St. Louis’s “Satellite Cities”
Excerpted from my book-in-progress, provisionally titled Aliens in the Crucible: St. Louis, Xenophobia, and a 1908 Immigrant Suicide. The book examines the political and cultural effects of turn-of-the-century xenophobia in a city that Walter Johnson calls “the crucible of American history.” In addition to swelling the populations of…
Keep readingNews Article About the Book
Regan Mertz at KCRG in Columbia has written an excellent article about The Names of John Gergen. I appreciate the article’s detail and accuracy. https://krcgtv.com/news/local/author-found-100-year-old-schoolwork-turned-book-spoke-historical-society-benjamin-moore-john-gergen-hungary-germany-st-louis-missouri-biography-history-world-war-one-social-20th-century-america-immigration-midwest-industrialization-factories-book-award
Keep readingNew Review of The Names of John Gergen
I’m very appreciative of Andrew Klumpp’s insightful review of The Names of John Gergen. It appeared last month in Middle West Review. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/882947
Keep readingBook Award and Review
It was a good weekend for The Names of John Gergen. On Saturday, in Columbia, Missouri, it received the 2022 Book Award from the State Historical Society of Missouri. I was thrilled, all the more so because last year’s recipient was the renowned Broken Heart of America. To…
Keep readingEnumerating St. Louis’s Donauschwaben Community
Purpose. The spreadsheet linked below is part of my ongoing effort to enumerate the Donauschwaben (or Danube Swabians) living in St. Louis in the twentieth century—and, equally important, to show the relationships between them. Each person listed on the spreadsheet is immediately related to at least one other…
Keep readingAn Alternative Ending
An earlier draft of The Names of John Gergen included an epilogue that I deleted before submitting the typescript for consideration. The epilogue is essentially a meditation on the other artifacts that I found in the dumpster the day after I retrieved John’s schoolwork. I have posted it…
Keep readingThe Power Behind the Maps
“In April, May, and June [1917], officials enacted a federal order barring unnaturalized Germans from coming within a half mile of any defense- related establishments. The political geography of St. Louis suddenly changed when, on April 20, the district attorney issued maps of St. Louis featuring mile- wide…
Keep readingMore About Dumpster Diving
Alleys have provided me with so much–the schoolwork that led me to John Gergen and a habit of collecting that is paradoxically about the passing of all things. Thanks to Lyla Turner for making this video.
Keep readingBook Talk with University of Missouri Libraries
My sincere thanks to staff the University of Missouri Press and the University of Missouri Libraries for arranging this talk.
Keep readingThe Cost of a Park
In 1909, the City of St. Louis razed two blocks of buildings in Soulard to make way for Soulard Place, also known as the Soulard Park and Soulard Playground. Located immediately south of the Soulard Market, near Soulard’s most densely populated blocks, the new 1.9-acre park provided much-needed…
Keep readingReview in St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Very appreciative of the review of my book in the Post-Dispatch. It’s by Dale Singer and captures what I believe is most important about the book. https://www.stltoday.com/entertainment/books-and-literature/reviews/trashed-century-old-papers-lead-to-story-of-an-immigrant-in-st-louis/article_4c71c820-c545-5338-9574-50fc51d272ee.html “From 124 brittle pages of schoolboy scrawl found in a dumpster in south St. Louis, Benjamin Moore has painstakingly reconstructed a…
Keep readingReview in St. Louis Magazine
I really appreciate this review by Chris Naffziger, who gave it a lot of time and thought. https://www.stlmag.com/history/the-names-of-john-gergen/ “A compelling new book from the University of Missouri Press is shedding light on the immigrant experience in St. Louis. The Names of John Gergen, written by Professor Emeritus Benjamin Moore…
Keep readingWhat Really Happened to the Original Soulard Market Hall?
Among St. Louis’s historians and preservationists, the story is well-known. Late in the afternoon of May 27, 1896, the skies above St. Louis darkened dramatically. At around 6:00 p.m., one of the deadliest tornadoes in history touched down just west of Grand Avenue. As it swept eastward towards…
Keep readingImmigrants’ Resistance to English in Soulard
In our own era, recent immigrants and refugees sometimes endure unfavorable comparisons to earlier immigrants, including those who migrated from southeastern Europe to Soulard in the early 1900s. Back then, it is sometimes claimed, immigrants embraced their new homes while eagerly seeking to become English-speaking Americans. Now, so…
Keep readingBook Discussion at Left Bank Books
The video of the book discussion at Left Bank Books is now available.
Keep readingApril 20 Online Event at Left Bank Books
Very much looking forward to an online book discussion at Left Bank Books. Kasi Williamson, Associate Dean for Arts and Sciences at Fontbonne University, will be joining me. For more information, visit their webpage and Facebook page for the event.
Keep readingJohn Gergen’s Family Tree
The Names of John Gergen is a social history and biography, not a work of genealogy. Still, family relationships were important to the formation of John’s identity and the cohesion of the Banat Swabian community that he was a part of. I have linked below a genealogical chart…
Keep readingUpdate on Release of Book
A preview of The Names of John Gergen is now available here on Google Books. The official release date was delayed a little by the pandemic and by the bad weather in February. It will now ship on March 12. Also, until August 30, the University of Missouri…
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Immigrant Identities in St. Louis, 1903-1935 