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Wednesday, March 28, 7pm
Left Bank Books

Left Bank Books presents a local history showcase with Arcadia Press authors Vicki Berger Erwin & Bryan Erwin (Slaying in South St. Louis), Paul Kirkman (Missouri Outlaws), Jeremy Paul Amick (Missouri Veterans), Valerie Battle Kienzle (Lost St. Louis), and Joseph McCoskrie & Brian Warren (The Civil War Missouri Compendium)!

On a crisp December day in 1963, Nancy Zanone left her young son and daughter playing in the backyard while she went inside to check the laundry. She never came back. A troubled teen prowling for unlocked doors along Chippewa in South St. Louis surprised her in the kitchen and stabbed her to death. Despite Joseph Arbeiter's confession and hard evidence, he was freed on a technicality. In response, Zanone's family fought to change how juvenile murderers are tried in the state of Missouri. Slaying in South St. Louis investigates the senseless tragedy and the family's quest for justice.

Whether seen as a common criminal or Robin Hood with a six-shooter, the Missouri outlaw left an indelible mark on American culture. In the nineteenth century, Missouri was known as the “Outlaw State” and offered a list of lawbreakers like Jesse James, Bloody Bill Anderson, Belle Starr and Cole Younger. These notorious criminals became folk legends in countless books, movies and television shows. Missouri Outlaws traces the succession of Missouri's first few generations and how each contributed to the making of some of the most notorious outlaws and lawmen in American history.

The legacy of Missouri veterans stretches forth from the Revolutionary War service of frontiersman Daniel Boone to William Clark, of the famed Lewis and Clark Expedition. Famed generals, such as William Tecumseh Sherman, chose the state as their final resting site following their dedicated service to the Union during the Civil War. It is a tradition emphasized by the military service of a future president, Harry S. Truman, who enlisted to serve his nation as an artillery officer in the First World War. Found in Missouri Veterans are the images that demonstrate many of the memorials and monuments situated throughout Missouri, highlighting the plentiful and impressive military legacy of the Show-Me State.

St. Louis has been a shining beacon on the shores of the Mississippi River for more than 250 years, and many iconic landmarks have come and gone. The city hosted the World's Fair in 1904, with beautiful acres of buildings, gardens and fountains, nearly all of which are lost to time. Busch Stadium now sits on an area that was once a vibrant community for Chinese immigrants. St. Louis Jockey Club was an expansive and popular gathering spot in the late 19th century until the state outlawed gambling. The Lion Gas Building was home to a unique mural featuring more than seventy shades of gray in tribute to famed aviator Charles Lindbergh. Lost St. Louis details the fantastic forgotten landmarks of St. Louis.

During the Civil War, only Virginia and Tennessee saw more action than Missouri. Ulysses S. Grant first proved his ability there. Sterling Price, a former governor of Missouri, sided with the Confederacy, raised an army and led it in battle all over the state. Notorious guerrilla warriors “Bloody” Bill Anderson and William Quantrill terrorized communities and confounded Union military commanders. The Civil War Missouri Compendium provides a chronological overview of more than three hundred of the documented engagements that took place within Missouri's borders, furnishing photos, maps, biographical sketches and military tactics.

This event is free and open to the public, but proof of purchase of one of the featured Arcadia titles from Left Bank Books will be required to enter the signing line. 

Tuesday, March 20, 7pm
Left Bank Books

Left Bank Books welcomes acclaimed memoirist Brian Castner, who will sign and discuss his new book, Disappointment River: Finding and Losing the Northwest Passage!

In 1789, Alexander Mackenzie traveled 1200 miles on the immense river in Canada that now bears his name, in search of the fabled Northwest Passage that had eluded mariners for hundreds of years. In 2016, the acclaimed memoirist Brian Castner retraced Mackenzie’s route by canoe in a grueling journey—and discovered the Passage he could not find while battling exhaustion, exposure, mosquitoes, white water rapids and the threat of bears. Disappointment River is a dual historical narrative and travel memoir that at once transports readers back to the heroic age of North American exploration and places them in a still rugged but increasingly fragile Arctic wilderness in the process of profound alteration by the dual forces of globalization and climate change.

“Whether recounting the historic search for the Northwest Passage or his own epic journey on the Mackenzie River, Castner is an able guide, a steady hand, a voice of reason. You’ll want to sit in his canoe and ride this out." —Dean King, Skeletons on the Zahara

This event is free and open to the public, but proof of purchase of Disappointment River from Left Bank Books will be required to enter the signing line.

Parking: Lot one block north; street parking (meters free after 7pm). For directions and public transportation information, click here.

Thursday, February 22, 7pm
Left Bank Books

Left Bank Books welcomes attorney and author Jeffrey Haas, who will sign and discuss his book, The Assassination of Fred Hampton: How the FBI and the Chicago Police Murdered a Black Panther!

It’s around 7am on December 4, 1969, and attorney Jeff Haas is in a police lockup in Chicago, interviewing Fred Hampton’s fiancée. She is describing how the police pulled her from the room as Fred lay unconscious on their bed. She heard one officer say, “He’s still alive.” She then heard two shots. A second officer said, “He’s good and dead now.” She looks at Jeff and asks, “What can you do?” The Assassination of Fred Hampton is Haas’s personal account of how he and People’s Law Office partner Flint Taylor pursued Hampton’s assassins, ultimately prevailing over unlimited government resources and FBI conspiracy.

"An extraordinary retelling of a shameful chapter in our history . . . [A] cautionary tale, as well as a story of heroism." —Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow

This event is free and open to the public, but proof of purchase of The Assassination of Fred Hampton from Left Bank Books will be required to enter the signing line. 

Parking: Lot one block north; street parking (meters free after 7pm). For directions and public transportation information, click here.