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The Broken Heart of America: St. Louis and the Violent History of the United States
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About This Book
A searing portrait of the racial dynamics that lie inescapably at the heart of our nation, told through the turbulent history 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.
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Reviews
"a striking illustration of the connections of militarism and racism."
"Louis has been the crucible of American history,' and his celebration of the city's defiant black culture heightens the book's potency."
"the author also exposes plenty of unsavory characters who will be unknown to readers without a familiarity with St."
"A key strength of Johnson's work is his reminder that even as the Great Compromise of 1877 brought Reconstruction to a formal end in the South, class conflict threatened to tear the nation apart again—and as was the case in the Civil War era, St."
"He vividly describes...neighborhoods, personalities, and historical conflicts while emphasizing how segregation, disinvestment, and race-based economic extraction eventually set the stage for Ferguson ..."
"But the story he's telling has so many elements that it makes sense he would immerse himself in the intricacies of tax increment financing and municipal bond debt."
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