Fire,
Pestilence, and Death: St. Louis, 1849 by Christopher Alan Gordon
A harrowing look at St. Louis and the terrible, horrible, no good, very
bad…(sorry) year of 1849 in which a cholera epidemic strikes the city and then
a massive fire destroys most of the riverfront city.
(280 pages)
The Edge of Anarchy: The Railroad Barons, the Gilded Age, and
the Greatest Labor Uprising in America by Jack Kelly
The American Railway strike against the Pullman Company and the harsh
backlash by the owners. A story of how this strike failed to achieve its goals,
but set the stage for labor gains that came afterwards.
(320 pages)
Island of Vice: Theodore Roosevelt's Quest to Clean Up Sin-Loving New York by Richard Zacks
A book about Teddy Roosevelt and his band of morality police who went out into the night (literally) to crack down on NY’ers drunkenness, prostitution, and gambling. Also shows his battles against political and police corruption in the city and the society’s attempts to get people to enjoy more “wholesome” entertainment at home.
(464 pages)
Read by Tim Emmel