"The breadth of coverage here is impressive and benefits handsomely from the author's command of the state's social and political history. His expertise in such a wide range of Missouri topics, particularly the African-American experience and the history of education, shines in the book's key themes."--Jeremy Neely, Missouri State University-Springfield, author of The Border between Them: Violence and Reconciliation on the Kansas-Missouri Line
"Gary Kremer's engaging and occasionally personalized account of Missouri's 200-year post-statehood history manifests his wide-ranging knowledge of the state's past, the lived experiences of his multi-generational Missouri family, and his skills as a storyteller. General readers and scholars alike will find much to like in this artfully crafted book marking the bicentennial of Missouri statehood."--William E. Foley, University of Central Missouri and author of The Genesis of Missouri: From Wilderness Outpost to Statehood
"This Place of Promise is a refreshing and enlightening journey through two centuries of Missouri statehood. Leavened with just the right amount of personal reflection from Gary R. Kremer, it is a book that could only be written by a historian from the heart of Missouri who has devoted almost half a century to the study of his home state."--Brooks Blevins, Missouri State University, author of A History of the Ozarks, Volume 3: The Ozarkers
"This Place of Promise is everything that the best history strives to be--passionate, provocative, and powerful. In recounting his own life story and those of others, the famous and the ordinary alike, Kremer captures what it has meant to be a Missourian over the past two centuries of statehood. It's a captivating book, sweeping in its historical scope, meticulous in its research, and masterful in its telling."--Patrick Huber, Missouri University of Science and Technology, co-editor of The Hank Williams Reader
"Some may find Kremer's commentary outside the bounds of what a history of the state ought to be. However, he makes clear early in this volume his overarching reason for writing this book. 'One of the great benefits of studying history, ' Kremer argues, 'is that the process provides us with an opportunity to come to grips with why we are the way we are' (p. 26). He has done that with a clarity and command of the material that one expects from a master historian. Gary Kremer has served his state well with this candid book."--Missouri Historical Review