Good Order and Safety: A History of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, 1861–1906
By Allen E. Wagner

The history of policing in the United States is generally divided into three eras. The first, the political era, took place in St. Louis between 1861, when the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department was established, and 1905–1906, when a reform governor thrust St. Louis into the reform/progressive era. This book examines the beginnings of the political era in St. Louis, the reasons for the police department’s establishment, and the inner workings of the department during that era. It not only is the story of the early police department, but also is integrated with the history of St. Louis and even the state of Missouri.

May 2008
544 pages
90 black and white photographs
ISBN: 978-1-883982-63-8, $29.95, cloth

Stories from Before: The New Voices of Immigrants in St. Louis
Selected and edited by Janet Morey and Gail Schafers

In more than 40 collected stories, the new voices of immigrants living in St. Louis recount tales both dramatic and mundane: A Liberian tells of inheriting the role of chief witch doctor from his uncle at the age of nine. A Bosnian tells of being rescued by a fishing boat from drowning in the Adriatic Sea. A Russian vividly remembers the smell of fresh bread and cold milk after returning from the siege of Leningrad. The stories these immigrants tell, writing in their new language, will resonate with anyone who has made or observed a similar difficult transition.

December 2007
184 pages
46 black and white photographs
ISBN: 978-1-883982-62-1, $19.95, cloth

The Boyhood Memoirs of A. E. Hotchner: King of the Hill and Looking for Miracles
By A. E. Hotchner

King of the Hill is A. E. Hotchner's memoir of his impoverished childhood in St. Louis, originally published in 1972. Hotchner's story is one of ingenuity and spirit in the face of economic hardship during the Great Depression. Left to live alone in a rundown hotel while his traveling salesman father is on the road, his mother is hospitalized, and his younger brother is sent to live with relatives, young Hotchner was determined to survive to overcome the challenge of keeping his situation secret.

Looking for Miracles is a sequel to King of the Hill, originally published in 1975. The story takes place in 1936, three years after King of the Hill, when Hotchner bluffs his way into a job as a summer counselor at a camp in the Ozarks. The story is poignant and uplifting, as well as hilariously entertaining.

Bound together for the first time, the two memoirs of Hotchner's boyhood will touch readers with their truth, innocence, and joy. Hotchner's ability to convey times of intense hardship in warm and witty language attests to his stature as one of America's great storytellers.

“This is good old-fashioned memoir writing at its best: poignant, endearing, funny and evocative of a bygone era that's worth recalling in detail."
—The Washington Post

“Long before Frank McCourt, Rick Bragg, Jeannette Walls, or Natalie Kusz were turning their own true stories of childhood poverty into triumphant works of art, Hotchner had already established the childhood memoir's gold standard."
—The Chicago Tribune

August 2007
426 pages
ISBN: 978-1-883982-60-7, $19.95, paper

St. Louis Plans: The Ideal and the Real St. Louis
Edited by Mark Tranel

St. Louis has a rich history of planning that heretofore has not been documented. The plans that have been made over the years by public, nonprofit, and civic agencies have given the St. Louis metropolitan area its shape and direction. Plans are the basis of the physical and built environment as well as of the activities and agendas that are carried out within this environment. This volume, the third in the St. Louis Metromorphosis Book Series, will explore the various angles from which St. Louis plans have arisen, from the regional, municipal, and neighborhood levels and in specific sectors including education, health care, and workforce development. Timely issues that the twelve authors of the book's essays will explore include emergency preparedness, planning and leadership at the neighborhood level, transportation, and health care. Published in partnership with the University of Missouri–St. Louis Public Policy Research Center.

Named one of the most notable locally produced books of 2007 by in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

"This is not a just a book for professors and policy wonks. Rather, it's for anyone who has an interest in how our region got from there to here, and where it may go next."
—Sauce magazine

December 2007
416 pages
40 black and white illustrations
ISBN: 978-1-883982-61-4, $22.95, paper

Paper Dolls Inspired by the Clothing Collection of the Missouri Historical Society

For hundreds of years, the paper doll has been a beloved toy. But beyond being simple playthings, paper dolls have a secret history, an exciting connection to the adult world of high fashion.

