The Broken Heart of America

St. Louis and the Violent History of the United States

By: Walter Johnson

Narrated by: Jamie Renell

A searing portrait of the racial dynamics that lie inescapably at the heart of our nation, told through the turbulent history of the city of St. Louis.

From Lewis and Clark's 1804 expedition to the 2014 uprising in Ferguson, American history has been made in St. Louis. And as Walter Johnson shows in this searing book, the city exemplifies how imperialism, racism, and capitalism have persistently entwined to corrupt the nation's past.

St. Louis was a staging post for Indian removal and imperial expansion, and its wealth grew on the backs of its poor black residents, from slavery through redlining and urban renewal. But it was once also America's most radical city, home to anti-capitalist immigrants, the Civil War's first general emancipation, and the nation's first general strike—a legacy of resistance that endures.

A blistering history of a city's rise and decline, The Broken Heart of America will forever change how we think about the United States.

Critic reviews

"Although focused primarily on the history of St. Louis and surrounding areas, this well researched and thoroughly documented work is too important to be dismissed as a strictly regional history. Highly recommended for all readers interested in American history."—Los Angeles Review of Books

"When it comes to the history of racism and exclusion in the United States, St. Louis wasn't unique...what it was, Johnson says, was more extreme.... Johnson is a spirited and skillful rhetorician, juggling a slew of historical facts while never allowing the flame of his anger to dim.... As he ably shows, so much exploitation lies in the details."—New York Times

"The Broken Heart of America is an outraged dissection of a malignant pattern Johnson discerns in the way white St. Louis treated Native Americans and then Blacks.... Comprehensive and convincing in its particulars."—Boston Globe

"This book is a magisterial history of the emergence and development of racial capitalism and the rise and decline of American empire examined through the lens of St. Louis. The complex dynamics of eviction, extraction, and exploitation as well as resilience and resistance are laid bare from the indigenous city of Cahokia in the eleventh century (larger than then London) to St. Louis, a frontier post and later metropolis of the US western empire. From ruling class elites Thomas Hart Benton and Harland Bartholomew and oppositional artists Kate Chopin and Tef Poe to black and socialist insurgents, The Broken Heart of America tells the best story of America that we have in the spirit of W.E.B. Du Bois. Walter Johnson is one of our very few great US historians!"—Cornel West

"When it comes to understanding the power dynamics that sparked the Ferguson Uprising in St. Louis, this is absolutely the most important book you'll read. Walter Johnson has a Baldwin-esque ability to describe the raw emotions of Black life in the city. With stories heartbreaking yet riveting -- told by someone brave enough to share them -- he exposes the history of white supremacy and capitalism, class struggle and race, and Black rebellions both before and after Ferguson. In the era of fake news and mock revolutions, this book is the truth."—Tef Poe, musician, activist, and cofounder of Hands Up United

"Walter Johnson's latest is a masterpiece that both haunts and inspires: at once a personal reckoning; a sweeping 200-year history of removal, racism, exclusion, and extraction; and a story that powerfully lifts up the human beings who, in 2014, stood together in Ferguson to demand accountability for the layered injustices that have so scarred not just one city -- but America itself."—Heather Ann Thompson, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and its Legacy

Sad & True,With Fascinating Facts of St.Louis Past

Particularly in first five Chapters, there are relatively unknown facts from 19th Century that amazed me. Those points also provided a continuation of the negative racial justice thread in history, backwards, from which most St. Louisans are already aware.

The narrator, though excellent in reading skills, unfotunately did not do his due diligence on St. Louis street, town and people pronunciations. For someone from St. louis, it is a distraction to wince with each new wrongly rer ad proper noun. To prepare a potential reader, here are attempts at a phonetic few: St. LooEEzans, Mayor Vincent SHOWmul, FloriSAHNT LinDELL and CarondeLAY.

The book itself was a very thorough coverage of major racial events over St. Louis history. Many readers from the region will recognize most of those but also be greatly surprised by others. Excellent research on even the most minor details. This includes Kirkwood's astonishing reduction of the number of streets leading out ofthe Meacham Park community. The pre-annex number of exits/entries was nine. The nine were reduced to a single legal entry/exit for the past 29 years.

Who was St. Louise?

I found the format of this book to be exceptional, the way the author tied the past to the present using St. Louis as an example of what has occurred in numerous cities across this country. I grew up in the suburbs, not far from Kirkwood and Webster Groves yet still learned quite a bit about my hometown which caused me to reconsider some of the events that transpired during my childhood. Yes, the narrator's (not the author's!) pronunciation is comical, but don't let that detract from the message. While he stumbles badly on Carondelet, Florissant, Laclede, Sauget, Schoemehl, St. Louisan and Vashon, at least give him credit for getting Cairo and Gravois right.

Should be required listening in St Louis

Fantastic book. I learned so much about my city. As a white person, it has me reevaluating a lot of my values. The only criticism I have is the reader mispronounces a lot of (admittedly bastardized) St Louis names. He has a great voice though and is really easy to listen to.

Outstanding!

A fantastic telling of an American City. It filled in a lot gaps in my knowledge of the Midwest. The story & performance were both excellent!

Listen: ONLY IF YOU WANT CHANGE AND TRUTH

The author, Walter Johnson, has a unique way of building the historical policy/prejudiced based narrative of policy creation, historic grievances, and such while leading the reader to an catharsis of previously known information that is newly discovered at the same time. As a black resident of the city of East St Louis, I can undoubtedly affirm all this states.

ONLY READ THIS is your sensitivity can be set aside for reformation. ONLY READ THIS, if you want change for what could be a great region. ONLY READ this if you have the grit to digest truth and the willingness to be silent, grieve inwardly, and reflect without accusation.

If you can qualify your heart per the above qualifiers, then read away, change the narrative and help divert the black exodus of St. Louis along with the exportation of its business leaders, ideas etc!