11 St. Louis-based books to put on your 2022 list
The best part of my job is that I get to read, a lot. If a St. Louis author has a new book out — or even if a non-St. Louis author’s new book so much as touches on the city — it almost always ends up in my mailbox. And then, get this: I get paid to read it.
Now, the dirty little secret of publishing (and academia) in 2021 is that a whole lot of books aren’t very good, and I consider it my duty to be a little bit picky. If I’m not hooked after the first chapter, I doubt you’ll be, either. Most of you do not get paid to read this stuff. Why push something that isn’t worth your time?
Even with that high standard, we featured more than 20 books with a strong local connection on St. Louis on the Air this past year. The 11 that follow were my favorites. I hope you’ll find a book or two for your reading list this January.
1. First to Fall
Former L.A. Times reporter Ken Ellingwood brought a journalist’s sense of pacing and suspense to this compulsively readable biography of Elijah Lovejoy, the first American journalist to be slain for his work. Neither St. Louis nor Alton comes out looking good here, as rabid defenders of slavery chased the preacher/publisher from one city and killed him in the next. But Lovejoy? He’s a hero for the ages.
https://news.stlpublicradio.org/show/st-louis-on-the-air/2021-12-27/11-st-louis-based-books-to-put-on-your-2022-list
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