With the stroke of a pen, the United States bought the Louisiana Territory, but few people know the rest of the story--that the purchase almost started a war, that a former vice president tried to make the land his own empire and that an American general sent to protect the territory was a Spanish spy. For almost twenty years, West Louisiana was not part of the United States. With no government, no police and no military, it soon became a no man's land--full of outlaws, murderers and smugglers. But it was also a land of opportunity for settlers willing to brave the danger to start a new life. Author Scott DeBose shares the story of this wild era and the almost two centuries it took to tame the region. --