Missouri Books

This is the best book I have found on this topic. However, the interviews get a little boring. I actually never made it to the end of the book because it was getting redundant. I would like someone to write about this topic in a more narrative form.

If you are interested in Mexico, deeply interested, this is an important book by Elena Poniatowska, one of the country's most distinguished writers. Four decades later, in the midst of a bloody drug war rife with accusations of military human rights abuses, torture and assassinations, the questions surrounding the 1968 massacre at Tlatelolco persist.

This one has been out for a number of years and has been out of print for several of those years. This is a pitty. This is a wonderful collections of sketches by the author of various characters and travels through this interesting state. The author is a natural story teller and his descriptions of both the country and of the people he writes of are first rate. This is another of those "lost gems" that you can find in used book stores on on the bottom shelves of libraries. You need not live or have lived in the state of Missouri to enjoy this one. People are people and people are interesting. The author's take on these individuals and these places are most interesting. Recommend this one highly.

This is a hauntingly beautiful collection of real life vignettes recounting Kantor's memories, both good and bad, of times he spent over a period of several years in various parts of Missouri. From St. Joseph to Poplar Bluff, from St. Louis to Springfield, he paints a poignant word picture of this beautiful midwestern state--of scenery he's seen, of people he's met, of meals he's eaten, etc., all with a comfortable and "downhome" style that makes reading it a real pleasure. And though it's no doubt more memorable and meaningful to a past or present citizen of Missouri, I feel it would appeal to any reader who appreciates character studies and who doesn't mind laughing and/or shedding a tear(s), sometimes in the same chapter. As you progress through the book, you'll get to know "Mack" and his companion, wife "Irene," better and better until they seem like close friends, like you're sitting in front of a cozy, cheery fireplace, listening to him regale you with his/their real life adventures.

I have quite a collection of regional geologies. This volume is, by far, the best organized and complete one I've seen. If you have any interest in the geology of Missouri or the mid-continent area, I'd strongly recommend it.

I've always been interested in geology but never educated in it. I hung with geology types in the caving club at the University of Missouri-Rolla but was never able to understand the significance when they'd remark on the Roubidoux sandstone or Gasconade Dolomite. I have an old copy of Vinyard's "Geologic Wonders and Curiosities of Missouri" and was always teased by his mention of those and many other formations throughout that book.

He and Unklesbay makes up for it in this book! All the rocks in Missouri, from bottom to top, are given their due -- what they are and how they got here, and what they're good for. And without having to try too hard, I even managed to memorize all the basic geologic ages, eras, and epochs that had always muddled me.

This book shows its age in some ways, though I'm not qualified to judge how badly. I have read about interesting research into the Weaubleau and Crooked Creek structures identifying them as potential meteor strikes, e.g., whereas this book identifies them as explosive in orgin. In fairness, some of that research is very new, if I recall correctly.

The section about economically important geologic resources is all about numbers and recoverability without any thought given to the ecologic and cultural damage widespread mining can cause. But in fairness, that's not the aim or purpose of this book, and neither are those concerns overtly slighted. Keep in mind the age of this book, too, when reading about Missouri mining industries. The lead belt still produces, but the Pea Ridge iron mine has been shuttered, or so says my Internet research.

Okay, now that I've shown balance by pointing out some shortcomings, I can now highly recommend that you read this book if you're curious but uninformed about the mid-continent region geology. It is exactly the book I was looking for.

Phillips obviously researched his topic thoroughly and has great insight into Jackson and the reasons Missouri found its identity with the southern states.
Phillips weaves his story masterfully. Well done.

Driving in Jefferson City, Missouri a few years ago, I saw a man selling Confederate flags by the side of the road. In the St. Louis area, where I live, this man would probably have been beaten to within an inch of his life, but to most Missourians, St. Louis might as well be New York City. In out-state Missouri, publicly displaying a Confederate flag does not seem to be an unofficial felony.

Why? Why did a state which began life and perceived itself as Western become the most Confederate state in America(as some of us like to point out, WE didn't surrender until 1882, when Frank James turned himself in after Jesse's murder)? In this biography of Claiborne Jackson, the Missouri governor who tried to take his state out of the Union, Christopher Phillips argues that Missouri's transformation from Western to Southern basically boiled down to the protection of slavery. Central Missourians, the people around whom this book mostly revolves, did not see owning slaves as contrary to democracy but central to it. Their families had owned slaves since emigrating to the West from Kentucky or Virginia. Threats, or perceived threats, to slavery finally drove segments of Missouri's leadership to a full-fledged Southern identity and led to Missouri's exceptionally violent civil war, which in turn fueled Missouri's fierce postwar attachment to the Confederate States.

This is both a good biography of Jackson and a good study of antebellum Missouri. But I do have a few problems with it. Phillips spends the bulk of his time in the Boon's Lick(now called Little Dixie another result of the war)among the slaveholding aristocracy there. Natural, one assumes, because that's where Jackson was from, but the rest of the state is neglected. St. Louis is paid attention to, but other areas of the state, like the fiercely Unionist regions of the Ozarks, are barely mentioned. And once the war starts, Phillips seems in a hurry to wrap things up; I wish he'd spent more time on the war itself.

