Illinois Books

A very rivetting and hard-hitting collection of essays! A must read for anyone interested in social issues and the African American experience in America.

Mama I went in the library looking for your step it down, however, you stirred me in a different direction. I enjoyed this book so much, I felt you with each turning page. I love your legacy and you, Thank you!

This is the first historical narrative about the life and times of late Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti. The authors are qualified based on their extensive research about women and nationalist movement in Nigeria. They lucidly show the local beginning of Funmilayo, and her international connections. The radicalization of Funmilayo is explained by British ineptitude and unreceptive posture towards nationalist issues, devolution, and the the transfer of power. To them, Funmilayo was not only a dominant figure during the period, she was a fomidable player in postcolonial politics as well. Whether or not Funmilayo was a communist, a fellow traveler, or someone that exploited ideology to better her aspiration and that of the women folks is left to readers to judge. Well written, readeable and concise; this is a must for all interested in women, nationalist politics in Nigeria, and the emergent gender dominated civil society in colonial and postcolonial Nigeria.

"Forest Trees of Illinois" is a an excellent source of comprehensive information about tree species in Illinois. The book is clear and concise. Each species is thoroughly defined through a text description, realistic drawing, photo and a map indicating species location. The book is especially helpful for woody identification. The IDNR Forest Resources department successfully presents a helpful format appropriate for a wide range of nature enthusiasts, from professional foresters to community members wishing to know their local forests intimately. "Forest Trees" is cost effective in light of the abundant data encompassed in the book and also offers other resources for additional information. I recommend "Forest Trees of Illinois" without reservation for every member of our Illinois community to learn the precious natural resource of trees around them!

Here is the story the subtitle suggests: Chicagoans gradually realized that the lands fronting Lake Michigan were more than mere wastelands to be utilized variously by industrialists and conventioneers, and this realization led citizens from A. Montgomery Ward down to the plainest of the plain to do battle with a series of regimes which seemed to have a very odd construction of the phrase, from the city charter, "forever open, free and clear". It is the people, not the government of Chicago, whom we should thank that parts of Grant, Jackson, and Lincoln Parks are still "open, free and clear".
Beyond her immediate theme, however, Lois Wille has written an excellent concise introduction to the history of Chicago, which will especially appeal to those who approach history from the viewpoint of non-conformism. And in a city like Chicago, you're either part of the Machine or a non-conformist.
Lois Wille was a colleague of Mike Royko, all the way from the Chicago Daily News days. She has all of his creativity and productive skepticism, and, in her own way, did just as much to worry and afflict the destructive establishmentarians who by fair means and foul seem to wind up governing the City of Chicago.

This book also brought back many fond memories of places I had visited when I was younger, & showed me some places that I had heard of but never got to visit.

In 1949 the Federal Bureau of Prisons published Correctional Institution Design and Construction, a detailed "source book for planning and construction of institutions ranging in type from the small jail and short term detention facilities for juvenile delinquents to the maximum security type of institution." In the books introduction, James V. Bennett, the agency's director, wrote: "There are in the United States more than 300 state and Federal prisons, reformatories, and training schools. In addition, there are several thousand city and county jails and workhouses. This great diversity of institutions which house and handle convicted and accused criminals represents a tremendous investment in physical plants and human lives. Yet there is probably no other type of institutional construction in this country which has been devoid of intelligent planning and direction as has the construction of penal and correctional institutions."

Since the publication of that book more than five decades ago, the United States has witnessed a phenomenal growth in institutional construction and, by necessity, increased attention to prison architecture, thus addressing some of Bennett's concerns.

In 2000 Norman Johnston, Professor Emeritus of Sociology at Beaver College, provided the corrections profession a comprehensive and compelling history of the evolution of prison construction and design in Forms of Constraint: A History of Prison Architecture. In addition to its historical value, the book provides guidance for the design and construction of future prisons.

This is a scholarly, well-documented, and richly illustrated volume that represents a significant contribution to correctional literature. Norman Johnston's book adds value to the bodies of knowledge on prison history, institutional architecture, and the development of correctional policy.

Hedges' history as a scholar has been intimately connected to European critical traditions, but she avers that she is writing for lay and scholar (in true Faustian divided manner) and keeps the promise (unlike most of the Mephistopheles she unearths). She leaves no concept unturned, however, and demonstrates again what has always been her strength: close, meticulous reading of literary and visual texts with a consistent reference to their mythical and topical elements.
Her analytical work is as good as that of Czeslaw Milosz, though her style is much more journalistic and demure than his.
The message of the book is that mining the prime cultural narrative of Faust and Mephistopheles is worthwhile, a quiet message but intensely valuable for those interested in the concept that dialogues in culture about culture can create culture. Hedges offers the reader the chance to investigate with her the broadest framework for cultural progress that she has been able to find in her intellectual journey. This book is a gifted scholar's gift. I find it can read quickly or slowly, an awesome quality indeed.
I have permitted this book to alter some of my thinking and teaching and recommend that others in the humanities (and other fields) do so as well.

Kruty has fashioned a craftsmanlike, wonderfully readable account of Midway Gardens. A fascinating study, for design professional and lay person alike, which illuminates not only a lost masterpiece, but the mind and design process of its creator, Frank Lloyd Wright, against the social backdrop of pre-World War I Chicago.

I am a big fan of FLW and I have enjoyed looking thru this book many times. The photos are great and the homes are arranged very well. This is one good book.