Dark command

by W.R. Burnett

Novel about Bleeding Kansas before and during the Civil War. The main conflict is between John Seton and Polk Cantrell. Cantrell's wife Mary is loved by Seton. He was courting her when she eloped with Cantrell and went to Kansas. Seton leaves Ohio to go to Kansas. The descriptions of war are graphic and there are some racist sentiments and expressions. The 1940 movie "Dark command" starring John Wayne and Walter Pidgeon is based on this novel.

396 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1938

About the author

William Riley "W. R." Burnett was an American novelist and screenwriter. He is best known for the crime novel Little Caesar, the film adaptation of which is considered the first of the classic American gangster movies. Burnett was born in Springfield, Ohio. He left his civil service job there to move to Chicago when he was 28, by which time he had written over 100 short stories and five novels, all unpublished.

Burnett kept busy, producing a novel or more a year and turning most into screenplays (some as many as three times). Thematically Burnett was similar to Dashiell Hammett and James M. Cain but his contrasting of the corruption and corrosion of the city with the better life his characters yearned for, represented by the paradise of the pastoral, was fresh and original. He portrayed characters who, for one reason or another, fell into a life of crime. Once sucked into this life they were unable to climb out. They typically get one last shot at salvation but the oppressive system closes in and denies redemption.

Burnett's characters exist in a world of twilight morality — virtue can come from gangsters and criminals, malice from guardians and protectors. Above all his characters are human and this could be their undoing.

Burnett worked with many of the greats in acting and directing, including Raoul Walsh, John Huston, John Ford, Howard Hawks, Nicholas Ray, Douglas Sirk, Michael Cimino, John Wayne, Humphrey Bogart, Ida Lupino, Paul Muni, Frank Sinatra, Marilyn Monroe, Steve McQueen and Clint Eastwood.

He received an Oscar nomination for his script for "Wake Island" (1942) and a Writers Guild nomination for his script for "The Great Escape". In addition to his film work he also wrote scripts for television and radio.

On his death in 1982, in Santa Monica, California,Burnett was interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California

Reviews

[Susan Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

After much difficulty, I obtained a copy of this book, which is out of print and not available on Kindle. I wanted to read it because I happened to watch a very old John Wayne/Roy Rogers movie by the same name. The movie was excellent, and as I watched, I looked up information about it and was intrigued. I have read criticisms that it is racist, but in fact it was reflective of its time period. The book, after all, was published in 1938, a very different time in this country.
It is about a fascinating period of history, during the 1850's and the Westward Expansion, when Missouri had been settled by planters who brought the slave-owning tradition with them. The abolitionists in Massachusetts and other colonies settled Kansas as a free state. There were major skirmishes between the two factions, terrific bloodshed, and outright guerrilla warfare. This book is based on actual historical figures and events that took place in the earliest days of Lawrence, Kansas.
It is well written, well paced, and I recommend it to students of history like me. Be sure to read the forward so you understand the history behind the fiction.

[Katie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I can’t remember the last time a book brought me to genuine anger like this out of sheer annoyance. Everything about it was absolutely infuriating. I don’t think I’ve ever encountered a character as astonishingly insufferable as Mary, and Johnny wasn’t much better.

[Ranette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Who could kill their blood brother who named his son after you?