Missouri

Name: St. Louis Jazz
Brand: Dennis C. Owsley
SKU: 9781467141741
Price: 21.99 USD
Availability: InStock

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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St. Louis Jazz

$21.99

The West Plains Dance Hall Explosion

$21.99

The Waldo Story: The Home of Friendly Merchants

$21.99

The Battle of Carthage

$17.95

Nodaway County

$24.99 $17.49 Save 30%

African Americans in Mid-Missouri

$21.99

Ghosts of St. Charles

$21.99

Southwest Garden

$24.99 $17.49 Save 30%

Wise Animal Handbook Missouri, The

$16.99

Harzfeld's

$21.99

The Golden Lane: How Missouri Women Gained the Vote and Changed History

$21.99

Live! At the Ozark Opry

$21.99

St. Louis Garden District

$24.99 $17.49 Save 30%

Bald Knobbers

$16.95

Gay and Lesbian St. Louis

$24.99 $17.49 Save 30%

Monett

$24.99 $17.49 Save 30%

Lafayette Square, St. Louis

$24.99 $17.49 Save 30%

Growing Up Greek in St. Louis

$24.99

Brentwood, Missouri

$24.99 $17.49 Save 30%

University City, Missouri

$24.99 $17.49 Save 30%

Murder & Mayhem in Missouri

$21.99

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St. Louis Jazz

9781467141741

$21.99

In the early twentieth century, St. Louis was a hotbed for ragtime and blues, both roots of jazz music. In 1914, Jelly Roll Morton brought his music to the area. In 1919, Louis Armstrong came to town to play on the "floating conservatories" that plied the Mississippi. Miles Davis, the most famous of the city's jazz natives, changed the course of the genre four different times throughout a world-renowned career. The Black Artists Group of the 1970s was one of the first to bring world music practices into jazz. Author Dennis C. Owsley chronicles the ways both local and national St. Louis musicians have contributed to the city and to the world of music.

The West Plains Dance Hall Explosion

9781609491161

$21.99

The 1928 explosion that transformed a West Plains dance hall into a raging inferno sparked feverish national media attention and decades of bitterness in the Missouri town it tore apart. And while the story inspired a popular country song, the firestorm that claimed thirty-nine lives remains an unsolved mystery. In this first book on the notorious catastrophe, Lin Waterhouse presents a clear account of the event and its aftermath that judiciously weighs conflicting testimony and deeply respects the personal anguish experienced by parents forced to identify their children by their clothing and personal trinkets.

The Waldo Story: The Home of Friendly Merchants

9781609494728

$21.99

The quaint and quirky corner of Kansas City known as Waldo has earned its reputation the hard way through good times and bad since 1841. From its early days as a way station on the Santa Fe Trail, through the dark times in the path of a civil war, from the railroad boom to the Great Depression and right on into the challenges of the modern community, the merchants of in Waldo have played a unique and fascinating role in rooting and nurturing this special, yet very familiar place. Their stories the people, the landmarks, and the special times together make the Waldo Story.

Nodaway County

9780738552217

$24.99 $17.49 Save 30%

One of six counties carved out of the Platte Purchase, added to Missouri in 1836, Nodaway County appeared to its first white explorers to be a rolling prairie, marginal for agriculture but full of opportunity for those willing to bring hard work and ingenuity to the land. Within a generation of building cabins and experimenting with a wide variety of agricultural enterprises, the county boasted at least 17 towns, four railroad lines, 16 newspapers, and all the economic and cultural institutions necessary for boosters to lay claim to progress and civility. While residents of towns and the countryside often drew distinctions between one another, their lives were intertwined by mills, horse farms, livestock shows, new technology, churches, schools, public entertainment of every sort, and occasional times of hardship. By the 1920s, the communities of Nodaway County, supported by a vibrant and diverse rural economy, reached a zenith of locally generated economic growth and community activity, captured artfully by photographers during the decades that bracketed the turn of the 20th century.

African Americans in Mid-Missouri

9781596296091

$21.99

Brought to Mid-Missouri to serve as slaves but rising up to proudly serve the community as leaders, African Americans have made an indelible contribution to the region. Join historian Rose M. Nolen for the story of some of the most remarkable characters and institutions to come out of Columbia and Sedalia. Allow yourself to be drawn in by authors like Chester Himes and ragtime legends like Scott Joplin and to be inspired by educators like C.C. Hubbard and innovators like Tom Bass. Or link arms with some George R. Smith alumni and let loose a rousing rendition of the college yell from one of the best schools on the prairie.