Nonetheless, if you're interested in antebellum American history, this book is well worth your time.

Epiphanies come hard. In Ruth Hamel's new book of 14 short stories, the reader meets a gaggle of neurotic thirty-and-forty-somethings who live in tight little mental cages, yet who are all yearning to break free. Few, however, are willing to give up the security of not knowing. In other words, they are ordinary people.
In the hands of a concept sculptor like Hamel, the stories engender pleasure through pain. "Kinded," for example, features two fortyish brothers who despise each other, competing even about their mutual inadequacies, negative memories, and social incompetencies. They reach an impasse on kvetching ghrough a stranger's act of kindess which results in the possibility, the mere possibility, of hope for a better future.
The narrator in the book's title story tells lies, ostensibly to soothe the hurts truth would bring. She is a furnitue refinisher who uses creative destruction to improve damaged goods. But her congenital "tact" is only a way of avoiding pain and, in the end, seems self-delusional. "Seems" is the operative verb for this author's work. Ambiguity is all.
Her stories are set in faceless high-rises, bedraggled factory towns, mildewed basements. They are filled with loathsome lovers, ex-drum majorettes, cast-off wives, nerds and George Costanzas. Hamel's world may even contain the sad truth, as one of the characters says, that life is content to let us pass unnoticed.
The epiphanies may be ambiguous. The pleasure of "My Favorite Lies" is not.

Sy Barasch

Ann Beattie, watch out: you've got some serious competition. With razor-sharp wit and not a word wasted, Ruth Hamel deftly captures the quirks of ordinary people and in so doing makes them extraordinary--and fascinating. The prose in "My Favorite Lies" is so deliciously, audaciously precise that it makes you want to shout, leap up, and find someone to read these stories to. A friend who admires Hamel's talent as much as I do said that after reading "My Favorite Lies," he found himself viewing the world through her lens. Succeeding in getting us to see in a new and different way: isn't that the definition of art? I'm eagerly awaiting more from this seriously gifted writer, and am shocked that a major publishing house hasn't yet grabbed her. Maybe they have by now--I hope so.

This book is a long read but I found it fascinating. It is pretty much the entire history of all horse breeds from prehistoric mans' relationship with horses to the present day, with an emphasis on the eventual development of the Foxtrotter breed.The author's research and knowledge of this subject are really impressive. In addition to the exhaustive historical information there is detailed information of personality, traits, and life history of all the founding horses of the Foxtrotter breed. If you are lucky enough to own a Foxtrotter you can not only find out who your horse is related to multiple generations back, but discover if they have inherited any of the traits of their forefathers, where their ancestors originated, who raised them, etc. I found out my ancient relatives in Scotland raised the ancestors of my horse! This book is expensive for a paperback, but if it is a subject dear to your heart it is worth every penny.

Wonderful book. Very little has been written about the MFT, so was excited to purchase a copy. Glad I did. Author has really researched and studied this breed of horse. I have not located another book quite as detailed or one that offers such good information regarding a fairly new breed. Well worth purchasing. It was amazing to see the history of all equines covered with such detail. Enjoyed seeing equines depicted in ancient artwork. A must for anyone who loves horses. By no means am I a history fan, and at times found the detailed work a little confusing, but enjoyed the depth of passion and conviction the author has in explaining the present breed.

A delightful collection of short stories in letter form; an anthology that makes sense, not an anthology that recycles old material. Gail Goodwin's letter story is particularly good.

This book is wonderful fun. The stories use the letter form in as astonishing variety of ways. Usually I read anthologies by dipping into them from time to time, but this one I read straight through for the incremental pleasure of discovering yet another ingenious manipulation of the form. Pool's brief introductory notes to each story are perfect, giving just enough to whet the appetite without giving anything away. A GREAT Christmas gift for any reader.

This is a great guide book for Arkansas and S. Missouri rivers. If you need information about a river in AR./Mo. then this is the book to start your research.

The venerable "blue book" of Ozark whitewater streams and paddling is as good a read as ever, and the information is still some of the best you'll find anywhere on the topic. This is *the* book that I always have in my shuttle vehicle. I have a nearly unrecognizable copy that has gone on a few too many adventures, and I bought a new second edition copy a while back and am in the process of wearing it out too. With the number of new paddlers in the area growing in leaps and bounds, this text provides an essential starting point for those wanting to explore the exciting whitewater of Arkansas and Missouri. Highly recommended!

