Illinois Books

This book is very colorful and full of true human spirit. The depiction of stories with people having a variety of disabilities allows one to see them in many arenas. We are welcomed into their homes, friendships, pasttimes and dreams. What a fantastic way to introduce this special community to the world. I enjoyed the book for his easy reading and sense of love, family and success.

Feel Our Freedom: Communities And Connections For People With Developmental Disabilities is an emotional and moving portrait of the lives of more than forty adults living with developmental disabilities. Revealing and insightful full-page, black-and-white photographs by Jon Lowenstein combine with Alisa Hauser Kraft's brief yet involving text descriptions of human lives, coping, survival, and joy. Feel Our Freedom is a highly recommended addition to personal and community library collections.

Buyer Beware! You are about to fall in love with a feminist. Turn the page and another will become irresistible. Feminists Who Changed America, 1963 - 1975 will change YOU. This is a dazzling compendium of over 2,000 biographies; elegant, short, profound and inspiring. Unlike the lost legacies of many First Wave feminists, the stories of these Second Wave feminists will be preserved forever in this collated, verified and beautifully presented book. In addition, each feminist's archive site is indicated.

The three year creative process began with identifying and locating feminists who were active 1963 ~ 1975. They (or their heirs) were sent questionnaires and their responses were transformed into short bios. You can be certain of the veracity of the information here but don't think for a moment that it is dry or exclusively academic. With each biography you will fall in love with a feminist who was a first; first lawmaker, first professor, first publisher, first judge, first member in a legislature, first to march, first to open women's health clinic. In this reading you will read and feel how these brief years paved every road for women in America and, thus, women in the world. It is rich as cheesecake, a bite everyday is delectable.

This is an amazing book listing thousands of women who actually did change America. In both small and large ways we are closer to equality because of them, although we still have a way to go. We still don't have a national Equal Rights Amendment yet, nor do we see womens' pay as equal to mens, but we're not giving up.

Thank you, Barbara Love!

Chase

This Book is for the student of malacology or professional. It has magnificant photos of the representive mussels in the region and the author (Cummings) is the national expert on Unionids. A must get for the professional, Student, or thoes who wish to know more about these Freshwater Friends.

No dichotomous key but excellent descriptions and useful color plates. Physically small in size, will fit in a back pocket.

As Fr. Velo so eloquently and loving eulogized his mentor and friend, "didn't he teach us, didn't he show us the way." I watched the funeral on television and was so moved at the time and now when I read the same eulogy contained in this book I am once again moved in wonder and awe. Anyone who is suffering with an illness or a caregivier should read this final journey of a truly blessed man.

This book is a wonderful glimpse at the final days of one of America's most prominent Catholic leaders. Cardinal Bernardin embraced his trials with grace and dignity, and thus set an example for all of us. For those who would like a glimpse at the death of this great Catholic leader, I really can't say enough good about this book.

In the past few years, firefighters have gotten increased, and deserved, attention and respect. But what of "that firefighter who is on duty 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year"? That is the way Commissioner James T. Joyce of the Chicago Fire Department describes the firehouse dog in the introduction to _The Firefighter's Best Friend: Lives and Legends of Chicago Firehouse Dogs_ (Lake Claremont Press) by Trevor J. Orsinger and Drew F. Orsinger. It is no exaggeration to say that these dogs are for the most part not ornaments, not pets, but working dogs, busy with their responsibilities and taking them seriously. The authors are not firemen, but like many people, they admire firemen, and they realized that though there are volumes to record the history of the Chicago Fire Department, there were none devoted to its dogs. For some reason Chicago has a lot of these dogs, perhaps more than anywhere, and the stories here are funny, loving, and inspiring.

It is commonly thought that firedogs are just for show, good public relations for fire departments. They do get trotted out for photo ops and in parades, but many of the dogs here have valued roles as real worker dogs. Engine 30 has a dog named Thirty, a Dalmatian that has made 14,000 runs over the past nine years. Once on the scene, many dogs are eager to get into the work, helping to haul hoses or even entering buildings that are on fire. Many of the dogs are useful ratters. Dogs who stay in the firehouse are charged with guarding the valuables the firemen leave behind. It is significant that Chicago firehouse dogs do not have normal dog lifespans. Some of them die in the line of duty, boldly accompanying their men into burning buildings. Bruno of Engine 19 died from cancer caused by repeated smoke inhalation. Dogs do fall off speeding engines. Rags of Engine 24 stepped into water that had been electrified by a fallen wire and died, but his death ensured that his firemen avoided the same fate. One dog after another here is described as meeting death by being hit by a car at the scene. Sometimes dogs are too slow to move out and are run over by their own trucks, and more than one has been killed by being shut in the big firehouse door. Sometimes the fire station is in a bad part of town and the residents attack the dogs as symbols of authority. The other great hazard is obesity; the firemen all love to give their dogs table scraps.

