Illinois Books

You won't believe how much information is packed within 290 pages. I am not an actor, but after reading The Book I certainly have no doubts on how to get started, and I would be able to do so with confidence. The Book details how to relocate to Chicago, find trainers, coaches, photographers, write a resume, get an agent, cut a demo tape, join the union, break into theater or improv, and run a small theater company. Tons and tons and even tons of resources!

The writing is enjoyable to read, enthusiastic...and humorous!...

Booker T. leaps off the pages of this dusty volume and he is a living breathing person. His charisma and energy left me exhausted. One day he is making bricks for his college, the next he is touring New England to raise funds. His wives and friends die of exhaustion around him. I read this book by mistake. I thought it was an assignment for a class(the actual assignment was a thin biography). I took this thick and dusty volume full of footnotes on vacation to the mountains. I decided to skim it and avoid the footnotes. After the first chapter, I read every footnote and the entire volume. These are Booker's journal entries and personal papers. He literally steps out of the pages and you are totally emersed in the beginnings of Tuckaseegee and every aspect of his life. He makes the time and place as real as if you were there. I actually became exhausted by his energy and the mountain of activities he was engaged in at the time. Prior to reading this book, I was not interested in him at all. After reading it, I think he is one of history's underrated characters. This is perhaps one of the most fascinating journals I have ever read on the art of leadership.

Born in the Illinois Cornfields is a wonderful non-fiction book about a young boy growing up during the depression on an Illinois farm. The author paints vivid pictures in your head of what it was like to use an outhouse, milk the cows and work the cornfields with "real horse power." The book is a delight to read for it recalls the youthful energy that we can all remember. I laughed out loud many times during the book thinking "there is no way that could happen in today's society." I was often reminded of the adventures of Huck Finn on the Mississippi but instead it was the adventures Alvin Decker on an Illinois farmsted.

I ordered three copies of the book Bosnian Americans of Chicagoland by Samira Puskar. I've been researching my family history this past year.
My father came from Bosnia with his brother in 1905 and settled in Chicago. I didn't know much about our family but wanted to know more. I gave 2 copies of the book to my older sister and brother. They found the book very interesting and recognized some of the people and places from the many pictures in the book. The book was very helpful and informative for me in researching my family history. I ordered the book Immigration and Assimilation by Senad Agic about the Bosnian Muslim Experience in Chicago. This book is another good source of additional information about the Bosnian American experience that I found very interesting and helpful.

This is a great book. It's another one of those "what would I have done if I was there?" Frankly, I don't know. It's easy to ponder what I would have done or what the right thing to do under those circumstances was from a warm office, 52 years after the fact. The author packed in a lot of historical information about the Korean War, the POW experience, and the courts-martial, but also kept the characters alive and the book read like a great but tragic novel. Some of the characters in the book, such as PFC Rothwell Floyd or SGT Gallagher were despicable and richly deserved their convictions and sentences. The rest, like COL Liles, LTC Fleming, and Major Alley seemed to be only doing what they needed to in order to survive and save their men. At some point though, it seems like some of the POWs began crossing the line and doing more than what they needed to survive. This book confirmed the absolute evil of communism and its double-speak with words such as "justice", "peace", etc. that were used to mask its real agenda. It was also ironic how many of the Chinese and North Korean interrogators were highly educated people who had studied English at American universities. This book really shows the depravity that men can sink to under some circumstances.

This book presents an excellent resource of the history of the Village of Brookfield, Cook County, Illinois. The work begins with the colorful background of S. Gross, the real estate developer of the community and for whom the community was originally named (Grossdale) - until a dispute arose between the residents and Mr. Gross. Within the history of the community (composed of Grossdale, West Grossdale/Congress Park, and Hollywood) is to be found the history of the Chicago Zoological Park, commonly known as the Brookfield Zoo. Well recommended for information on the early development of a western Chicago suburb during the 1890's. Filled with many interesting anecdotes.

