This was an impressive and entertaining read and it makes me want to pursue more literature and history about the time period. The only real issue I had with the book was that Jake Roedel's narration was at times a little too poetic and clever for where I placed his intellect. Every page seemed to have a new clever aphorism that, while entertaining and often made me smile, got to be a bit of an overload. Still, I found the majority of the book entirely absorbing and I didn't want to put it down. I will continue to explore Woodrell's output.