There are lots of fine pictures here of dogs happily sitting on their engines, climbing ladders, marching in parades, posing for formal pictures with their crews, obligingly wearing fire hats, and being petted by guys who love them. There are plenty of dogs named Smokey here, and also Sparky, Ashes, and even Arson. There are stories of the far less successful firepig, fireduck, firegoose, and firegoat. There are great stories of heroic dogs, and if one or two have become exaggerated in the retelling by the firemen, that is only a tribute to the love and respect the firehouse crews bear for their mascots.

I bought a copy of this book while I was in Chicago to test for their fire department. I'd heard about it a few times, and I figured that I would buy it while I was up there.

In short, this truly was a great book. I've never read a book where so many of the stories stuck with me. You'll meet quite a few dogs through this book, but the one that sticks in my mind is Wino, Jr. He loved to frequent the bars in the neighborhood and befriended a number of the locals, who would steal food for him and give him drinks of their "adult" beverages. More than once the firefighters who took care of him would have a call from someone asking them to "pick up the dog that just passed out."

In a few of the stories, you would almost think that the dogs were actually reincarnated firefighters. Many of them had the same "personality" that most firefighters have.

If you're looking for a good book that will make you laugh and cry some, this is definitely for you.

I bought this book because I collect Philip Jose Farmer and Phil Farmer wrote an introduction to it. I read the book in two sittings, staying up too late and losing sleep, because I just couldn't put it down.

I say the book is somewhere between Ray Bradbury and Stephen King because it has a sort of eerie small town weirdness to it. You know that something odd is going on but you can't imagine what. In 2002 the original British limited edition of this book was nominated by the International Horror Guild in the category Best First Novel. This was surprising because it is not a scary book.

The highest praise I can give to this book is the fact the for weeks after I finished it, I couldn't stop thinking about it.

An UFO crash lands in Elderton, Illinois and the alien inside doesn't know where he is or who he is. He just understands that he will bring change to this small town. The Astonished Eye tabloid hears the rumors of the flying saucer crash landing and sends Ben Savitch to report. Ben, who lived in Elderton until he was six, hopes that the rumors are true so that he can finally make it into the big leagues of journalism.

The town is nothing like Ben expects. It is filled with magic that allows people to live after they die. The heart of the town is Almo Parish the last munchkin from the wizard of Oz who is still alive. Each Fall there is a small ceremony in which Almo points out the first leaf that will drop from the trees signifying that the season has arrived. Jeffrey Sprague has run away from the last of a long line of foster homes and winds up in Elderton where the adults subtly take care of him. He might make a home for himself there if can get used to the magic that engulfs him. Cynical Ben finally believes in the magic after he realizes he can not stay in the place of his birth.

THE ASTONISHED EYE will make readers understand how Alice felt when she fell down the looking glass and entered a world in which nonsense makes perfect sense. This satirical fantasy makes readers want to believe in magic and in people who are kind and gentle like the population of Elderton. Tracy Knight's first novel is a refreshingly original, light-hearted urban legend satire.

Harriet Klausner

The Jimmy Flannery books are among the best written today, and these are the first 3 and are rather hard to find. The writing is flawless with Flannery speaking. The Chicago dialect is perfect and the reader learns a lot of the politics of the area. Excellent!

It's great to see Campbell's Jimmy Flannery series collected in anthology volumes. This series is a sleeper -- and about as far away from the "hard-boiled" style of the author's other thrillers as can be. Flannery is a gentle, likable sewer-worker (remember Art Carney's Ed Norton?) whose street smarts come from his progress through Chicago ward politics. In a way, the books are more "Runyonesque" reveries centering on a recurring cast of characters in and around Jimmy's life than gripping, intricate mysteries -- solving the murder becomes almost a counterpoint to the real story going on. But they're oddly appealing, even irresistible -- even to jaded readers (like me) who generally eschew cozy little suspense novels chock full of "heart." Since many of the Flannery books are out of print (The 600-lb. Gorilla is especially scarce), this volume is welcome. Campbell is such a good writer that he turns even trifles like these titles into something well worth reading; I hope this first Flannery trilogy garners him -- both author and protagonist -- the readers he deserves.

You know, as I travel around I am always wondering about the history of an area and, "could this be more than just a field?"

That crumbling old house along a major route, "did something important to history occur inside?"

Ralph Gary must have spent thousands of hours researching and traveling around areas to discover all of the "who, what, when, where and whys" of Abraham Lincoln and his environment.