Ghosts of St. Charles

9781609490195

$21.99

St. Charles is the second-oldest city in Missouri and one of the oldest cities in the United States. For most of its history, it could have been featured in any bad western movie, with a legacy of street shootings and lynch mobs. When you sit on the banks of the Missouri River, it does not take much of an imagination to see, feel and perhaps even smell the ghosts lingering there. The scoundrels, the criminals and the victims of traumatic events are the spirits that cannot rest. Join Michael Henry for some of their stories as he keeps vigil with representatives of the city's restless past, from the lost dogs of the Lewis and Clark Expedition to the mysterious Lady in White.

Southwest Garden

9780738561851

$24.99 $17.49 Save 30%

The Southwest Garden neighborhood borders two internationally known St. Louis landmarks, the Missouri Botanical Garden, founded in 1859, and Tower Grove Park, established in 1868. The land for both the garden and the park was donated by their founder, Henry Shaw, a botanist and philanthropist. Both destinations are designated as national historic landmarks--the garden is one of the oldest in the United States, and the park shares the honor of being on the National Register of Historic Places with only three other municipal parks in the nation. The botanical garden is the best place to start a historical walking tour of the Southwest Garden neighborhood.

Harzfeld's

9781596297333

$21.99

In 1891, Siegmund Harzfeld and the Parisian Cloak Company introduced a new era of commerce and fashion to the residents of Kansas City. Women no longer needed to make lengthy and expensive appointments with dressmakers to maintain the latest fashion trends; the ready-to-wear movement had begun!
Join historians Joe and Michele Boeckholt as they uncover the story behind Harzfeld's department store, from its first offering of coats, blouses, petticoats, and furs to the beloved Petticoat Lane flagship location and regional network of satellite stores. With archival photographs and memorabilia, personal narratives and interviews, and a wealth of local and historical knowledge, the history of this local landmark franchise is revealed, one seam at a time.

The Golden Lane: How Missouri Women Gained the Vote and Changed History

9781609490133

$21.99

It was June 14, 1916, a warm, sticky Wednesday morning. The Democratic Convention would soon meet in St. Louis. Inside the Jefferson Hotel, the men ate breakfast and met with their committees. Outside the hotel, thousands of women quietly took their places along both sides of Locust Street. They stood shoulder to shoulder, each one in a dress that brushed the pavement, shading herself with a yellow parasol and wearing a yellow sash that said Votes for Women."? The all-male delegations may not have had a comfortable walk down the Golden Lane, but they were moved to add women's suffrage to the national platform. Join Margot McMillen for an accessible history of a privilege too often taken for granted."

Live! At the Ozark Opry

9781596290983

$21.99

In the Ozarks, music frames everything. The Ozark Opry was a focal point of that cultural tradition for over fifty years, playing to sold-out audiences and influencing the course of the American entertainment industry in vital ways hitherto untold. This behind-the-scenes story of Lee and Joyce Mace's incredible venture by historian and former Opry performer Dan William Peek reawakens the foot tapping and fiddle scraping still clinging to the shores of the Lake of the Ozarks. This story also spotlights some of the most fascinating characters of the times, the Nashville stars, Chuck Foster, the Mabe Brothers, Albert Gannaway, Seymour Weiss, Scott O. Wright, Sarah Gertrude Knott and Cyrus Crane Willmore.

St. Louis Garden District

9780738532592

$24.99 $17.49 Save 30%

Found near the famed Missouri Botanical Garden, also known as Shaw's Garden, the Garden District of St. Louis encompasses the present-day environs of Compton Hill, Oak Hill, Compton Heights, Compton Hill Reservoir Square, Tower Grove East, Tower Grove Heights, and the Shaw neighborhood. Henry Shaw was one of St. Louis' most prominent landowners in the mid-nineteenth century and is directly responsible for the Botanical Garden and Tower Grove Park. These, along with his other contributions, helped the Garden District flourish, and it continues to attract visitors year in and year out. The images in this book will take you on a tour of the beauty and history of the St. Louis Garden District.

Gay and Lesbian St. Louis

9781467115926

$24.99 $17.49 Save 30%

In the late 19th century, St. Louis--America's fourth-largest city--was a hub of robust commerce and risqué entertainment. It provided an oasis for those who lived "in the shadows." Since 1764, the Gateway to the West's LGBT community has experienced countless struggles and successes, including protests, arrests, murders, celebrations, and parades. St. Louis had its own version of Stonewall in October 1969 and is the hometown of icons such as Tennessee Williams and Josephine Baker. A colorful array of activists, drag queens, leather men, artists, academics, business leaders, and everyday folks have contributed to the rich fabric of the lesbian and gay community in St. Louis.

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.

Growing Up Greek in St. Louis

9780738519562

$24.99

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.

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.

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.

Murder & Mayhem in Missouri

9781626190337

$21.99

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.