The authors clearly present the factors that, on one hand, allow industrial and commercial property eyesores to exist, and on the other hand, those factors that can redevelop them into valuable modern real estate. The NST/Engineers, Inc. reviewers have participated in brownfields remediation designs and in the development of estimated costs for remediation, sometimes extending decades into the future. Brownfields are, according to an EPA definition, "...abandoned, idled, or underused industrial and commercial sites where expansion or redevelopment is complicated by real or perceived environmental contamination that can add cost, time and uncertainty to a redevelopment project."

A few decades ago industrialists eyeing real estate for acquisition would be concerned about the use they could foresee, the asking price, zoning potential, the neighborhood, and a few other particulars. Rarely were they deeply concerned about what had gone on at the property in past years. Now, one of the first things a prospective buyer wants to know is "what might have gone on here in past years that has resulted in contamination of structures, the grounds, subsurface, or any water bodies." Property owners have similar concerns, but they have more information. So that both buyers and sellers wonder what magnitude of environmental remediation costs would be required for various redevelopment projects. The authors take the reader through the major considerations of both buyer and seller. They treat both the private and municipal redeveloper.

Their case studies, though largely drawn from their Chicago experiences, emphasize the careful planning and execution steps required in redevelopment anywhere. Based on data from less than 200 sites, the cost of brownfields redevelopment has been estimated to be just under $60,000 per acre. Cleanup of contamination, where it occurs, has been estimated at 8% of the total cost of redevelopment. The authors make an excellent point that much more cooperation is needed between interested parties to expand brownfields redevelopment. Venture groups are needed consisting of environmental scientists and engineers, capital providers, insurance specialists, real estate experts, and an experience project management team. Not to be forgotten is "due diligence". For a brownfields purchaser this means an in-depth analysis of the physical, economic, and legal conditions of any property in question. The authors describe how this analysis must have much more depth to it than the due diligence involved with purchase of an uncompromised industrial property. Federal, state, and local environmental officials, and governmental officials must appreciate the importance of rejuvenating unused brownfields as opposed to converting more fertile farms to industrial properties. And finally those officials must have the will to find ways to make a remediation happen. Individuals in all of the above occupations are well-advised to read this book.

As a model of an up-to-date state initiative to hasten brownfields remediation, the authors provide the details of the Illinois Pollution Control Board's Tiered Approach to Corrective Action Objectives ("TACO").

"The seeds of Frank Lloyd Wright's architectural philosophy are found in his Home and Studio at Oak Park, Illinois. It was here--from 1889 to 1909--that Wright tested his theories, which would coalesce into his famed Prairie style. Always experimenting with materials, forms, colors and the shaping of space, Wright constantly remodeled the Home and Studio, adapting to the changing needs of his family and work. By the 1970s, after the Home and Studio had been remodeled still more and sold several times, the unique structure, fabrics, and materials that so defined Wright's establishment had all but disappeared.

"Recognizing the importance of the Home and Studio, the city of Oak Park and the Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust (then the Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio Foundation) set out to revitalize the community and preserve the historic building. Building a Legacy is a fascinating pictorial story of the incredible thirteen-year restoration effort.

"With conversational text, informative sidebars, and historic and present-day photographs and drawings, the book commemorates the dedicated efforts of community volunteers and paid workers. Covering the grassroots efforts to raise money, the detailed plan for the restoration, and the painstaking efforts necessary to complete the project, Building a Legacy documents this successful achievement of saving an intimate creation of one of the world's greatest architects."--Borders

Building Chicago: Suburban Developers And The Creation Of A Divided Metropolis by Ann Durkin Keating (Associate Professor of History, North Central College, Naperville, Illinois) is a painstakingly researched and skillfully presented history of Chicago's various suburbs, ranging from their mid-nineteenth century origins as a means to escape cholera outbreaks to their post World War II proliferation, down to the present day. A candid, accessible account filled with technical details, legal tug-of-war, and an often-overlooked piece of history about one of America's most famous cities, Building Chicago is a strongly recommended addition to American History and Urban Studies supplemental reading lists and academic reference collection.

There is no other equivelent for studying Burmese in english other than John Okell's books. I have the entire series along with the tapes and they are all excellent. My only wish is that these tapes will be converted to CD. I learned Burmese from my parents, but cannot read, write, or understand formal speech. His series of books and tapes have helped me tremendously.