Illinois Books

My nephew loved it. He grew up in Milwaukee, went to school and lives in California. He comes to Chicago about every other year.

This book has beautifull photographs. The book is much deeper than other Chicago architecture books because it has a well thought out historical review of the progression of Chicago architecture. Interesting even for the lay person like me.

I thought this book was very interesting it has great pictures of the buildings in Chicago. It has alot of information about the beginning of when Architects wanted to build something modern but unqiue at the same time. Get inspired by the great exterior and interior of these amazing buildings.

This book provides an excellent introduction to Chicago's numerous schools of architecture over the years. It also provides a photographic tour of the city's important buildings, from the late 1800s to the present day. The photography is great! Highly recommended for fans of Chicago or architecture buffs in general.

This book described many of the significant architects in Chicago history. I found it to be informative and very readable. It is the best book I have found which summarizes Chicago Architecture. The color photograghs are excellent

while in France recently at Chalon-sur-Soane I visited their photography museum. They were doing a special exhibit of this work. I was so totally impressed on how Miller could capture these photos while seeming to be invisable to his subjects that I investigated when I returned and discovered that this book was available. I bought TWO; one for myself and one for my daughter who is a serious photographer.

These striking images of Bronzeville -- "Chicago's Harlem" -- will blow you away. The humanity they portray, in all its beaten-down, lifted-up, heartbreaking reality, makes me wish I knew personally every man and woman depicted herein.

Wayne Miller, a white photographer now well into his 80s, went into the Bronzeville ghetto over a two-year period and made these touching pictures; then they "went into a drawer" for 40 years, until finally the Univ of Calif Press published this book. (The book itself is as well-produced a book of photographs as you are likely to find anywhere.)

My grandfather Nathan Joseph ran the States Theatre at 3507 S. State St., in the heart of Bronzeville, for some 50 years (unfortunately the States is not depicted herein). I myself have written a novel of Bronzeville called "To Love Mercy" (Mid-Atlantic Highlands, ISBN 0-9744785-3-9). A historical Afterword appears at the end of "To Love Mercy;" it is an oral history of Bronzeville, in the voices of a dozen people who lived there in the '40s and '50s. This Afterword is illustrated with seven of Wayne Miller's photos from "Chicago South Side, 1946-1948."

I have given close to a dozen copies of "Chicago South Side" as gifts. I was coming to Amazon to buy two more copies when I saw this opportunity to write a review.

These photos have moved me to tears. Buy this book.

This is a marvelous collection of images from everyday Balck Chicago life in the late 1940s. There are scenes of street life, back alleys, patrons at a pool hall and tavern, and night life ranging from a female personator dressing to Duke Ellington hunched at a piano at rehearsal and an ebullient Louis Jordan on stage.

This book is a treasure. I wish I could find more by this photographer (my searches have come up empty). The photographs take you right inside each scene, and often pack a powerful punch of sadness, joy, intimacy, life. The printing quality is excellent. If the publisher can collect more of his work, I will be the first customer.

This is one of the best photographic books I've seen -- ever. Wayne Miller manages to make personal contact with the human beings who lived on Chicago's South Side in a way that few photographers have ever matched. The warmth and complexity of these photographs, the compassion and human understanding involved, are most remarkable -- especially since the photographer stood on the other side of America's terrible racial divide from his subjects. Anyone who loves classic documentary photography, or who simply loves human beings in their complexity, should order this book.

Huasipungo(the villagers) truly is one of the best novels to read if you want to understand the transformation South American society was going through at the turn of the 19th and 20th century, as a result of the invasion of the Spanish. The native indians became slaves of their own lands now controlled by the powerful criollos or peninsulares of Spain and their descendants. It is sad to think that if you travel to Ecuador today you will still see the unfair distribution of goods and land relevant to what is going on in the novel. Although definitely there have been strong changes in society, in general those of prominent white background are way better off than the indigenous or the mestizos. This novel is one of those novels that stand the test of time and feel as fresh as when it was written in the middle 1930s. Very entertaining reading, and at the same time, compelling and sad. Very highly recommended especially for students of latin american studies and history and worldly people in general.

I read this book many years ago and it is the only book that has told of that brutality that is endemic and daily in this beautiful, yet sad country of Ecuador. Ycasa is the real heroe in our historical voyage. He has stuck his neck out and has told a story-amongs many- that reveal the destructive, oppresive, and racist nature of his society. His sense of justice and solidarity with the poor and the indians are as powerful as his indignation of the established oligarchy and it's system.