This book has just the information the traveler needs to understand and "see" history unfold before his eyes.

That old field suddenly comes to life as a thunderous battlefield with rain pouring down and famous phrases echoing loudly in the viewer's ears.

We see the fury of the instant as a theatre turns into a haunted moment in time; and everyone who visits Ford's Theatre feels the morbid moment of Booth's derringer into the President's unassuming head as he gently cups his wife's hand in his - and, in that moment, history changed.

Thank you so much Mr. Gary. Please, please, research other historical figures and bring us that "sight" that can only be had from reading about the moments in time that have become our
history!

Here's an interesting and hefty travel book that lists and annotates sites from all over the country associated with Abraham Lincoln and/or his family in some way. Arranged by city or town within each state, Gary describes places where Lincoln made speeches, stayed over night or for extended periods, went shopping, attended concerts and theatre events, resided, went to school, and a myriad of other events too numerous to list. Gary also lists Civil War sites that played important roles during his presidency. The number of sites detailed is impressive (many hundreds easily), and fortunately there's an excellent index listing them all. With all that, I noticed one site here in NJ that he overlooked: the burial spot near Allentown of Lincoln's great-great grandparents' three-year-old child, Deborah Lincoln. Granted, it's not a major site by any means, but neither are a lot of the other places in Gary's book, and there's a roadside monument marking it to boot. Lincoln aficionados should find this book fascinating, especially as they plot out all the excursions they'd like to take from Vermont to Louisiana checking out the sites. But even if you don't leave the house the book is loaded with interesting tidbits regarding Lincoln, his life and legacy. Recommended.

Dieses Buch, wie sein Thema, wird wie ein Ziegelsteinouthouse aufgebaut. Unassailable Forschung. Gute Arbeit, Don.

This book is an excellent study, in marvelous detail
and analysis, of one of Frank Lloyd Wright's masterpieces
of architecture. Too often the words "artist" and
"genius" only dimly suggest the true nature of the
person or work being discussed; but this book with
its keen and accurate delineations about Robie,
the client and his desires, Wright, the architect/
artist/genius and his desires, and the work of art
itself -- the Robie House -- help one to fully
understand the harmonious combination of elements
which can come together in producing a masterpiece.
The author of this work is Donald Hoffmann, and
he has himself produced a work of magnificence
in this full presentation of the design and execution
of a "dream house." Hoffmann gives full and interesting
accounts of Robie and of Wright as their two psyches
come together to promote an "idealized" artwork which
pleases both client and architect.
The book also has wonderful footnotes filled
with insightful comments and quotes. Here is
an example of one:

Louis H. Sullivan at the end of his life wrote
quite beautifully that Wright was gifted with
"an apprehension of the material,so delicate as
to border on the mystic, and yet remain coordinate
with those facts we call real life." (p. 31)

The text itself is filled with suggestive and
provocative commentary:

Wright's ideal was the comprehensive and unified
work of art, the *Gesamtkunstwerk. German culture
fascinated him. He spoke of Bach and Beethoven
as the two greatest architects, and he confessed
his love for the old Germany of Goethe, Schiller,
even Nietzsche. (p. 14)

Wright stood almost alone in his intuition of
the prairie. * * * Everything about the site
suggested a long, low, stream-lined, ship-like
house: the prairie, the nearby lake, the new
sense of speed, * * * and the shape of the lot ,
three times as long as it was wide. (p. 17)

Radical and masculine, the Robie house would be
built in a part of Chicago characteristically
stern and urbane. (p. 13)
-------------
The book is filled with "160 carefully selected
illustrations" --which include architectural
drawings and many photos, both of the house,
of Robie and his family, of Wright, and of some
of Wright's other previous houses leading up to
the Robie House. Hoffmann also did excellent
research by gaining access to complete
taped transcripts by Robie, and interviews with
Robie's son, and others.

There is something very compelling and involving
to my sense perceptions about Wright's long, sleek,
tiered approach to architecture, as well as the
various designs of lamps and chairs and lights
which he included in the house. But on seeing the
photos of the dining room...and the rigid but
beautiful "Gothic" like chairs, as well as the
photos of the "stuff" that the Robie family
cluttered the Spartan rooms with in their
attempts to "customize" it to their living
desires...the house seems incredibly beautiful,
but not incredibly utilitarian: idealized, abstract,
geometric beauty and organic harmony with the
beauty and structure of Nature, but not necessarily
"organic" in its relation to people and "common
creature" comforts.

who wrote some of the 20th century's most important books before he died at 32.

As a third generation native San Franciscan pushing 80, I am fascinated with what went on in my native city before me.