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Articles by Steve Wiegenstein
Missouri’s Only Revolutionary War Battle
Ferdanando de Leyba found himself in a tough spot in the spring of 1780. As lieutenant governor of the Spanish colonial province of Louisiana, the 45-year-old army captain had quietly supported the rebellious American colonists from his headquarters in St. Louis while avoiding open antagonism from the British, whose territory nominally extended all the way to the east bank of the Mississippi River, just across from him.
The Great Tri-State Tornado of 1925
When Sam Flowers rode off from his farm near Redford, Missouri—a tiny town in Reynolds County in the Ozarks—to the nearby market town of Ellington on March 18, 1925, the day was oddly warm and unsettled. Rain and “strong shifting winds” were in the day’s forecast. He had business to conduct in Ellington that Wednesday morning, but he hoped to make it home before any storms broke out to soak him on the way. Sam’s horse came home shortly after dark, but without Sam.
Author Showcase, Steve Wiegenstein
Steve Wiegenstein is the author of Scattered Lights, a collection of short stories that was a finalist for the 2021 PEN/Faulkner Award in Fiction. He also has written three historical novels: The Language of Trees, This Old World, and Slant of Light. Scattered Lights was named by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch as one of its 25 favorite books of 2020.
Understanding the Past Through Fiction
In Ann Weisgarber’s marvelous novel The Personal History of Rachel DuPree, there is an unforgettable moment when the outside world intrudes on what is, up to that point, a family drama. The novel is set in post–World War I South Dakota: an African-American family struggles to survive amid harsh conditions, loneliness, and unpleasant secrets. Then suddenly the larger historical context makes itself felt.
An Ozarker Considers Netflix's 'Ozark'
I first encountered the phrase “hillbilly gothic” on a library website, of all places, one of those “if you liked X you might like Y” guides. At first I was amazed that the term existed; then I was amazed at the number of novels the library had found to fill the category. Upon reflection, I shouldn’t have been.
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