Illinois Books

I found this book to be an excellent read. It was very informative and provided excellent insight into the "Beatrice way". Sad story, Corporate greed destroying a model corporate citizen.

Worth its weight in gold.

This is an amazingly insightful recounting of the building of one of the finest companies in the US, and it's ultimate demise through greed. Gazel mixes depth and eaxcting factual information in a style that is incomparable. A must for any business student or historian.

Ms. Naff's book is truly marvelous. As the granson of a Lebanese/Syrian immigrant, I read about the history of Lebanon. I knew some of the stories about my grandfather's coming to this country. There were even some vague stories about silk worms. But little did I know that my grandfather's story was the story of thousands of other men, women, and children. I knew some of Gido's contemporaries and am sad that I did not pay more attention to their stories. One of my most treasured possessions is a picture of Gido with a rifle and bandolier standing next to his wagon while peddling dry goods along the Mexico-Texas border. Thank you Ms. Naff.

This book is chock full of details that would have been forever lost had not the author begun her work nearly 40 years ago, of recording oral histories and preserving documents, artifacts and photographs. Excellent presentation style. A must for both public and personal libraries that want to have available, not only the stories, but an insight into the ethos of a people who came from a small country with modest aspirations and ended up having a large impact on America.

Nine years ago Peter Keegan stopped off at a topless bar for a drink, a fight broke out, he was arrested. An inconvenience, but not a big deal for most single guys, but Peter was a priest, is now a bishop and somebody is threatening to expose the incident. It would damage his career with the Church were it to come out, but why would anybody do such a thing? What could they possibly gain? Peter suspects his estranged half-brother, the acting chief of detectives of the Organized Crime Division in the Chicago Police Department.

He turns to Kirsten and Dugan for help. They are a husband-and-wife team-he's a lawyer, she's a PI-and together they run Wild Onion, Ltd., located in Chicago's Loop. Ex cop Kirsten is supposedly in charge of the agency, but she gets plenty of help, a lot of it unwanted, from Dugan, who can't stop worrying about her.

Right from the get go Kirsten has reservations about the case as she blames Peter's brother, Walter, the acting chief, for ending her father's career in the department, but they take the case and try their level best to unmask the bishop's tormentor, tracing Peter's problems back to a dark night in his past. Plus there are other forces at work here, like an anti government group, the enmity between the brothers and then, of course, there is a super twisty ending you'd never expect.

In more ways than one I was reminded of the old Thin Man series as I read though this delightful mystery. I don't know why, but I thought I'd be able to read for a bit, do my early morning chores, go downtown, make a bank deposit, have lunch with friends, then maybe read a little before I went to bed. But it didn't work out that way. The chores got put off till another day, the bank deposit got postponed till tomorrow and I missed lunch (didn't really want to go anyway), but fortunately I finished before dinner, because I was famished.

Reviewed by Vesta Irene

Dealing with the devil means you must dance to his tune. However, when the individuals involved in the malevolent tango consists of a Chicago Bishop and his brother, the police department Organized Crime Division acting chief of detectives, one hardly suspects evil. Bishop Peter Keegan believes his half-brother Walter is nothing less than Satan personified. When Peter begins to receive blackmail threats involving an incident in his past as well as getting the sensation that someone is stalking him, the bishop feels Walter is involved.

Due to his sensitive position, Peter knows he cannot turn to the police. He has no idea what Walter wants, but figures his sibling will tell him when he is ready to do so. Instead of waiting and fretting, Peter hires Wild Onions, a private detective security firm to help him. The owners Kirsten and Dugan agree to take the Bishop on as a client even as they quickly understand that any dealing involving Walter is a struggle to survive.

A BEER AT A BAWDY HOUSE rotates the narration among three different players (Dugan, Kirsten, and Peter). The technique works very well as David J. Walker makes the three characters feel so genuine. Dugan and Kirsten will remind readers of "Hart to Hart." The flawed Bishop has insecurities that turn him into a human being. The mystery is well-designed and special.

Harriet Klausner

If you live in the Midwest or try to photograph it, this may be the best $20.97 you can spend. It is a book of inspiring, panoramic, color photos of rural Illinois. Gary pulls the beauty out of a landscape that most people, including photographers, usually ignore. This book has opened my eyes to the state I live it and given me photographic ideas that I was blind to before.

I grew up in Illinois, but only after I moved away did I learn that the vast midwestern sky is unique. Irving's panoramic photos capture the beauty of the open sky as no others I've seen. Whenever I'm homesick, if I need to see a midwestern thunderstorm, I open Irving's book and I'm there.

This book is worthwhile for much more valuable information than its title may suggest. It's an excellent survey of the second American etching revival, which took place in printmaking during the early Twentieth Century. Well documented, easy to read, and chock full of fascinating information about the remarkable etching advocate Jaques, it also tells a great deal about the activities of a host of other printmakers. The volume's four appendices, copious notes, extensive bibliography, and index make this book a reference well worth the price to scholars of American printmaking history.

This is the first full-length study, and likely to remain the definitive one, of the Chicago Society of Etchers, incorporated in l9l0 under its chief architect, Bertha E. Jaques (l863-l94l). Together they played a profound role in developing popular American artistic taste in the first half of the 20th century, both by inspiring other societies and by making the best prints available to a broad and receptive public. In its 47-year life the CSE would exhibit at least 40,000 prints across America, whose impact has been unevaluated and uninvestigated until Patterson's study.

