"Reviews the history of various aspects of planning in St. Louis City and County and provides insight into planning successes and challenges"--Provided by publisher.

The 2014 killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, ignited nationwide protests and brought widespread attention police brutality and institutional racism. But Ferguson was no aberration. As Colin Gordon shows in this urgent and timely book, the events in Ferguson exposed not only the deep racism of the local police department but also the ways in which decades of public policy effectively segregated people and curtailed citizenship not just in Ferguson but across the St. Louis suburbs. Citizen Brown uncovers half a century of private practices and public policies that resulted in bitter inequality and sustained segregation in Ferguson and beyond. Gordon shows how municipal and school district boundaries were pointedly drawn to contain or exclude African Americans and how local policies and services—especially policing, education, and urban renewal—were weaponized to maintain civic separation. He also makes it clear that the outcry that arose in Ferguson was no impulsive outburst but rather an explosion of pent-up rage against long-standing systems of segregation and inequality—of which a police force that viewed citizens not as subjects to serve and protect but as sources of revenue was only the most immediate example. Worse, Citizen Brown illustrates the fact that though the greater St. Louis area provides some extraordinarily clear examples of fraught racial dynamics, in this it is hardly alone among American cities and regions. Interactive maps and other companion resources to Citizen Brown are available at the book website.

African Americans have been part of the story of St. Louis since the city's founding in 1764. Unfortunately, most histories of the city have overlooked or ignored their vital role, allowing their influence and accomplishments to go unrecorded or uncollected; that is, until the publication of Discovering African American St. Louis: A Guide to Historic Sites in 1994. A new and updated 2002 edition is now available to take readers on a fascinating tour of nearly four hundred African American landmarks. From the boyhood home of jazz great Miles Davis in East St. Louis, Illinois, to the site of the house that sparked the landmark Shelley v. Kraemer court case, the maps, photographs, and text of Discovering African American St. Louis record a history that has been neglected for too long. The guidebook covers fourteen regions east and west of the Mississippi that represent St. Louis's rich African American heritage. In the words of historian Gary Kremer, "No one who reads this book and visits and contemplates the places and peoples whose stories it recounts will be able to look at St. Louis in the same way ever again."

From iconic buildings like the Old Cathedral to the Polish butcher shop in North City, Oldest St. Louis explores the history of St. Louis through the history of the city's oldest institutions, streets, and businesses. From the oldest library book, to the oldest museum, Oldest St. Louis traces the history of the city's rich cultural life. From the oldest Italian bar to the oldest bowling alley, the book recalls St. Louis's ethnic traditions. In following the stories of the oldest businesses and institutions, the book becomes a sensory tour of St. Louis featuring the crunchy oatmeal cookies made in the Dutchtown neighborhood the same way for 82 years, the fragrance in the 138 year old Greenhouse in mid-winter and the beauty of St. Louis's 184 year-old Lafayette Park. Oldest St. Louis is also a nostalgic look at recent history from the space-age design of South County Mall, to a cherry Coke made with a secret recipe since the Chuck-A-Burger drive-in restaurant opened in St. Ann in 1957.