On Wednesday, January 9, at the Plaza Branch of the Kansas City Public Library (4801 Main Street, Kansas City, MO 64112), Diane Mutti Burke, John Herron, and Jason Roe will discuss their edited volume, Wide-Open Town: Kansas City in the Pendergast Era.
During the 1920s and 1930s, Kansas City was ruled by political boss Tom Pendergast, Prohibition was loosely enforced, and urban vice was rampant. But this “openness” allowed many in a community divided by race and class to challenge social boundaries. Wide-Open Town highlights the diverse histories of Kansas City at a time of transformational change in American society.
Mutti Burke is chair of the history department and director of the Center for Midwestern Studies at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Herron is associate dean and a professor of history at UMKC. Roe is digital history specialist at the Kansas City Public Library.