Jim Merkel

A St. Louis native, Jim Merkel has been writing all his life. In April 2014, Reedy Press published Jim Merkel's latest book, "The Making of an Icon: The Dreamers, The Schemers, and The Hard Hats Who Built the Gateway Arch." His two previous books for Reedy Press are "Hoosiers and Scrubby Dutch: St. Louis' South Side," and "Beer, Brats, and Baseball: St. Louis Germans." He self-published the book "Majestic Lights: The Apostle Islands Lighthouses" in 2001 and has written an unpublished historical novel about a lighthouse in Lake Superior. He reported for the Suburban Journals of Greater St. Louis from 1991 to 2013 and now writes for several St. Louis newspapers. He lives with his wife, Lorraine, in the Bevo Mill neighborhood of South St. Louis.