The Making of an Icon ― The Dreamers, the Schemers, and the Hard Hats Who Built the Gateway Arch

With his fourth book from Reedy Press, The Making of an Icon, Jim Merkel captured the spirit behind the conception and construction of one of America’s most distinctive and beloved national monuments. More than two million visitors stand in awe at The Gateway Arch each year, and the stories behind it were unearthed in breathless detail in the first edition. Back with even more lore, Merkel brings new updates on the Arch grounds and museum to the updated and revised second edition. Now expanded, his book includes more stories, compiled from hundreds of interviews with the visionaries, finaglers, protesters, and intrepid workers who built the arch while one misstep away from a fatal fall. Merkel’s book will help us appreciate the relentless pursuit, innovation, and toil that raised the Arch to the sky.

Jim Merkel grew up in St. Louis where he watched the progress of construction on the Gateway Arch with his father in the 1960s. He is the author of The Colorful Characters of St. Louis, Hoosiers and Scrubby Dutch: St. Louis’s South Side, and Beer, Brats, and Baseball: German-Americans in St. Louis. He has appeared on KWMU, KDHX, and Fox 2’s News in the Morning, among other programs. For more information, visit www.jimmerkelthewriter.com.