Missouri

Taking its cue from St. Louis architecture, the Show Me State operates as a gateway to discovery. The wonders of the 1904 World’s Fair, the scenic passage of Route 66 and the quest for that perfect meal in Columbia all testify to that exploratory drive. But like the restless rivers that gave Mark Twain his alias and inspiration, Missouri’s history proves no frontier provides uncontested passage. In the vicinity of Civil War guerillas or Prohibition Era bootleggers, an unlocked door could invite calamity. Crack open our catalogue of Missouri history books for a portal into the state’s adventurous heritage. [View all Missouri books]
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Lafayette Square, St. Louis
Lafayette Square, St. Louis
$24.99 $17.49 Save 30%
Growing Up Greek in St. Louis
Growing Up Greek in St. Louis
$24.99 $17.49 Save 30%
Brentwood, Missouri
Brentwood, Missouri
$24.99 $17.49 Save 30%
University City, Missouri
University City, Missouri
$24.99 $17.49 Save 30%
Murder & Mayhem in Missouri
Murder & Mayhem in Missouri
$21.99 $15.39 Save 30%
St. Louis
St. Louis
$24.99 $17.49 Save 30%

Lafayette Square, St. Louis

9780738500225

$24.99 $17.49 Save 30%
Lafayette Square has always been a reflection of the life and times of St. Louis, Missouri. Originally a common land where cattle grazed and people hunted game, the area was set aside as a public park just before the Civil War. Following that era, Lafayette Square was developed into a showplace for the Victorian era, featuring fantastic gardens, gazebos, a bandstand, an aquarium, and a boathouse. On May 27, 1896, a tornado plowed through the area and destroyed most of its foliage and buildings. Following this tragedy, many homeowners fled to the Central West End, and the once elegant Lafayette Square fell into a state of decline. During the years of the Depression and World War II, the neighborhood and its surroundings became known as "Slum D." In 1945, architect and historian John Albury Bryan purchased a residence at Benton Place and began a fierce and lonely battle to renovate the Square. His dream of restoration became a reality in the 1960s and 1970s when a group of concerned citizens, determined to recapture the area's former glory, banded together to form the Lafayette Restoration Committee.
Lafayette Square, St. Louis

Growing Up Greek in St. Louis

9780738519562

$24.99 $17.49 Save 30%
Since the beginning of the 20th century, St. Louis' Greek-American community has been a vibrant part of the city's fabric. Through a series of vivid personal accounts of growing up in two worlds during the post-WWII era, Growing Up Greek in St. Louis explores the challenges faced by Greek-Americans as they sought to preserve a rich cultural heritage while assimilating to American ways.

From a detailed account of her Grandmothers' struggles during the occupation of Greece during WWII and the Asia Minor Holocaust to the first hand experiences faced by Greek-American children in Greek school, the celebration of name days, and the ever-present "evil eye," the book captures the sense of tradition, history, hospitality (philotimo), and community so vital to the Greek experience.

Growing Up Greek in St. Louis

Brentwood, Missouri

9780738520216

$24.99 $17.49 Save 30%
The mail coaches and prairie schooners traveling west in the late 1800s on the Manchester Trail would have stopped in what is today known as Brentwood. Maddenville, as the area was then called, was named after a prominent businessman who owned a grocery store, barbershop, rock quarry, and blacksmith shop. While some travelers took respite in Porta's Tavern and pressed westward, others never left the community that later grew, along with the railroad, into a bustling community just outside St. Louis. This collection of words and images by the Brentwood Historical Society brings to life the small-town values and humble history of "The City of Warmth."

In this book, more than 200 historic photographs portray the days when the Brentwood Dinky streetcar ran from St. Louis, Link's Chicken Farm became infamous, and Louis J. "Pat" Bompart, grandson of Brentwood's founder, bought tavern patrons round after round of drinks. Pictured here are the schools, churches, businesses, and festivals that have endeared residents to Brentwood since its earliest days as a whistle stop.

Brentwood, Missouri

University City, Missouri

9780738520063

$24.99 $17.49 Save 30%
In 1904, from a plot of land that would soon become University City, eccentric publisher Edwin Gardner Lewis shone the beam of what he claimed was the world's largest searchlight over the World's Fair in nearby St. Louis. Several years later, he claimed an even greater possession: a city, created around his publishing complex, complete with his own mayoral office, wide boulevards, and beautiful residences. The story of University City is one of urban wonder: from the city's "Hilltop Neighbor" and namesake, Washington University, to the diversity showcased in today's University City. The historic images in this volume illustrate the area's founding and development, from the largest printing press of the time, capable of producing 300,000 eight-page newspapers an hour, to the lion sculptures at the city's famed "Gates of Opportunity," standing proud as the city's everlasting symbol.
University City, Missouri

Murder & Mayhem in Missouri

9781626190337

$21.99 $15.39 Save 30%
Desperadoes like Frank and Jesse James earned Missouri the nickname of the "Outlaw State" after the Civil War, and that reputation followed the region into the Prohibition era through the feverish criminal activity of Bonnie and Clyde, the Barkers and Charles "Pretty Boy" Floyd. Duck into the Slicker War of the 1840s, a vigilante movement that devolved into a lingering feud in which the two sides sometimes meted out whippings, called slickings, on each other. Or witness the Kansas City Massacre of 1933, a shootout between law enforcement officers and criminal gang members who were trying to free Frank Nash, a notorious gang leader being escorted to federal prison. Follow Larry Wood through the most shameful and savage portion of the Show-Me State's history.
Murder & Mayhem in Missouri

St. Louis

9780738533629

$24.99 $17.49 Save 30%
Since the founding of St. Louis, African Americans have lived in communities throughout the area. Although St. Louis' 1916 "Segregation of the Negro Ordinance" was ruled unconstitutional, African Americans were restricted to certain areas through real estate practices such as steering and red lining. Through legal efforts in the court cases of Shelley v. Kraemer in 1948, Jones v. Mayer in 1978, and others, more housing options became available and the population dispersed. Many of the communities began to decline, disappear, or experience urban renewal.
St. Louis