Wicked Kansas

Kansans like to think of their state as a land of industrious, law-abiding and friendly people, and for the most part they are correct. But its history has many tales of murders, cons, extrajudicial killings and other crimes. Its restive frontier attracted menacing characters, such as a cowboy who murdered a man for snoring, the serial-killing Bender family and the train-robbing James-Younger Gang. Although the area was eventually settled, the scandals did not cease. Learn about how a quack doctor nearly won the governorship, a decommissioned nuclear missile silo housed the largest LSD manufacturing operation in American history and more. Author Adrian Zink explores the salacious side of Kansas history in these wild and degenerate stories.

Adrian Zink is a native Kansan who has worked at a variety of historical institutions, including the Kansas Historical Society, UW-Milwaukee Archives and the National Press Club Library and Archives. He has BAs in history and political science, a Master of Library Science and an MA in history. He currently works at the National Archives-Kansas City. Adrian and his wife, Toni, have two children and live in Overland Park, Kansas. His first book, Hidden History of Kansas, was published in 2017.