker, Kansas Smoking Alfalfa, The Buzzards Circling Overhead, Aventuras del Gringo Viejo in Mexico, Uncle Homer, Hate e-Garbage, Botulinus Toxin, Botox, Anger Management and Mrs. Franck, A Few Parting Thoughts and Important Advice