{"product_id":"the-veiled-prophet-secret-societies-white-supremacy-and-the-struggle-for-st-louis","title":"The Veiled Prophet: Secret Societies, White Supremacy, and the Struggle for St. Louis","description":"\u003cp\u003eby Devin Thomas O'Shea\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHaymarket Books\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e6\/23\/2026, hardcover\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSKU: \u003cspan id=\"pd-product-id\"\u003e9798888905791\u003c\/span\u003e   \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA provocative look at the secret society that has controlled St. Louis for over a century, revealing how shadowy elites organize themselves against working-class power. \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 0.875rem;\"\u003eEvery December in downtown St. Louis, the city's upper crust attend a garish costume party that doubles as a debutante's ball. The daughters of high society are paraded to the throne of a cloaked monarchical figure, and bow to the Veiled Prophet of Khorassan. At first glance, the event seems outdated and clownish, but in truth the Veiled Prophet Society has functioned as an exclusive club for the \"city fathers,\" where solidarity is built between wealthy men who head major U.S. corporations, banks, and control whole industries. At the Veiled Prophet's Ball, these titans of capital come together to crown one of their daughters the Queen of Love and Beauty, and celebrate the breaking of strikes, the sabotage of protests, and the enforcement of racial hierarchies.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDevin Thomas O'Shea's \u003cem\u003eThe Veiled Prophet \u003c\/em\u003eis the definitive history of the Veiled Prophet Society in all its violence and pageantry, offering a colorful alternate history of the United States through the lens of the Midwestern elite. O'Shea follows the Veiled Prophet Society from its origins in the wake of the 1877 general strike, through the 1904 World's Fair, to the height of the Prophet's--and St. Louis's--influence during the Cold War. \u003cem\u003eThe Veiled Prophet\u003c\/em\u003e examines the unexpected ways this secret society has shaped the course of history, from the CIA to the Vietnam War to the assassination of Martin Luther King.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eYet the power wielded by the Veiled Prophet has not gone uncontested. Since the Gilded Age, the Prophet has faced resistance from orphans armed with pea-shooters, Communist Party organizers during the Depression, Civil Rights icons, and renegade debutantes. The Ferguson uprising of 2014 was only the most recent challenge to the Prophet's influence.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs the fight for the soul and streets of St. Louis intensifies, it's more critical than ever that we expose the sordid history of these powerful, masked figures and their control over our democracy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReviews:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"UTF-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\"Devin Thomas O'Shea's \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Veiled Prophet\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e inducts readers into white supremacy's back room, revealing the pomp and circumstance of racism, the gaudy esoterica that is presumed to elevate brute domination into something sublime and mysterious. O'Shea tells the story of the racial phantasmagoria of Midwestern elites with great clarity and insight.\" \u003c\/span\u003e--Greg Grandin, author of \u003cem\u003eAmerica, América: A New History of the New World\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\"O'Shea lifts the veil on Midwestern modernity to see the sequence of class struggle underneath. Gripping and thorough, you'll never look at the Gateway Arch the same way again.\" --Malcolm Harris, author of \u003cem\u003ePalo Alto: A History of California, Capitalism, and the World\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"UTF-8\"\u003e\"This big, important St. Louis story, arrestingly told, goes to the heart of what the ruling class does when it rules and when it parties. O'Shea captures how an elite reeling from Civil War, emancipation, and a general strike turned to white terrorist symbolism and Orientalist fascinations to create an enduring pageantry that could cement alliances among the rich and create awe and interest, though also inspired resistance, more broadly.\" --David Roediger, author of \u003cem\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/burningbooks.com\/products\/the-wages-of-whiteness-race-and-the-making-of-the-american-working-class-1?variant=44068095361307\"\u003eWages of Whiteness\u003c\/a\u003e \u003c\/em\u003eand \u003cem\u003eAn Ordinary White\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"UTF-8\"\u003e\"A true page-turner, O'Shea's study makes plain the centrality of St. Louis to US history and the trajectory of working-class struggle from the Great Railroad Strike of 1877 to the Ferguson Uprising of 2014. \u003cem\u003eThe Veiled Prophet\u003c\/em\u003e is searing and uncompromising history.\" --Keona Ervin, author of \u003cem\u003eGateway to Equality: Black Women and the Struggle for Economic Justice in St. Louis\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"UTF-8\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout the Author:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDevin Thomas O'Shea\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is a writer whose work has appeared in \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Nation\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eSlate\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eLos Angeles Review of Books\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Iowa Review\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eJacobin\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eBoulevard\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, and elsewhere. He lives in St. Louis, Missouri.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Burning Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52673330086171,"sku":"Veiled Prophet","price":29.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0466\/5121\/files\/prophet.jpg?v=1785344564","url":"https:\/\/burningbooks.com\/products\/the-veiled-prophet-secret-societies-white-supremacy-and-the-struggle-for-st-louis","provider":"Burning Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}