Most interesting and admirable is the analysis of the CSE's unwavering resistance to modernism, despite expectable criticism and the formation of a rival, alternative group, the Chicago No-Jury Society of Artists. Supporters of the CSE could always rely on the Society to produce traditional, academic, and representational works--would that more artistic groups were unwilling to cave in to the ephemeral, the anarchic, and the chaotic in all areas of American life. This stance produced friction with the Chicago Art Institute, and its break with that facility in the early '30's was a serious setback, although the CSE continued to function as late as l956.

Two striking features of this work are the ninety-two black and white and eight color illustrations of beautifully reproduced etchings and prints, and the straightforward, expository prose of the text which integrates the history of the Society in the social and economic settings of the World War, the Twenties, and the Depression Era. The final chapter is devoted specifically to Bertha Evelyn Jaques, a talented artist in her own right, who was an inspiration to thousands.

The Appendices are invaluable, with complete lists of Presentation Prints of the CSE, Exhibiting Members, and the Years and Cities where their work appeared. The notes and bibliography will be the starting point for any researcher or devotee of the subject, reflecting the wide-ranging and exhaustive work which went into compiling this remarkable volume. A more complete review may be found in Bibliophilos, VIII, No. 2 (Summer 2003), l24-l26.

This book is a great rea for anyone who is interested in Chicago life in the 1920's. I thought that this book would be boring, but actually it is very interesting, especially the Genealogy section on Jacobs descendants.

A great history of a Chicago family from 1869 through 1963. The book tells how the Jacob Best family helped to shape the industrial growth of the "Miracle City."

I have read just about every piece on this subject. This bookis definitely the best researched piece to date. It refers to peopleplaces and things that I am quite familiar with. I am Third GenerationCape Verdean living here in the U.S. I have traveled to the Cape Verde Islands and I speak the language fluently. Ms. Halter... captured the very essence of this culture by detailing specific facts such as: differences in Island to Island,language accents, living conditions,resources,cultural celebrations,etc. I am quite familiar with many of the characters in her book and her research references. She speaks of the history and culture just as I have heard about it from my grandmother and grandfather. I have read other writings that I feel do not compare, simply because they are not as clear and complete as Ms. Halter's book. Her book covers the many facets of this very complex nationality in a way that is more simple to understand than any other book on this subject that I have read. This is highly important to someone who not in the least educated in this culture. I have shared my knowledge of this subject to hundreds of people along my path... END

I think this book is definetly a good research piece. I am the 2nd generation of Cape Verdeans living here in the U.S. Unfortunetly my parents did not speak the language to us. The author made herself very knowledgable regarding our culture, struggles and thoughts through generations. My father told us how my grandfather worked on a whaling ship going back and forth from Cape Verde to the U.S. til he bought property on Cape Cod, which I continue to tell my children and nieces and nephews and they are also proud of that. The author mentions interviewing some Cape Verdeans on the Cape where some of them have last names of relatives of mine....what great lengths this author has gone with this research to get accurate data, I am very impressed. I now say I am African-American rather than the black Portuguese which I was taught from my Grandmother, however since I am fair complexed I do tell people that I am Cape Verdean American when asked what am I...complextion was another issue brought up in this book which we are very familiar with. GREAT JOB!!! I was very please to read about my culture...One day I hope I do get to visit the Cape Verde Islands.

I am the daughter of one of the book's character's (Rafael "Sancho" Sanchez). It was so interesting to read about not only my father's exploits, but the others in the company as well. It brought back many memories of the many stories my father use to tell me about his war experiences. It also brought a real perspective of the trials of war to someone who was born eleven years after it ended. Thank you Sy for bringing me and my family a part of my father we never would have known if you had not told your story.

I was also 18 years old when I was sent to the Pacific and found everything that Sy Kahn wrote. Now at 71 years old I never thougth I was to find so realistic book and brought back so painful and glorius memories. This is my first war book I read and I do not regreted. I did realy enjoy it.

This book shares the fascinating story behind the more than $100 million bequest to Poetry magazine by amateur poet and pharmaceutical heiress, Ruth Lilly. Included are numerous illustrations--author photographs, drawings, and newspaper clippings to enliven this amazing story. Nearly five hundred letters from poets are featured in the book--a "who's who" from T.S. Eliot, Erica Jong, and Rita Dove to Billy Collins, Robert Pinsky, and Mary Oliver. This story makes for compelling reading as well as provides business lessons for how to treat people with kindness and compassion.

In 2002 The Chicago Tribune broke the news that Poetry Magazine had received more than a mullion from an amateur poet and heiress: the story of this gift and its impact is detailed in BETWEEN THE LINES: A HISTORY OF POETRY IN LETTERS, 1962-2002. This follows the editors' prior DEAD EDITOR in 2002, which detailed Poetry's first fifty years through its correspondence with its poets: BETWEEN THE LINES continues the story through one of the biggest impacts in the genre's history, and makes for fascinating reading.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

This a book for all you biker lovers out there! The maps/trails are very detailed and to the point. Also, it shows Dave Johnsen has put plenty of research in this book because he tells us what places you will find on each trail. I highly recommend this book if you love to bike and/or want to navigate Illinois!!!!

Biking Illinois: 60 Great Road Trips And Trail Rides by biking enthusiast David Johnsen is an outstanding collection of "bicycle friendly" statewide biking trails accompanied with maps and photography for a greater understanding of Illinois' road trips and trail rides. Providing readers with a detailed description of each of the featured sixty bike trail, Biking Illinois features trails following the path of Louis and Clark, as well as the Garden of the Gods, and the Shawnee National Forest, and the Great Western Prairie Triangle. Biking Illinois is very highly recommended to all cyclists searching for a an instructive reference for planning their next big biking expedition -- particularly those who live near or in Illinois variable terrain.