Initially looking at the title I thought the author was exaggerating how central STL was to American History but by the end of it I could see why he would say that. The city lies at the confluence of Mississippi and Missouri.
STL was the HQ for the famous Lewis & Clark expedition who was tasked in exploring the flora and fauna and assess the land further to the West, and also establishing it as a major trade hub for fur trade. The city was a pioneer in lots of activities in the past, and also has a very complicated history - violence, removal and genocide and expropriation and control of land.
The city incidentally also was at the center of Dred Scott decision, and was of strategic importance during the Civil War and was also one that had the first General Strike in the country.
The author introduced me to a new term, which he at many places emphasizes and shares evidence of- the phenomenon of "racial capitalism" - process of extracting social and economic value from a person of a different racial identity. How this has been a consistent manifestation in the city and its adjacent counties for over a couple of hundred years. It has some heavy sections on episodes where even government agencies (Federal Housing Agency) encouraged segregation in neighborhoods basically making it a federally sanctioned segregation policy long after it had been termed illegal, how in the present day tax incentives are being used to used invite economic development only to small tracts rather than the whole town and poor homeowners are evicted for being unable to pay taxes while commercial properties are tax-exempt due to "redevelopment laws". Not surprising to know but still makes one upset.
Also, the book also has uncomfortable portions describing the plight of Native Americans - how they had been lied to, cheated out, dominated and in many instances literally butchered by disproportionate force.
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Some notes -
- The book tells about a few instances where the Native Indians came out with a white flag (a universal sign of truce) but it was ignored and the fighting continued. Seems to be true on researching on the internet.
- The author lays out reasons how there was a certain degree of class conflict at play even before the Civil War. Those not holding slaves felt marginalized by those who did and actually felt threatened by the accomplishments of the few free "colored" people.
- Even immigrants from Europe who settled in the region faced hostility from the natives.
- Many European origin immigrants (Germans specially) were sympathetic to slaves and wanted to give them more rights but there was an unspoken fear in terms of work/labor that the city might become an attractive destination then.
- Somehow, even during the struggle for workers rights when Unions were prevalent - it is remarkable that people of color weren't allowed entry in them.
- There was some hope that in the period of Reconstruction - lots of legislations would be passed to help the now free but the narrative shifted to "freedom" to own property and continue doing whatever and the momentum was lost.
Tl;dr of the reconstruction period. - John Fremont (many places named after him) has a very checkered record.
