History and General Information

Dodd, Monroe. Kansas City: Then and Now. 1st ed. Kansas City: Kansas City Star Books, 2000. Explore the past and present of Kansas City with side-by-side photographs that detail the city’s gradual transformation.

Driggs, Frank, and Chuck Haddix. Kansas City Jazz: From Ragtime to Bebop—A History. 1st ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006. Explore the golden age of Kansas City jazz, a musical tradition so rich it made the city one of four national capitals of jazz beside New Orleans, Chicago, and New York.

Haskell, Harry. Boss-busters and Sin Hounds: Kansas City and its Star. 1st ed. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2007. Former Kansas City Star music critic Harry Haskell details the Star’s rise to prominence as a scandal-uncovering newspaper and later a target in one of the most significant antitrust actions to be brought against an American daily newspaper.

Hayde, Frank R. The Mafia and The Machine: The Story of the Kansas City Mob. 1st ed. Fort Lee: Barricade Books, 2008. A comprehensive and entertaining look at Kansas City’s illustrious Mafia family and its impact on local history.

Janicke, Tim. City of Art: Kansas City’s Public Art. 1st ed. Kansas City: Kansas City Star Books, 2001. Follow a stunningly visual tour of some of the city’s greatest public art installations, including the Shuttlecocks, Thinker, and Sky Stations.

Larsen, Lawrence H., and Nancy J. Hulston. Pendergast! 1st ed. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1997. An informative look at the life of infamous Kansas City political boss Tom Pendergast.

Maxwell, H. James, Bob Sullivan Jr., and Anne Marie Hunter. Hometown Beer: A History of Kansas City’s Breweries. 1st ed. Kansas City: Omega Innovative Marketing, 1999. Complete with vintage photographs and illustrations, this book traces the history of Kansas City’s breweries from the mid-1800s to present-day, including those out-of-town breweries that, pre-Prohibition, did business in Kansas City.

Million, Stacey. The American Institute of Architects Guide to Kansas City Architecture & Public Art. 2nd ed. Kansas City: Highwater Editions, 2000. Arranged by 12 geographic districts, this comprehensive guide to Kansas City architecture and public art details designers, completion dates, and other pertinent information, as well as maps and an overview of each district.

Montgomery, Rick, and Shirl Kasper. Kansas City: An American Story. 1st ed. Kansas City: Kansas City Star Books, 1999. A dense yet immensely readable book that details Kansas City history from its founding through the 1990s. Text is supplemented with vibrant illustrations, easy-to-read infographics, and quirky sidebars that present a complete and informative look at the city.

O’Neill, Pat. From the Bottom Up: The Story of the Irish in Kansas City. 1st ed. Kansas City: Seat O’ The Pants Publishing, 1999. Trace the colorful history of Kansas City’s largest immigrant group and discover the defining role the Irish played in Kansas City’s early history.

Shortridge, James R. Cities on the Plains: The Evolution of Urban Kansas. 1st ed. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2004. Follow a detailed history of Kansas’s larger communities, including Kansas City, from the 1850s to the present and how various industries, movements, and decisions shaped these cities into their present-day formations.

Unger, Robert. The Union Station Massacre: The Original Sin of J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI. 1st ed. Kansas City: Kansas City Star Books, 2005. After a bloody shoot-out at Union Station, FBI founder J. Edgar Hoover launched a manhunt under false pretenses for “Pretty Boy” Floyd and Adam Richetti. Discover the truth about the massacre and how it changed the opinion of Hoover and the FBI.

Worley, William S. J. C. Nichols and the Shaping of Kansas City: Innovation in Planned Residential Communities. 1st ed. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1993. The story of J. C. Nichols, one of Kansas City’s most influential developers and the founder of the Country Club Plaza, still studied as a forerunner in walkable, mixed-use districts.

Travel

Eddy, William, and Richard Ballentine. Hiking Kansas City. 5th ed. Rocheport: Pebble Publications, 2007. Explore Kansas City through a wealth of off-the-road hiking trails in a variety of conditions, from flat and paved to remote and forested.

© Katy Ryan from Moon Kansas City, 1st Edition