The Missouri Historical Society has illustrated some of the most beautiful clothing from its collection to create this one-of-a-kind paper doll book. Ranging in date from 1730 to 1908, these clothes, and the accompanying text, tell the stories of the people and places they touched.

“This is a beautifully organized and printed book! The historic concept is super...."
—Cornerstones

December 2006
32 pages
5 black and white illustrations, plus 4 dolls and 30 costumes
ISBN: 978-1-883982-59-1, $5.95, paper

To preview Nobody's Boy, download the first chapter here. (.pdf)

Read an excerpt (.pdf) from Mrs. Lincoln and Mrs. Keckly: The Remarkable Story of the Friendship Between a First Lady and a Former Slave, by Jennifer Fleischner. (Random House/Broadway Books, 2003)

Nobody’s Boy
By Jennifer Fleischner

A work of historical fiction, Nobody’s Boy is loosely based on the real-life story of a slave named George. George’s owner, Hugh Garland, lawyer for Mrs. Emerson in the Dred Scott case, brought him to St. Louis at about the age of five. Disregarded by his white, slave-owning father and with no last name, George longed to escape the lot of being “nobody’s boy.” George’s mother, Elizabeth Keckly (future dressmaker for and confidante of Mary Todd Lincoln), bought their freedom when George was sixteen. It gave him the means to help his slave friend escape to the North, away from the slave pens and whipping posts of St. Louis.

Later, George would attend college in Ohio. The light-skinned George ultimately joined a Missouri regiment in the Civil War, enlisting as a white man on the Union side. Not long after, he died in the battle of Wilson’s Creek.

The early 1850s was an important time in Missouri—a turning point in the buildup to the war and the beginning of the historic Dred Scott case. The story of George’s short life is an intimate look at race and life in Missouri at this time, seen through the eyes of an African American boy who grew up on the color line.

“The backdrop is thrilling.... What really keeps the pages turning is the close-up of George, a light-skinned young slave, who can pass for white in a cruel world, and his brave rescue of his friend."
—Booklist

“[A] gripping historical novel for children.... Fleischner draws nuanced portraits...."
—The Washington Post

December 2006
112 pages, 13 black and white illustrations
ISBN: 978-1-883982-58-4, $12.95, paper

For a peek inside Here's Where, download these sample pages. (.pdf)

Here's Where: A Guide to Illustrious St. Louis
By Charlie Brennan, Bridget Garwitz, and Joe Lattal

Many famous people, past and present, have ties to St. Louis. Charlie Brennan’s Here’s Where uses anecdotes and interesting facts to explore these well-known as well as little-known St. Louis connections. Eleven easy-to-read neighborhood maps pinpoint events and people, with coded symbols helping the reader differentiate between existing and no-longer-existing sites. Locals and visitors alike can pick a favorite famous person (listed alphabetically and by subject) and find the related landmark—where bombshell Betty Grable or poet Maya Angelou were born, or where Tennessee Williams got inspiration for The Glass Menagerie. Other notable entries include significant people from our past, such as Mark Twain, T. S. Eliot, Tennessee Williams, and President Harry S. Truman, as well as big names from more recent times, including Tiger Woods, Regis Philbin, Kate Capshaw, Stone Phillips, Ronald Reagan, and Yogi Berra.

“This book is full of surprises for readers.”
—West End Word

October 2006
192 pages, 40 illustrations
ISBN: 978-1-883982-57-7, $14.95, paper

This is the second book in the St. Louis Metromorphosis Book Series from the Public Policy Research Center. By most standard indicators, the St. Louis region is in a prolonged period of stagnation or decline. The urban core has suffered huge population loss. The central city has a large poverty population, high crime rates, and deteriorating public services. Residential patterns are highly segregated by race and wealth. Political fragmentation in the region and the corresponding absence of effective leadership are legendary. Based on these standard measures of strength, vitality, and growth, the region’s future appears dim. But these are not the only indicators by which the present and possible future of the region, including the central city, should be assessed. The region contains many “hidden assets” that, if effectively nurtured and promoted, augur a brighter future for the St. Louis metropolitan area.

