by Michael A. Smith, Professor of Political Science, Emporia State University
Political science books are not usually associated with book tours.
Before 2024, I had published four academic books, one solo and the others co-authored. I certainly never did a book signing (not counting copies for close relatives)! I could hardly have imagined embarking on a book tour. All that changed with my latest project. Reform and Reaction: The Arc of Kansas Politics 1960-2018, published by the University Press of Kansas in 2024 and co-authored with H. Edward Flentje, The Late Burdett Loomis, Chapman Rackaway, and Patrick Miller.
This essay is not a comprehensive set of suggestions for getting your work noticed. Rather, it is a case study – the story of a single book which has become relatively popular (for an academic book), much to the surprise of its authors. Lessons may not be universally applicable, but it is still a story worth telling, one which may serve as a spark for colleagues’ own ideas about how to get noticed outside the walls of the ivory tower.
More than ten years ago, Loomis called together the writers for Insight Kansas, a group of political science professors who have been taking turns writing newspaper columns since 2010. At that time, no comprehensive book on Kansas politics had been published since 2001, when an earlier book was last revised. We brainstormed, divided up the chapter assignments and got started.
There were plenty of unexpected twists and turns after that. Loomis retired, and it became clear that this would be his last academic project. Insight Kansas authors came and went – three retired, three left the state, and one withdrew from the project, sending the rest of us his good wishes. New people joined Insight Kansas, one (Miller) later becoming part of the book project. As of publication, I am the only remaining co-author who is a living, non-retired faculty member at a Kansas university.
State politics kept changing, too. We began writing during the first term of the Brownback Administration, just as they embarked on a radical tax-cutting experiment. Later, it became clear that the hoped-for new revenues from economic growth would not materialize, and the Administration cut school and other funding while borrowing heavily from the highway trust fund. In 2016, voters elected a bipartisan alliance to the state legislature, dedicated to ending the tax cuts. In 2018, they elected a Democratic Governor, Laura Kelly. Narrowly re-elected in 2022, she has continued unwinding the Brownback experiment.
Two books about Kansas politics were released while Reform and Reaction remained a work in progress. One was authored by my co-editor, Flentje, while I co-authored the other. However, neither competes directly with the Loomis project.
The biggest shock to our book project was yet to come. Always in excellent health and thoroughly enjoying retirement beforehand, our dear friend Burdett Loomis died suddenly in 2021 after a brief illness. Shortly afterward, Flentje and I stepped in as co-editors, agreeing that we must finish the book and dedicate it to our friend. Together with co-authors Chapman Rackaway and Patrick Miller, this is exactly what we did. The first chapter was written by Loomis himself.
I was not prepared for the reception. Having published several academic books, I thought the book would get some brief notice, particularly at academic conferences like MPSA, then be purchased primarily by libraries and other academics. Not so. This book continues to get remarkable notice beyond the usual markets. We have been interviewed by the Kansas Reflector and featured on-air by Kansas Public Radio. We were also interviewed by KKFI, a community radio station in Kansas City, as well as being featured on a KPTS (Wichita public TV) show called Kansas Week. When we spoke to the Kansas Oral History project, we even sold copies of the book and did a book signing! The book had a release party at the Dole Institute for Politics, featuring a discussion with former Governors Kathleen Sebelius and Mike Hayden. Of course, I also spoke about the book to a panel at this year’s recently-concluded MPSA conference.
Why is our book (relatively) popular for an academic book? While the average reader may not be up for a deep dive into 60 years of Kansas politics, the subject still draws a larger audience than many others. Many of the people most interested have played some role in shaping Kansas during the eras in question. These include current and former elected officials, journalists, and statehouse staff members. The broader audience includes those with greater than average interest in state history and politics, such as the listeners and viewers of public television and public radio. I also cannot resist speculating that some interest in the book comes from nostalgia. Not so long ago, things seemed to get done in the statehouse. As in other states, Kansas politics was complicated and messy in past decades, but the first era we describe was one in which major reforms to the state constitution were made by a bipartisan coalition. Today, hot button, culture war issues seem to dominate. Partisan cleavages are endemic. At the national level, increasingly aggressive end runs around constitutional governance are becoming the norm. Readers may be curious, even nostalgic for a time when the sausage making of state politics produced results that worked.
It should also be noted that our book is not very sophisticated, methodologically speaking. Our source materials include interviews, newspaper articles, and even personal experiences. The chapters by Rackaway and Miller do feature quantitative analysis, but the statistics are mostly descriptive. Our goal was not to break new methodological ground, but rather to write a book that anyone interested in Kansas history and politics could appreciate.
Name recognition is also a significant factor affecting the book’s popularity. This is particularly true for Loomis, who was well known both locally and within political science. Bird was very active on the University of Kansas campus and in Lawrence. For example, he was instrumental in getting the Dole Institute started. In our discipline, his reputation extended well beyond Kansas, in large part due to his earlier work on the U.S. Senate. My co-author Flentje is also well known. Before becoming a successful academic in public administration, Flentje served as a gubernatorial appointee, interim city manager of Wichita, and interim president of Emporia State University. While I cannot claim the same level of recognition, I have written for Insight Kansas and done media appearances since 2012. Before leaving the state, Rackaway and Miller wrote for IK and did media appearances as well.
Reform and Reaction will not rival the latest true crime or self-help books for sales, but we have been astonished and gratified that so much attention would be given to a book written by academics about the politics of a single state. Nostalgia, curiosity, name recognition, accessibility, and publicity have all combined to push our book’s notice beyond the traditional boundaries. We are deeply grateful for the interest so many have shown. Bird Loomis’ last academic work deserves nothing less.
About the Author
Michael A. Smith is a Professor of Political Science at Emporia State University. He has authored or co-authored five books, the most recent of which is Reform and Reaction: The Arc of Modern Kansas Politics (co-edited with H. Edward Flentje, Kansas 2024). He has other academic publications as well, and also writes newspaper columns carried throughout Kansas as part of the Insight Kansas group and blogs for the MPSA. Michael appears occasionally on television and radio in Kansas and western Missouri to discuss state and national politics. He was an expert witness for the plantiff in the Bednasek v Kobach case, decided together with Fish v Kobach by the federal district court for Kansas in 2018. Michael teaches courses in American politics, state and local government, and political philosophy. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Missouri in 2000. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter).