Illinois Books

This is an awesome book for parents or anyone who is always looking for something to do with children. I can't wait to get this book for every one of my friends and family members who have kids. Finally, something that fits in my purse and is a veritable treasure of information about where to go to inspire, educate and entertain children!

From its opening pages, Chicago's New Negroes delivers a knockout punch. Baldwin opens his monograph with a retelling of Jack Johnson's 1910 heavyweight victory and its impact on Black Chicago, and thus only begins to weave an epic and compelling tapestry that demonstrates how Black people "acted" rather than were "acted upon." He resituates ideas once limited to discussions of the Harlem Renaissance and moves them geographically to Great Migration-era Chicago. There, dots are connected to demonstrate the very tangible relationship between consumer culture and intellectual life.

To the reader's delight, Baldwin resists the tendency to provide a straightforward "history" of African Americans in Chicago in the early twentieth century. While the text does follow the stories and innovations of such major players as Madame CJ Walker, Thomas A. Dorsey, Oscar Micheaux and baseball's Rube Foster, it also provides a much needed space in which we get to hear the thoughts and words of everyday people, those who sat in beauty parlors, enjoyed the early years of cinema, attended sporting events, and made a way despite the racial, social and economic limitations. We soon determine that southern migrants to Chicago brought with them not country ways, but entirely new, entirely modern, ways of thinking.

For authors, allowing everyday people to speak for themselves is sometimes difficult. Yet, Baldwin manages to make these voices heard and it is a credit to his writing style. His presentation is especially adept in the sports chapter. Here, Baldwin takes the reader on a tour of Black Chicago's various "playgrounds." We have no problem envisioning the juking, the fakes, the fast forwards, the trucking, the passing and dribbling and their possible meanings for building a better world.

Through chapters devoted to the "mapping" of the Black Metropolis, beauty culture, film exhibition and filmmaking, the rise of gospel music and the sporting life, Baldwin allows a glimpse into a world of possibility, a world where popular culture is just as, if not more, worthy of study as so-called arts and letters. He forces a new understanding of even the Harlem Renaissance, an ambitious project for sure. While the book is a scholarly monograph, Baldwin's forays into social and cultural theory are so nuanced as to make the book accessible to a wider audience. And for that we should be thankful. Even though the urgent and triumphant stories within Chicago's New Negroes take place seventy five or a hundred years ago, the lessons we learn from them and the hope we take with us when we close the book are timeless. And are even more so in an era when Black culture is appropriated, diffused, and often taken for granted.

John W. Stamper is a man's man. He hit the spot with this book, this masterpiece of architectural history on Chicago's North Michigan Ave. hit home with me. I can't wait until his next book, PLEASE! John W. Stamper, WRITE MORE!

This book is a small jewel, reflecting all the riches of Chicago's fusion of architecture and landscape, with beautiful photographs, useful
maps and suggested tours. A real treasure!

This wonderful little book is part of the Images of America series, and focuses on Chicago, Illinois during and immediately after World War II. It is chock full of images covering everything from women ordinance workers through Baby Boomers and the rise of Richard J. Daley. The pictures are organized into first Wartime Chicago and then Post-War Chicago, and within those broad categories are further organized by subject.

This is a neat little book! The pictures are all crystal clear, and have well-written captions. My family lived in Chicago during WW2, and when my father marched off the rest of the family continued on. Well, with this book I could actually look in at their world, and see what it was like. I really enjoyed this book, and don't hesitate to recommend it to everyone who is interested in the history of the common people.

I received this book from a friend after visiting Chicago and falling in love with the city and it's architectural wonders. The pictures are exceptional. The photographer not only captures magnificent shots, he also envelops you in the color saturated tones and contrasts. If your from Chicago, this is a great book to remind you of the great city you're from. If you're not, this is a great book to show you just a glimpse of how enamoring the "second city" can be.

Most of the pictures were great, some were just lame- like they took a bunch of pictures indiscriminately and threw the book together. But I got the book supercheap and my uncle loves it.

It's a wonderful coffee table book, resource book for academia, gift to a visitor or new resident. Beautifully done. The book showcases the city through a lavishly depicted photo journal, and through a series of self-composed profiles, highlights the city's best and brightest organizations that drive the economic engine in our great city. Stories are historical and display the commitment to progress that exists in Chicago.

The back cover gives a general idea of the calendar format, listing events througout the calendar pages. But inside it's far more attractive...The graphics on the calendar itself are really creative and there's enough space to put your own events. What's nice about this calendar vs using the internet to find events, is... when you turn the page the festivals and other events are right there to encourage us to go out and check out what's going on around us. It presents a good overview of Chicagoland events and it is fun to look at as well.

Artist Dale Chihuly's forty-year career continues to surprise and astound as he radically transforms perceptions about the medium of glass. In this beautifully illustrated book, you will see Chihuly's extraordinary installations at the Garfield Park Conservatory in Chicago. He has taken glass well beyond the traditional display case, out into nature itself. The brilliance of color and form of the glass, and the plants it is set among, creates a new reality within the conservatory. Long before arriving at Garfield's gate, Chihuly had been placing his work in unusual settings, often outdoors. From the canals of Venice to the historic walls of the ancient city of Jerusalem, Chihuly has worked his magic. These images, side by side with Chihuly's quotes, provide insight into the personality of this major artist, and show the wide range of his interests as well as his sense of humor.
An essay by Barbara Rose addresses Chihuly's place in art history, while the essay by Garfield Conservatory director Lisa C. Roberts provides a history of garden conservatories captured so effectively in the vintage postal cards from Chihuly's own collection that open the book). Artist Mark McDonnell explores the intriguing locations that Chihuly is drawn to and his ongoing interest in glass buildings.
2002 hardcover
15 x 9½"
192 pages, 97 color reproductions