“Hidden Assets deftly delves into the living past of the great river city of St. Louis, Missouri, and is recommended reading for anyone with an interest in the history and socioeconomics of St. Louis.”
—The Midwest Book Review

May 2006
208 pages, 73 black and white illustrations, tables, and charts
bibliographies, index
ISBN 1-883982-56-1, $22.95, paper

John Caspar Wild: Painter and Printmaker of Nineteenth-Century Urban America
By John W. Reps

John Caspar Wild, expert painter and lithographer, produced some of the earliest known depictions of urban America in the nineteenth century. His paintings and prints of Philadelphia, Cincinnati, St. Louis, and Davenport, Iowa, among others, stand as valuable historical records of these cities in an era before large-scale industrialization changed their character. His art also served to advertise the cities of the rapidly expanding West.

The American career of John Caspar Wild began in 1832, when he arrived in Philadelphia from Paris to work as a painter, lithographer, and print colorist. In all the cities he called home, he recorded their appearance during a period of rapid growth. These images, like all of his separately issued lithographs, are extremely rare and can be found in only a few institutions.

This beautifully illustrated book presents Wild's paintings and prints for all to appreciate, and a catalogue raisonné identifies all of his known works. The author draws on his previous writings about Wild—themselves based on specialized studies by earlier scholars—and adds much new information about the artist’s early years in Philadelphia and his accomplishments elsewhere. This talented but largely ignored artist who died well over a century and a half ago is thus at last provided the recognition he deserves.

“Meticulously researched documentation and flawless color and monochromatic reproductions...an appealing read...visually scrumptious. Reps has left no stone unturned in his research.”
—Rachel Berenson Perry, Indiana Magazine of History

February 2006
184 pages, 120 color and black and white illustrations, appendices, index, catalogue raisonné
ISBN: 1-883982-55-3, $59.95 hardcover

The Missouri Harmony Songbook: 2005 Edition
By Allen D. Carden
Edited by Wings of Song

With a history dating back to 1820, The Missouri Harmony was the most popular of all frontier shape-note tune books. The 185 songs compiled in the collection were favorites used in Protestant churches and singing schools, and many were deeply rooted in American culture by the time of its first publication. The story of the book is the story of a burgeoning nation, with its origins in a St. Louis school (where it was introduced by singing master Allen Carden) and its spread along the Mississippi River and its tributaries. It’s said that even Abraham Lincoln and his sweetheart, Ann Rutledge, sang from The Missouri Harmony at her father’s tavern in Illinois. Compilations like The Missouri Harmony not only helped teach Americans to read music but also carried on the European heritage of shaped notes, a format used by congregations and choirs around the world. And yet despite its significance, the book was, until now, unavailable to contemporary choral and church music communities. Collected by Wings of Song, an organization of St. Louis shape-note singers, this new version of The Missouri Harmony contains over 350 pages of new and old music and a narrative introduction that includes photographs and illustrations that illuminate the shape-note tradition. With this compilation, published nearly two hundred years after its inception, the heritage of a very different, yet ever influential, America thrives, and its songs, rich with our country’s history, live on.

“This book is a remarkable achievement, an amazing resource for all lovers of choral music.”
—Dave Kirby on WTBF-AM/FM

June 2005
352 pages (est.), 10 ills. (est.), indices
ISBN: 1-883982-54-5, $29.95 cloth

Malindy’s Freedom: The Story of a Slave Family
By Mildred Johnson and Theresa Delsoin
Edited by Stuart Symington, Jr., and Anne W. Symington

Malindy, born a free Cherokee Indian, was unlawfully enslaved as a child by a Franklin County, Missouri, farmer. Married to a freedman, Malindy gave birth to five children in slavery—creating a family she would fight her whole life to keep together. As a testament to her iron will, Malindy’s great-granddaughters, Mildred Johnson and Theresa Delsoin, have lived to share the story passed on through their family for generations—a story of courage, conviction, and love. The authors relied principally on census records, along with other primary and secondary sources, to back up their great-grandmother’s stories. As a narrative of the “peculiar institution” of slavery, Malindy’s story is unique because it makes clear that the African American experience derives from Native American and European, as well as African, roots. Edited by Stuart Symington, Jr., Malindy’s Freedom brings truth and humanity to one of American history’s darkest hours. And yet, as a tale of abiding faith and steadfast love for one’s family, Malindy’s story is the story of every family that has ever struggled to survive, and has ultimately been the stronger for it.

