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The Veiled Prophet : secret societies, white supremacy, and the struggle for St. Louis / Devin Thomas O'Shea.
Van Pelt Library F474.S257 O84 2026
By Request
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- O'Shea, Devin Thomas, author.
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Saint Louis (Mo.)--History.
- Saint Louis (Mo.).
- Saint Louis (Mo.)--Social conditions.
- Saint Louis (Mo.)--Politics and government.
- Secret societies--Missouri--Saint Louis--History.
- Secret societies.
- Social classes--Missouri--Saint Louis--History.
- Social classes.
- Political culture--Missouri--Saint Louis--History.
- Political culture.
- Genre:
- Informational works.
- Physical Description:
- 455 pages, 16 unnumbered leaves of plates : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm
- illustration
- map
- Place of Publication:
- Chicago, IL : Haymarket Books, 2026.
- Summary:
- Every December in downtown St. Louis, the city's upper crust attends a garish costume party that doubles as a debutante ball. At first glance, the event seems like a clownish relic, but the Veiled Prophet Society has long functioned as an exclusive club for the 'city fathers': titans of capital who come together to celebrate the breaking of strikes, the sabotage of protests, and the enforcement of racial hierarchies. Devin Thomas O'Shea's The Veiled Prophet is the definitive history of the Veiled Prophet Society in all its violence and pageantry, offering a colorful alternate history of the United States through the lens of the Midwestern elite. O'Shea follows the Society from its origins in the wake of the 1877 railroad workers' strike to the height of its influence during the Cold War, when the Prophet's court was packed with executives from military contractors, uranium-refining chemical companies, white-shoe law firms, and even the CIA. Yet the power wielded by the Veiled Prophet has always been contested. As the fight for the soul and streets of St. Louis, and the rest of the country, intensifies, it's more critical than ever that we expose the sordid history and political meddling of such powerful, masked figures.
- Notes:
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 409-442) and index.
- ISBN:
- 9798888905791
- OCLC:
- 1568975513
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