"The Villagers," a novel by Jorge Icaza of Ecuador, was first published in 1934. It has been translated into English by Bernard Dulsey. I think of "The Villagers" as a sort of Ecuadoran counterpart to "Uncle Tom's Cabin" (the classic anti-slavery novel by United States author Harriet Beecher Stowe). Like that earlier novel, Icaza's book is an impassioned expose of racially-charged violence and oppression.

"The Villagers" tells the story of the exploitation of Ecuadoran Indians by whites who are intent on taking economic advantage of the Indians' homeland. Icaza paints a fascinating portrait of the conflicts and twisted connections among three major groups: Indians, whites, and "cholos" (those of mixed blood). The "gringos," or white North Americans, form a sinister fourth group that lurks menacingly behind the scenes of the unfolding drama.

The novel is full of vivid, graphic details--lice infestation, a worm-infected wound, rape, suffering, and death. Icaza mercilessly satirizes the lust and greed of the white landowner, Don Alfonso. Icaza also savagely critiques the complicity of the church (in the form of the hypocritical village priest) in the abuse of the Indians. And the author also exposes the insidious debt bondage that turns nominally "free" people into virtual slaves.

Some of the more villainous characters seem a bit one-dimensional, but in my opinion the many strengths of the book outweigh this flaw. "The Villagers" is a powerful work of social protest that deserves a wide readership.

Vile language, adultery, human suffering, courage, fear, love, guile--Icaza portrays TRUE HUMANITY in his first book The Villagers (Huasipungo),one of this century's greatest novels. As a professor of French and Spanish literature I have had many students ask me who Jorge Icaza was and why there are no other novels by Icaza available for them to read. The answer is that Jorge Icaza is one of the most complex writers in the Spanish language. Translating him is a task that no one wishes to take on because it may take them their whole lives to complete. It is sad because Icaza wrote some of the greatest novels of this century, ie., El Chulla Romero y Flores. As a translator of 4 novels, I myself am terrified of Icaza's prose. Jorge Icaza is the author of 7 novels (he left behind the draft for an 8th novel), 4 collections of short stories, and 7 plays. Bernard M. Dulsey did a great job in the translation. Of course he had help from Icaza himself, something which no translator can now have since Icaza died in 1972. Readers are fortunate to have this novel available in the English. Perhaps the greatest pre-Magic novel of Latin-America.

Jorge Icaza had a dream just like Martin Luther King, except his dream was not meant toward the United States, his dream was meant toward his people of Ecuador who, like people in the United States, are prejudiced against people who are of different races, and different economic statuses, etc. Jorge Icaza wrote his first novel The Villagers as the first step (in a series of steps) to make the dream come true. In it he portrays the Indian people of Ecuador as they truly are, as well as the landowners and government leaders, and the ways in which these ruthlessly treat the Indians. Religion plays a big role in this novel. Icaza leaves no prisoners, everyone in Ecuadorean society is criticized, including the mestizoes, persons of both European and American Indian descent. Icaza's 1934 novel is studied in many of the top universities of the United States in classes of Spanish, Comparative Literature, and Anthropology. I suggest this book to those who are interested in learning about Latin America and its peoples. I think people will be shocked and appalled. Icaza is by far the most important Indianist novelist Latin America ever brought forth, as well as one of Ecuador's most finest and important writers.

During a recent trip to Chicago, I used several guide books to plan and use during the holiday, and I found this particular reference the one I used most frequently and the one I threw in the backpack as we headed out the door. This guide was indispensable, containing suggested itineraries, an overview of the city, great ideas for excursions -- tours, strolls, attractions, shopping and entertainment -- as well as a history of the city and superb chapters on hotels and restaurants. We stayed at a hotel that is surprisingly inexpensive and in a great location, with which our native friends were impressed! The guide is written in a friendly style, is well-organized, has lots of maps, and is jam-packed with useful information.

A superb guide to Chicago for families. Highy recommended.

With colorful maps and reviews of the best hotels, restaurants, and activities for the family, this guide was the only book I needed to plan the perfect trip.

With colorful maps and reviews of the best hotels, restaurants, and activities for the family, this guide was the only book I needed to plan the perfect trip.

I am a Frommer's fan! If you already have the recent Frommer's Chicago, then you may find much of the information in this book a tad redundant.

The book tackles topics pertinent to families: prices, facilities, times when families will feel most welcome, etc...

I am very happy with my purchase and will pursue other Frommer's products in the future.

Even if you've resided in or visited Chicago frequently, this guide includes activities and insight which are invaluable when traveling with children. From the best places to eat and stay to the most "kid friendly" museums and gallaries, this book has it all. A definite good buy if you want to plan the most cost effective and enjoyable family trip to Chicago.

Marvelous. Should be required reading for all college and university students.

Much of our common knowledge of U.S. civil rights movement's history comes from books and films portraying the nationally known struggles of the 1950s and 1960s. This book tells a different story - the struggles of the largely African American activists who, working without the benefit of the national spotlight, sought to open up the closed society of Mississippi to equal treatment for its African American citizens. It was a tremendous and extremely dangerous task. Mississippi was the toughest nut to crack among the Southern states. It was the most impoverished state in the union, where subjugation of African Americans was strictly enforced through intimidation, violence, disenfranchisement, job firings and economic ruin. Any sympathetic whites who dared to even question Mississippi justice were financially ruined and all but run out of the state. In this seemingly impossible to change social, political, and economic climate, a movement of local Mississippi African Americans emerged, with the help of activists from other states, who challenged the situation head-on by attempting to empower African Americans through voter registration drives, by attempting to set up cooperatives in order to gain economic power, and through education. The emphasis was not so much on organizing for desegregation of public facilities as it was on changing the power structure of Mississippi, to enfranchise its African American citizens and gain for them political and economic justice. Working from the bottom up, these activists had few allies, were largely ignored by the national media, and faced life threatening dangers on a daily and nightly basis. Many were savagely beaten, shot at, and repeatedly jailed. Several were murdered. They persisted, working diligently and out of the spotlight. Local People details the successes and failures of these every day struggles, and by doing so, lifts this aspect of the movement from obscurity to its rightful place in history. Prof. Dittmer is a first-rate writer - this book is very hard to put down once you start reading it. What emerges is a portrait of some of the most courageous people in our nation's history, such as Fannie Lou Hamer, Amzie Moore, and Bob Moses, and the local people who responded to the activists efforts. Local People is essential reading for any true understanding of the civil rights movement.

This was required reading for a graduate course in American history.

John Dittmer's Local People: The Struggle for Civil Rights in Mississippi paints a portrait of one of the most horrendous acts committed in our nation's history. The torture and abuse the black population endured just to be able to vote was unimaginable. Black men from Mississippi fought for our country in World War II but they could not have a voice in who helped run our country. They remained disenfranchised in this state. White supremacy ran rampant in Mississippi for decades.

Trying to keep blacks from voting in the 1940's made headlines in the Jackson Daily News which read: "DON'T TRY IT!": "Don't attempt to participate in the Democratic primaries anywhere in Mississippi on July 2nd* Staying away from the polls on that date will be the best way to prevent unhealthy and unhappy results." (2) Senator Theodore "The Man" Bilbo played a major role in what became known as the "reign of terror" in trying to keep blacks from voting. Although a complaint was filed with the US Senate committee to Investigate Campaign Expenditures claiming Bilbo had something to do with ostracizing blacks he denied all charges of wrongdoing and was exonerated.

The state constitution had been set up in such a manner that made it almost impossible . for any black man or woman to be able to register to vote. The four main criteria were:

1. Prevent them from registering in the first place
2. Two year residency requirement
3. Two dollar poll tax
4. "Understanding clause" which stated that any prospective voter must be able to read any section of the constitution or as an alternative, be able to understand it when read to him, or to give" a reasonable interpretation of it". (6)

The vast majority of white Mississippians believed blacks should not vote. For four decades blacks struggled against forces of white supremacy with limited success. Most of the' power coming from the "Delta Aristocracy" dominated the state politically and economically for almost half the century (10).

Racial violence was a daily reality for blacks in Mississippi. The caste system that existed before World War II still lingered and remained well into the future, After the war black activism began. Efforts began to be made for voter registration. Organizations began to form in order to advance the black population into what should already be theirs, human rights. Many still held jobs associated with slavery. Jim Crow commanded the pace of life in Mississippi. "Keeping the Negro in his place" was the duty of every white citizen (20). The black vote was not progressing the way organizations like the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) wished it would. Three of the factors that accounted for the failure to register large numbers of black votes are as follows:

1. Tactics of intimidation
2. No on to vote for
3. Registration campaigns centered on the small black middle class

Organizations such as the NAACP and the RCNl (Regional Council of Negro leadership) were both working toward the same goal; however, their differences were more territorial than ideological. They had to remember that their common enemy was the same. Mississippi came to be in a class by itself. The philosophy of the white population came to be that it was "open season" on blacks. If any black man ever achieved anything or got
ahead in any way white supremacy out ranked him every time. Voting remained the main objective for blacks for many years. They continued to have many obstacles in which to overcome in order to just get registered. The state kept the difficult tests in place and violence was EVERYWHERE.

By the early 1960's outsiders began to infiltrate the state. Freedom rides began, college students began protesting in different ways, sit-ins and demonstrations started; and during this time President Kennedy's only goal was to avoid violence. Voter registration came to a standstill after the murder of Herbert Lee, a member of the Mississippi state legislature. His murder was sending a message to the black population which was standing up for your rights in southwest Mississippi could get you killed (109). Organizers came to the realization that no progress could be made unless someone was willing to die.

The activist decide to go to the Delta which was the most oppressed and poor area of Mississippi. There they find that the poorest people are the most willing to act because they have nothing to lose. Violence follows them everywhere but patience begins to subside with the black population and they start to fight back.

James Meredith applied to Ole Miss after serving in the military and enrolling in Jackson State in 1960. His main goal was to desegregate Ole Miss. After many appeals, Meredith was admitted and the governor, Ross Barnett, had been in secret negotiations with the Kennedy' son how to keep Ole Miss from becoming integrated. The Kennedy's had trusted Barnett to keep the peace with this matter; however, on September 30, 1962 the Ole Miss riot took place when Meredith entered Oxford with federal Marshalls. When it was over two men were dead and 160 marshals were injured (140).

Hunger, illiteracy and voting were concerns that needed to be addressed immediately. The SNCC(Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee) forced the Kennedys to do what they did not want to do, to "be on somebody's side" (153). The black community became excited. They got involved. The Greenwood movement, as it was known, survived the repression it experienced and the SNCC workers returned to their projects once again. However, the federal indifference and the white narrow-mindedness did not put an end to the fight for civil rights. At the same time in Jackson they were getting ready for a campaign against segregated facilities and discriminatory employment practices. They were insisting on the use of courtesy titles, equality in hiring and promotion, and an end to Jim Crow practices (157). After gaining some momentum in their quest the NAACP decided to reverse their direction which is still unclear. In Jackson, the Kennedys' primary objective was to bring an end to violence, which meant getting black people off the streets. They preferred order to justice (169).

Violence, hunger, and hatred continued to ensue throughout the state. Pastors of black churches finally opened their doors to organizations so they would have somewhere to meet. Voting rights were still a primary goal. With more organizations in the middle of things conflicting strategies became a problem. They all wanted the same end result but the ideologies were not the same. Therefore, they each had a different opinion on how things should be done.

Willie Dillon a COFO (Council of Federated Organizations) participant and parent of children, who went to Freedom Schools, had his house bombed in McComb. The police blamed him and arrested him for operating a garage without a license. He pleaded guilty after intimidation and without the guidance of an attorney and was fired from his job. McComb's blacks were consistently bombed by the KKK, if the blacks were active. McComb's white leadership was silent. Black principals and ministers who had not been active in the COFO movement were bombed. Black residents went to the justice department, but to no avail. Eventually the government heard rumors of marshal law and white bombers were eventually arrested and the KKK terror stopped. The bombers were let off with a stern warning. With nationwide media watching, McComb desegregated for the cameras; but returned to the old way of life once the media was gone. Black activists decimated the Klan's authority and won some small battles; and some white moderate voices were beginning to be heard.

In 1964 COFO emerged as a powerful force in the election by trying to get blacks registered and voting. COFO was expanding. Some people returned to school. CORE(Congress of Racial Equality) and SNCC had low morale and few activists signed up in 1964. Women were discriminated against in SNCC as secretaries when they were qualified for much more. The Freedom Democratic Party would be an independent force, the successor to both COFO and SNCC.

Freedom Democrats contested the Mississippi elections of five House representatives. More than a third of the House membership voted to bar the Mississippi members. National publicity and lawyers came to Mississippi because of the contention. COFO and the NAACP could not agree on anything and were increasingly hostile towards each other. COFO was abolished and SNCC went under the FOP. SNCC activists were alienated from mainstream politics. White terror made it so blacks did not want to vote. Natchez was a town of the "Old South". Charles Evers emerged as that section of Mississippi's main leader and played the organizations against each other. The Natchez blacks demanded equality in the police force, government and business or the blacks would boycott white stores. FOP did not agree with Evers, but Evers won with popularity. He was cautious and did not march when the other organizations thought they should. Evers went against FOP thought and ended the boycott to white stores that had compromised. FOP was on the major decline, defeated in Natchez. FOP
money was running tight. New strategies would have to be employed.