“This is a tale powerfully told with narrative fluidity to introduce readers to a "real" story of slavery and is a good addition to the literature of slave narratives.”
—Carolyn Earle Billingsly in The Journal of Southern History

May 2005
320 pages (est.), 30 ills. (est.), bibliography
ISBN: 1-883982-53-7, $29.95, cloth

Bill Clay: A Political Voice at the Grass Roots
By Bill Clay

As Democratic ward committeeman for more than twenty years (a position that controlled many patronage jobs), Bill Clay Sr. was forced to endorse candidates in primary elections, even in the most contentious and divisive contests. This committee post was concurrent with his congressional responsibilities, putting the committeeman-congressman at the epicenter of most local political storms. Clay recounts his forty-two-year odyssey through a career filled with controversy, conflict, and confrontation. He challenged both the established rule of the white St. Louis power structure and the black “don’t rock the boat” political and civil rights advocates. In the process, he changed the face of a racially discriminatory economic, political, and social system. Clay’s struggle to gain power and to keep it was not confined to fights with other politicians and business executives, however. It also involved an ongoing fight for his political survival with the media. One daily newspaper waged a publicly declared campaign to ensure his loss in every election. Without compromising his principles or softening his attacks on racists and racism, Clay battled back. He won re-election fifteen consecutive times, and the newspaper eventually folded. In the end, Clay, using his tremendous vote-getting apparatus, became one of Missouri’s most powerful political voices in controlling election-year issues and determining the success of candidates’ campaigns in both citywide and statewide elections.

“A fuller and fascinating story about the man who shaped black politics for several decades.”
—Robert Joiner in The St. Louis Post-Dispatch

November 2004
344 pages, 40 ills., index
ISBN: 1-883982-52-9, $32.95, cloth

Read an excerpt from this book. (.pdf)

“Point from which creation begins”: The Black Artists’ Group of St. Louis
By Benjamin Looker

From 1968 to 1972, St. Louis was home to the Black Artists’ Group (BAG), a seminal arts collective that nurtured African American experimentalists involved with theater, visual arts, dance, poetry, and jazz. Inspired by the reinvigorated black cultural nationalism of the 1960s, artistic collectives had sprung up around the country in a diffuse outgrowth known as the Black Arts Movement. These impulses resonated with BAG’s founders, who sought to raise black consciousness and explore the far reaches of interdisciplinary performance—all while struggling to carve out a place within the context of St. Louis history and culture. A generation of innovative artists—Julius Hemphill, Oliver Lake, and Emilio Cruz, to name but a few—created a moment of intense and vibrant cultural life in an abandoned industrial building on Washington Avenue, surrounded by the evisceration that typified that decade’s “urban crisis.” The 1960s upsurge in political art blurred the lines between political involvement and artistic production, and debates over civil rights, black nationalism, and the role of the arts in political and cultural struggles all found form in BAG. This book narrates the group’s development against the backdrop of St. Louis spaces and institutions, examines the work of its major artists, and follows its musicians to Paris and on to New York, where they played a dominant role in Lower Manhattan’s 1970s “loft jazz” scene. By fusing social concern and artistic innovation, the group significantly reshaped the St. Louis and, by extension, the American arts landscape.

“A captivating look at a group of artists working in various disciplines.”
—K. R. Dietrich in Choice Magazine
“Looker's book offers an intriguing account of a relatively obscure subject. A well researched and lively examination of another aspect of American and African American history.”
—Debi Hamlin, The Journal of Southern History

October 2004
344 pages, 38 ills., index
ISBN: 1-883982-51-0, $29.95, cloth

St. Louis Metromorphosis
Edited by Brady Baybeck and E. Terrence Jones

Moving from one century to the next is an appropriate time to reflect upon how past trends frame choices for the St. Louis region’s future. These discussions occur in many venues—governmental, corporate, and civic—but they can all be more richly informed by sophisticated analyses of what has been happening within the St. Louis metropolitan area during the past five decades across a range of issues. Twelve scholars examine issues such as population changes, the region’s occupational mix, minority business development, residential segregation, family structure, health trends, and educational equity in public schools. This book will help those in the St. Louis region understand the city’s past so that they can better prepare for its future. Published in partnership with the University of Missouri–St. Louis Public Policy Research Center.

July 2004
344 pages, 178 ills., index
ISBN: 1-883982-50-2, $22.95, paper