Author: Missouri holds place in world history as meeting place, factor to help shape West

To understand Missouri's historical contributions to U.S. history, one must understand the state's significance in world history, Dr. Stephen Aron told a group of about 100 Wednesday evening in the University Center ballroom at Southeast Missouri State University.

Aron, author of a number of publications on the American West and a professor of history at UCLA, was the guest speaker for the eighth annual Veryl L. Riddle Distinguished History Lecture.

His lecture, "Missouri Matters," explained Missouri's role as a meeting ground for diverse groups of American Indians and Europeans, focusing on the confluence of the Missouri, Mississippi and Ohio Rivers.

"So much of the history of the world is written in the anatomy of its rivers," Aron said.

Comparing other areas of the world that host a confluence of rivers will show a "long history of convergence of diverse people that predates cities," Aron said.

Aron referred to the convergence of the three rivers in Missouri as the "American Confluence," a term coined in his book "American Confluence: The Missouri Frontier from Borderland to Border State" because of its role in shaping the American West.

In addition to authoring a handful of books on the culture and development of the American frontier, Aron has published essays and chapters on a number of historical topics.

He is the executive director of the Institute for the Study of the American West in California, a museum dedicated to studying the interactions of cultures and peoples of the American West. The institute is a part of the Autry National Center for the American West, named after Hollywood cowboy Gene Autry.

The Riddle lecture is named after prominent St. Louis lawyer Veryl Riddle, recipient of the 2006 Award of Merit from the American College of Trial Lawyers.

Riddle, a Dunklin County native, practiced law in Dunklin County for 17 years before serving as a federal prosecutor for two years. He later joined the Bryan Cave law firm.

bdicosmo@semissourian.com

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