Every era tends to think theirs is the most difficult, amazing, or inexplicable time period, but historians would remind us that this assumption is the folly of myopic thinking. The same can be said for the past century on Cherokee Street.
St. Louis’s Veiled Prophet Organization (VPO), with its historic roots in both Irish poetry and the Civil War Confederacy, is a case study in how past contexts inform present-day understanding.
By the time my family moved into Pruitt-Igoe about 10 years after its opening, I had no idea the “solution” had already morphed into a nightmare.
St. Louis and Empire shows how the city became a victim of its own success, and why It is vital that the region pursue its agenda abroad, while attending to vital affairs at home.