Left in the Midwest: St. Louis Progressive Activism in the 1960s and 1970s - Softcover

Amanda L. Izzo (editor) & Benjamin Looker (editor)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0826222862 ISBN 13: 9780826222862

Publisher: University of Missouri Press, 2023

Synopsis

Despite St. Louis’s mid-twentieth-century reputation as a conservative and sleepy Midwestern metropolis, the city and the surrounding region have long played host to dynamic forms of social-movement organizing. This was especially the case during the 1960s and 1970s, when a new generation of St. Louis activists lent their energies to the ongoing struggles for Black freedom, lesbian and gay liberation, women’s rights and in support of the peace movement and environmental activism.  This volume, the first of its kind, offers fifteen scholarly contributions―both original works and previously published―that together bring into focus the exceptional range of progressive activist initiatives that took shape in a single Midwestern city during these tumultuous decades.

In contrast to scholarship that seeks to interpret the era’s social-movement initiatives in a primarily national context, the works presented in this thoughtful collection emphasize the importance of locality, neighborhood, community institutions, and rooted social networks. In so doing, Left in the Midwest shows us how place powerfully shaped agendas, worldviews, and available opportunities for the disparate groups who dedicated themselves to progressive visions for their city. By revising our sense of the region’s past, this volume also expands our sense of the possibilities for current activist movements that strive to effect change in St. Louis and beyond.

About this title

About the Author

Amanda L. Izzo is an associate professor of Women’s and Gender Studies at Saint Louis University. A scholar of US women’s history, she received her PhD from the American Studies program of Yale University. She is the author of Liberal Christianity and Women’s Global Activism: The YWCA of the USA and the Maryknoll Sisters.

Benjamin Looker is an associate professor of American Studies at Saint Louis University, with a PhD in American Studies from Yale University. His most recent book, A Nation of Neighborhoods: Imagining Cities, Communities, and Democracy in Postwar America, was a recipient of “best-book” awards from organizations including the American Studies Association and the Urban History Association.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Missouri Press
• Publication date: 2023
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0826222862
• ISBN 13: 9780826222862
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 554