Our Missouri

In honor of the state's 200th birthday, Our Missouri will feature a series throughout 2021 entitled "Bicentennial Book Club," which highlights influential books related to Missouri and examines how scholars, historians, and authors dissect major topics in the state's history. So, join the "Book Club" to hear about award-winning publications that detail the state's diverse history, as well as the stories behind the stories featured within their pages. This episode features a conversation with Caroline Fraser about her Pulitzer Prize-winning book, "Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder." Episode Image: Wilder Museum in Mansfield, Missouri, date unknown [Wilder Family Photographs (P0294), SHSMO] About the Guest: Caroline Fraser holds a PhD in English and American Literature from Harvard University. She is the author of "God's Perfect Child: Living and Dying in the Christian Science Church" and "Rewilding the World: Dispatches from the Conservation Revolution." Additionally, she served as editor of the Library of America edition of Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House books. Her work has also appeared in the New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, and Outside Magazine, among others. Her most recent book, "Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder," won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography, Plutarch Award, and the Pulitzer Prize in Biography.

In honor of the state's 200th birthday, Our Missouri will feature a series throughout 2021 entitled "Bicentennial Book Club," which highlights influential books related to Missouri and examines how scholars, historians, and authors dissect major topics in the state's history. So, join the "Book Club" to hear about award-winning publications that detail the state's diverse history, as well as the stories behind the stories featured within their pages. This episode features a conversation with Melton McLaurin about the 30th anniversary of his book, "Celia, A Slave." Episode Image: Callaway County Courthouse and public square, Fulton, Missouri, ca. 1895 [Gary Woolfolk Photograph Collection (P0880), SHSMO] About the Guest: Melton McLaurin holds a PhD in history from University of South Carolina. Presently, he is Professor Emeritus of History at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington. He is the author of several books, including "Celia, A Slave;" "Separate Pasts: Growing Up White in the Segregated South;" and "The Marines of Montford Point: America's First Black Marines."

In honor of the state's 200th birthday, Our Missouri will feature a series throughout 2021 entitled "Bicentennial Book Club," which highlights influential books related to Missouri and examines how scholars, historians, and authors dissect major topics in the state's history. So, join the "Book Club" to hear about award-winning publications that detail the state's diverse history, as well as the stories behind the stories featured within their pages. This episode features a conversation with Stephen Aron about his award-winning book, "American Confluence: The Missouri Frontier from Borderland to Border State." Episode Image: Missouri River Sunset, ca. 1903 [Maximilian E. Schmidt Photographs (P0001), SHSMO] About the Guest: Stephen Aron holds a PhD in history from University of California-Berkeley. Presently, he is a Professor of History at UCLA. In July 2021, he will become President and CEO of the Autry Museum of the American West. He is the author of "American Confluence: The Missouri Frontier from Borderland to Border State;" "How the West Was Lost: The Transformation of Kentucky from Daniel Boone to Henry Clay;" and "The American West: A Very Short Introduction." He is also co-author of "Worlds Together, Worlds Apart: A History of the World from the Beginnings of Humankind to the Present," and co-editor of "Trading Cultures: The Worlds of Western Merchants."

In honor of the state's 200th birthday, Our Missouri will feature a series throughout 2021 entitled "Bicentennial Book Club," which highlights influential books related to Missouri and examines how scholars, historians, and authors dissect major topics in the state's history. So, join the "Book Club" to hear about award-winning publications that detail the state's diverse history, as well as the stories behind the stories featured within their pages. In this episode, Joel P. Rhodes discusses his book, "A Missouri Railroad Pioneer," and offers a historiographical perspective on Louis Houck's writings on early Missouri. Episode Image: H. D. Williams Cooperage Company, Poplar Bluff, Missouri, ca. 1903 [State of Missouri Collection (P0018), SHSMO] About the Guest: Joel P. Rhodes holds a PhD in History from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Presently, he serves as a professor of history at Southeast Missouri State University. He is the author of "The Sixties in the Lives of American Children: Growing Up in a Land Called Honalee," "The Voice of Violence: Performative Violence as Protest in the Vietnam Era," and "A Missouri Railroad Pioneer: the Life of Louis Houck."

In honor of the state's 200th birthday, Our Missouri will feature a series throughout 2021 entitled "Bicentennial Book Club," which highlights influential books related to Missouri and examines how scholars, historians, and authors dissect major topics in the state's history. So, join the "Book Club" to hear about award-winning publications that detail the state's diverse history, as well as the stories behind the stories featured within their pages. In this episode, Joseph M. Beilein, Jr. returns to talk about the historiographical legacy of Michael Fellman's "Inside War: The Guerrilla Conflict in Missouri During the American Civil War," which was originally published in 1989. Episode Image: Quantrill’s Raiders Reunion, date unknown [B. James George Sr. Photograph Collection (P0010), SHSMO] About the Guest: Joseph M. Beilein Jr. holds a PhD in History from the University of Missouri. Presently, he serves as an associate professor of history at Penn State-Erie, The Behrend College. He is the author of "Bushwhackers: Guerrilla Warfare, Manhood, and the Household in Civil War Missouri," the editor of "William Gregg's Civil War: The Battle to Shape the History of Guerrilla Warfare" and the co-editor of "The Civil War Guerrilla: Unfolding the Black Flag in History, Memory, and Myth."

In honor of the state's 200th birthday, Our Missouri will feature a series throughout 2021 entitled "Bicentennial Book Club," which highlights influential books related to Missouri and examines how scholars, historians, and authors dissect major topics in the state's history. So, join the "Book Club" to hear about award-winning publications that detail the state's diverse history, as well as the stories behind the stories featured within their pages. In this episode, Louis Gerteis discusses his scholarship on Civil War Missouri and reflects on the legacy of colleague and friend James Neal Primm. Episode Image: Paw Paw Militia in St. Joseph, Missouri, 1862 [North Todd Gentry Photograph Collection (P0166), SHSMO] About the Guest: Louis Gerteis holds a PhD in History from the University of Wisconsin. He is professor emeritus of history at the University of Missouri–St. Louis. He is the author of several books, including "Civil War St. Louis" and "The Civil War in Missouri: A Military History."