Come and join us in the always-hospitable surroundings of Twain Bar and BBQ on the first floor of the Tiger Hotel for an informal book discussion (with alcohol!) about a notable book with links to the Show-Me State. While we usually focus on poetry and novels, this season we’re going to be reading more nonfiction books, starting with The Broken Heart of America by Walter Johnson in September. Walter attended the online version of the Unbound Book Festival in 2022 and those of you who saw that conversation will know what a gripping book this is. (Walter’s conversation with Sarah Kendzior is available to watch here.)

A searing and "magisterial" (Cornel West) history of American racial exploitation and resistance, told through the turbulent past of the city of St. Louis.

From Lewis and Clark's 1804 expedition to the 2014 uprising in Ferguson, American history has been made in St. Louis. And as Walter Johnson shows in this searing book, the city exemplifies how imperialism, racism, and capitalism have persistently entwined to corrupt the nation's past. 

St. Louis was a staging post for Indian removal and imperial expansion, and its wealth grew on the backs of its poor black residents, from slavery through redlining and urban renewal. But it was once also America's most radical city, home to anti-capitalist immigrants, the Civil War's first general emancipation, and the nation's first general strike—a legacy of resistance that endures. 

A blistering history of a city's rise and decline, The Broken Heart of America will forever change how we think about the United States.