This book serves as STL 101—the unmissable first stop for anyone interested in knowing more about St. Louis. St. Louis is a city you need to know, and I Am St. Louis is where you meet the city like never before. If St. Louis could tell you its own stories, it would spin tales that would shock you, make brutally honest confessions that would break your heart, and inspire you with countless incredible moments. I Am St. Louis gives this fascinating city a long-deserved voice. It’s an outstretched hand to introduce you to a place that’s more interesting, more complex, and more surprising than you’ve been told. From its origins as a small French fur-trapping outpost, you’ll discover a city that has undergone immense and constant change. You’ll find more than 250 years of triumphs and tragedies, joys and defeats, moments of cooperation and of conflict. You’ll dip into hundreds of stories about the fascinating people, places, and moments that have permanently changed St. Louis—and often the world. You’ll also discover river monsters and ghost authors, get queasy imagining St. Louis’s once more-solid-than-liquid drinking water, discover how St. Louisans’ baby teeth helped save the world, and “larn” why St. Louisans talk the way they do.  Whether you’re a lifelong St. Louisan, a recent arrival, or someone who just wants to know more about local stories big and small, this book is STL 101.