I have the distinct impression that there are large and powerful forces in the United States who most definitely want to forget about, not know about, and or leave undocumented important cultural movements like the Black Artists Group documented in Benjamin Looker's book. If you watch the series on jazz that Ken Burnes did for PBS in the '90s, for example, you will be informed absolutely nothing, zero, zilch, about the extremely talented, re-structuralist (to use a term of Anthony Braxton's) musical artists (and forget about the poets, playwrights, dancers and visual artists)in this book.
In other words, ACCORDING TO MAINSTREAM USA MEDIA, THE PEOPLE IN THIS BOOK DO NOT EXIST AND NEVER EXISTED.
The extremely fertile cultural movement exemplified by BAG, which was inspired by the great creative music organization founded by Muhal Richard Abrams in the early 60's called the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, phenomenon of this type is IGNORED to an extent that is really CRIMINAL. And I am told by people involved in this music scene (which still exists and thrives despite the neglect) that PBS will fund, produce and/or broadcast a series on the AACM, BAG and other collectives like it probably around the same time that HELL FREEZES OVER. I have seen Laurence Welk reruns on PBS, and Ken Burnes pathetically mediocre jazz series. But the AACM and BAG.... oh, well, never mind.
If you have any interest in quality art that speaks to the human condition and creativity, music that can make you really think and feel, I strongly recommend that you buy this book. Please.
This is the book I was thinking about writing myself, but never even came close to getting around to doing it. My life is just to loony and disorganized I guess. Benjamin Looker actually makes extensive use of an interview I did with on the the BAG founding members, Floyd LeFlore, (who I have played many concerts with and who happens to be one of the best friends I ever had). Floyd and I actually perform 2 of his poems with music on an album of mine, Consonants and Dissonants (Vid Recordings) by David Parker. (It's not listed in the books discography because technically the album isn't LED by a BAG member.) You can find the CD if you search Cadence Magazine's website, as well as someday on my website if I ever get the Vid Recordings website back on line (what I wrote earlier about being hopelessly disorganized).
It occurs to me that Laclede Town, which is written about fairly extensively in Benjamin Lookers book, should be documented a lot more in books. It is a neighborhood, brimming with an idealistic vibe, that sprang up in st. Louis in the 60s, that no longer exists. yet another historic reality that the powers that be doesn't want you to know about. I lived there for maybe 5 or 6 years old, our house just a stone's throw
away from LaClede Town's Circle Coffee Shop and Bookstore, (although I had no interest whatsoever at the time in the music that Oliver Lake and Floyd LeFlore were playing there). I remember attending Berea Presbyterian Church. Actually I remember very little, other than a general, and to me very very important highly idealistic and loving vibe that I think the USA needs a lot more of. (I actually heard Oliver Lake say the same thing, more or less.) I hope someone writes a book about Laclede Town.
Is there anyone out there reading this who grew up and or remembers Laclede Town. You are more than welcome to write me (ranpar2000@yahoo.com). I would like to hear your memories.
Dominic Schaeffer (his family, in fact, is an interesting story) has a little article about Laclede Town on the internet, http://www.thecommonspace.org/2003/10/communities.php . Dominic endorses this book as well.
Oliver Lake, by the way, endorses this book on his website.

Oh to hell with it, let's just forget the past and become a bunch of mindless zombies repeating what they tell us on TV. Thinking creatively just takes too much effort.

David Parker

The Civil Rights Movement (and urban crisis) inspired African American artists to explore political and cultural issues through various experimental media including theater, visual arts, dance, poetry and jazz. As artists created collectives in major urban centers like Los Angeles, Chicago, Detroit and New York, this "Black Arts Movement" (BAM) flourished from the mid-1960's through the 1970's.

St. Louis was home to one such collective, the Black Artists' Group (BAG) from 1968 to 1972. BAG was not the best-known BAM collective, nor the longest lived. But a close examination of its intensely productive life is instructive as it uncovers the impact of racial dynamics, debates over civil rights, black nationalism, and the role of the arts in political and cultural struggles found any time social concern meets artistic innovation.

As the author states, "Although the critics' gaze has focused mostly on the coasts, a richer, more complex, and more problematic vision of the Black Arts Movement emerges when regional cooperatives such as BAG are brought back into the light." Consequently, the book is more than simply a role call of famous innovative artists nurtured by BAG (Julius Hemphill, Oliver Lake, and Emilio Cruz, to name but a few) as the author explores issues of controversy such as the recruitment of funding from white liberal sources...crucial to both BAG's founding and ultimately, its dissolution. But dissolution was simply another beginning as members moved on to play dominant roles in other spaces, both in the US and abroad.

The book is thoroughly researched and documented; the author conducted over 50 interviews with BAG artists and others, transcripts of which now reside at the Missouri Historical Society (when permitted by the interviewee.) I appreciated Looker's clear and concise style - his prose flows naturally and is a joy to read. I would have liked more images of visual arts, but this is a minor criticism and perhaps not even a fair one, since I've no idea of what's available. Additional resources include a discography of recordings led by BAG performers, 1970-73.

Highly recommended to anyone interested in the Black Arts Movement.

This is a most accurate account of daily living in a small Iowa town. The subtlety of the author's descriptions can only be fully appreciated by one who has grown up in that environment. Bauer makes no apologies for the foibles of the townspeople, but neither does he seem to satirize them. His insight into the people of Prairie City adds a natural warmth without lathering up with any undue sentimentality.

I would recommend this to anyone who has an interest in small towns in the Midwest - and what makes them tick.

Enjoyed his slice-of-life descriptions of people he spent time with. At first I was puzzle at the choices of characters, all men (incuding his father)and mainly those who did manual labor. Where was the rest of the town? Then I realized that he examining the people that he (and me) had least understood growing up.