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If you are a current Missouri Writers' Guild member, and would like to list your book, please send an electronic version of the cover along with your members' book information in the same format as those listed below to: Jennifer Jiang at jjiang@earthlink.net Please put BOOKS BY MEMBERS in the subject line. Also, if you would like to include a brief bio of yourself and a link to your website, please include that along with your email.

The prohibition years marked a time when the manufacture, sale and transport of alcohol were illegal, yet high-powered hooch could be found in the closest confectionery, cellar or creekbed. Gangland punks earned millions bootlegging booze, and the blanket-wrapped bodies of their enemies were dumped on roadsides. Young people flocked to local riverboats to hear the lively new jazz music, and took their hip flasks along, of course. Some public officials swore their allegiance to the Volstead Act, only to be skewered in scandals. Even the local honeybees were getting drunk.

Ever wish you could be a fly on the wall during prohibition days? A guided tour awaits the reader in Wetter than the Mississippi: Prohibition in St. Louis and Beyond, published by Reedy Press. Old newspaper stories and oral history accounts bring to life this fascinating period, when the St. Louis area was awash in saloons and scandals.

Author Robbi Courtaway has uncorked vintage reserves of anecdotal stories and lively narratives that focus on the greater St. Louis area, and span a 150-mile radius into Missouri and Illinois: Boonville, Jefferson City and Cape Girardeau, Mo., to Nauvoo, Decatur, Springfield, and deep southern Illinois. Featured are the brewing and wine industries, law enforcement, elected officials, gangsters, Ku Klux Klan, home brewers and amateur bootleggers, nightspots around town, a failed whiskey-siphoning scheme, a high-profile beer protection scandal, historical background of prohibition and more.

Also available at www.robbicourtaway.com
and www.reedypress.com

The Life of Helen Stephens: The Fulton Flash
by Sharon Kinney Hanson
Southern Illinois University Press, 2004

Emerging from obscurity, teenaged Helen Stephens stunned the crowd at the 1936 Berlin Olympics when she ran the 100 meters in 11.5 seconds (about a second slower than her male counterpart Jesse Owens) and set a world record that wouldn't be beat for 24 years. Helen's notoriety didn't peak there, for she was compelled to file a suit against LOOK Magazine for insinuating she was a man. She was a "cager" who later became the first woman to own and manage a professional basketball team. Then she pioneered inroads within the male dominated sports world as a coach, mentor, and Senior Olympics competitor. Award winning sports announcer Bob Costas said, "Helen Stephens's story touches so many of the big moments and emerging issues of American sports in the (1930s and 40s). Her life was rich with adventure, controversy, and accomplishment." She lives in history as an international sports icon.

Military Memories
by Cindy Joannes and Anna Knaebel
Walsworth Publishing Company, 2003

This publication is a collection of photographs, news clippings, and personal stories of time spent in various aspects of the military by family, relatives, friends, and neighbors. During World War I and World War II, many were drafted and/or enlisted from Mid-Missouri. A variety of personal stories and news clippings from the Mexican War through the World War I and World War II era as well as the Korean War, Vietnam and up to the present day are included.

Arrow Rock
By Authorene Wilson Phillips

Arrow Rock provides insight into the progression of history and its effects on one small Missouri town. The story of this village, now a historic site, brings to life the history of America: early days of settlement, an era of prosperity and power for some and incredible hardship for others, wars, a decline, and a rebirth. Like a visit to Arrow Rock itself, this book allows readers to step back into history and appreciate a time when the river was the highway.

The Civil War Story of Bloody Bill Anderson
By Larry Wood
Eakin Press, 2003

Early in the Civil War, William "Bloody Bill" Anderson served as a lieutenant under Confederate guerrilla leader William Quantrill. But late in the war, Anderson established his own partisan command and went on to surpass even the notorious Quantrill in heinous deeds. Anderson terrorized northern Missouri throughout the summer of 1864, carried out the infamous Centralia Massacre in late September of that year, and was eventually killed in late October, leading a wild charge against Federal troops in Ray County. This book examines Anderson's life and recounts his exploits in vivid detail.

Available at area and online bookstores.