Illinois Books

I read this book when I was writing my disstertation for the University. I found it both competent, giving facts and details, and also entertainig. Extremely well-written it is a book that gives the reader a deep insight into British society and its customs.

This is a must for the coffee table for any one living in or having a connection to Wheaton.

No matter what your background, interest, or age, you will find someone in this book to catch your interest. Scientists, athletes, authors, explorers, etc. etc.

Mary Anne Phemister, the author, gives a concise and compelling biographical sketch of each notable. Her biographies are informative and seem to capture the 'spirit' of each of the historical figures. From two centuries ago to modern-day figures, she brings the characters to life. This book covers many interesting people and stories, wide and diverse, and yet they all share a common thread. They all lived in Wheaton!

Her research is excellent, she includes details, photos and addresses not available anywhere else.

This book will start a new tradition in Wheaton, when a guest comes to visit, you calculate which Wheaton Notable would interest them the most, then on the way home from the airport, simply say... "You'll never guess who grew up in that house..."

For families pressed for time, and money great ideas. Offers insightful tips and gives great fun trip ideas.

This is the finest regimental histroy I have read. The 55th was one of the hardest fighting units in the west, and their history is a must read for all civil war buffs.

I am particularly interested in American and British drama from the first half of the 20th century. My favorite American playwright is Robert E. Sherwood, my favorite American play is Sherwood's "The Road to Rome," and my second favorite American play is "Abe Lincoln in Illinois."

I lost all sense of time and place while reading "Abe." I forgot I was sitting on a couch in NYC, and thought I was back in Illinois with Honest Abe.

Sherwood is a FOUR-TIME Pulitzer Prize winner, and it makes me sad that this brilliant playwright is so sorely neglected, and that so many people give you a puzzled look when you mention his name.

Read this play, read the aforementioned "Road to Rome" (a love story, a laugh-out-loud comedy, and ALSO a "message play"), and your literary life will be enriched. (Trust me, I've read hundreds of plays, and heck, it ain't a piece of cake to win even ONE Pulitzer!!)

I was very impressed with this book. Once I started reading I couldn't stop. If you love mysteries -- the one's you can't figure out within the first five minutes -- read this. It grabs you from the start and doesn't let you go. This book should be read by every mystery lover. Don't let the religious undertone fool you; it is well-written and sexy. I can't wait for his next book!

The author succiently (204 pages) uses the ongoing Indo-Pakistani conflict as a study to compare and evaluate deterrence theory and non-proliferation theory. Hagerty also adepty explaines the major focal points for this crisis. Perfect for students examining South Asia or aspects of nuclear proliferation.

Now, there's no empirical way to prove the above statement, but given the dominance of social-science conventions in writing on African history, "Magomero" is an obvious front-runner. Landeg White is a gifted literary stylist, and this book often reads like a novel (when someone says that, make sure they're not thinking of "Finnegan's Wake"). It is a study of a village in southern Malawi (colonial Nyasaland) over 100+ years, but it is much more than that too.

White's sense of drama is aided by some highly dramatic personages who figure prominently in his story. The most famous is missionary-explorer David Livingstone, a perennially fascinating, complex and influential shaper of the continent's destiny. He visited Magomero, site of the ill-fated Universities' Mission to Central Africa, frequently on two expeditions in the 1850s and 1860s. White perceptively examines the ambiguities of Livingstone's antislavery crusade, not least the paradox of purchasing slaves in order to free them---thus inadvertently stimulating the market. But John Chilembwe is just as interesting: a Malawian Protestant minister and protonationalist who studied in the USA, founded an independent mission, and eventually died leading a doomed rebellion against British rule in 1915. The later chapters are not as event-oriented, but the lucid accounts of cash cropping and womens' work are probably more representative of daily life in the colonial era, and a major contribution to social and economic history.

"Magomero" does not have detailed source notes (they tend to scare off the mass audience White aims for here), but references to scholars' names without the titles of their works ensure that only specialists can swiftly identify White's sources. The other problem is that the author's own account of villagers' accepting his presence and explanation of his research is awkwardly unconvincing; it would be more credible in the words of Malawians themselves, without assuming that they care about associations with long-dead muzungus (Europeans). These minor faults aside, this is the most enjoyable scholarly book I've come across in nearly 20 years in African Studies. For more on the area's history, see E. Mandala, "Work and Control in a Peasant Economy" and M. Vaughan, "The Story of an African Famine." G. Shepperson & T. Price, "Independent African," a classic on Africa, tells the Chilembwe story with great depth and sensitivity. For an authentic Nyasaland account based on oral data from participants in the Rising, see G.S. Mwase, "Strike a Blow and Die."

I was there when this book had it's lauch. My grandfather's picture is prominently displayed on one of the pages and a few of his quotes as well as mention of my great grandmother singing.

The tales bring me back to the greatest generation and the life my grandparents endured. A majority of the memories are from one Adirondack Woodsmen but many of their stories and songs are fantastic. Straight from the early 1900's and taken shortly before most of these men passed on.

If the author is still alive and reads this thank you. Do you still have the tapes from your interviews? I'd love to hear my grandfather on tape!

Inger Stole's book is an incredibly important tale of a forgotten history, the period in the 1930s when organized citizens stood up to and attempted to limit the power and influence of corporate propaganda in the form of the then nascent and now dominant corporate advertising industry. That fight was lost, as have been most important battles since against the intrusion of corporations into genuine culture and civil society. I hope this is the first of regular future books by Inger Stole who has an important place beside Klein, Ewen, Nader, McChesney and other critics of corporate power over our daily lives as citizens.