I talked with plenty of great people when I signed books at the German Cultural Society’s Maifest Sunday in House Springs. But my favorite is Kendall Smith, who is shown here with me holding a copy of my book, Beer, Brats, and Baseball: St. Louis Germans. Kendall, a student at Orchard Farm Elementary School in St. Charles, asked me some really intelligent questions about the Germans’ role in saving Missouri for the Union during the Civil War. Then he told his grandpa, Kenny Biermann he wanted Beer, Brats, and Baseball. When grandpa told Kendall he had a copy of Beer, Brats, and Baseball to give his grandson, Kendall got him to buy another of my books, The Making of an Icon: The Dreamers, The Schemers, and The Hard Hats Who Built The Gateway Arch. It’s no surprise that Kendall likes history at school.
Jim Merkel the Writer 