In early April 1965 the Mississippi Freedom Labor Union (MFLU) and the Child Development Group of Mississippi (CDGM) were created to organize black farm and domestic workers in the Delta region. The MFLU efforts failed not only because the traditional hostility of white Mississippians toward all labor unions, but also because farm workers had no leverage to use against the planters. Efforts to form farmers cooperatives in the region barely made a dent in the problems of black unemployment and poverty. CDGM was one of the nation's pioneer Head Start programs, providing poor children with preschool training, medical care, and two hot meals a day. It also provided employment at decent wages for hundreds of local teachers and paraprofessionals at Head Start centers.

On June 4, 1966, James Meredith began his 220 mile walk from Memphis to Mississippi's state capital of Jackson to challenge the fear that was still dominant among black Mississippians and to convince them it was now safe to register and vote in the Magnolia State. On the second day, Meredith was shot, but while he was recuperating leaders of the national civil rights organizations continued the march. During the first week of the Meredith march there were few white hecklers. Local officials were eager to avoid incidents of violence and the march itself had an informal and relaxed quality. That all changed during the final ten days with familiar tactics of repression and mob violence; but it also became more militant as the ideological and philosophical divisions among its leaders became more apparent (395 & 396). When the march ended anticlimactically on June 26th, and the national civil rights leadership left the state - fighting over who would pay the march's bills - Mississippi was still segregated, black poverty was still getting worse, and local black Mississippians were still left to pick up the pieces.

SNCC as an organization had little impact on the Mississippi movement after 1966; it had become preoccupied with internal problems centering on the definition and implications of black power and it had voted to expel all whites from the organization in December 1966. The local people, who had been the backbone of the old COFO coalition and the Freedom Democratic Party (FOP), faced challenges from black and white political moderates. FOP leaders agreed that the 1967 state and local elections would make or break their party (410). In the face of urban race riots in the North, and calls for revolution among black nationalists, FOP continued to work within the political system and welcomed support from all people who identified with its theme of black empowerment. State legislative strategies conspired to dilute black voting strength(gerrymandering congressional districts, creating multimember legislative districts requiring at-large voting, and increased filing requirements for independent candidates); this, combined with black political infighting and white intimidation limited FOP's achievements (411-415).

Recommended reading for anyone interested in American history, civil rights history.

In my opinion this work looks at the civil rights movement in a way that all historians shoud take note of. Dittmer's in-depth bottom up look at the way movements happen allows a deeper understanding of the incredible struggles that local Mississippians went through for a few small steps toward racial equality. It also knocks the national leaders (JFK, LBJ, MLK) off the pedestals that mainstream history has placed under them and shows the truly peripheral role that they played in the struggle.

If you have any interest in the civil rights movement in Mississippi, this is the work you should turn to. It has great depth and is written with an enthusiastic flair that is not often found in similar works. I echo the comment....you won't be able to put it down until the last page is read.

The Longest Cave is a book which will hold you spellbound and wishing it would never end! Roger Brucker and "Red" Watson were young men 50 years ago when they first toured what was then known as Floyd Collin's Crystal Cave. This book is the story of how they and so many others dedicated days, months and years to seek out new passageways deep underground. In the case of Roger and Red, they dedicated decades and continue to work to preserve the very fragile cave environment.

This book has everything that you would want not only in a book but in a feature blockbuster movie! Adventure, Suspense, Humor, Friendship, Excitement, Discovery, Danger, and around every corner lurks the Unknown which would leave any movie-goer on the edge of their seat! All this without the gore and crime which seems to be the standard in so many books and movies today.

I HIGHLY recommend this book for anyone of any age!!! What makes this even more amazing is that this is a true story.

What these men and women accomplished is the equivalent of climbing Mount Everest in the DARK and without ever having seen a map of it! This is the American Dream of hard work, dedication, comraderie, and perseverance.

We have movies of Everest and Space Exploration and I look forward to the movie based on this book!
Without a doubt "The Longest Cave" will far surpass any movie on the above-mentioned topics.

Thanks Roger and Red for an AWESOME book!

This book is the best book I've ever came across! Outstanding adventure of how the World's Largest Cave System ever came about. The discoveries in this book are amazing! Suspence to the fullest! The people in this book who made this discovery should be noted as the best exploration team of all time! I can only amagine the feeling they got knowing they had made the biggest connection in cave history to this day. It would be almost impossible for anyone else to top the discovery in this book. An amazing adventure!! I couldn't stop reading this book over and over. The authors of this book should give the story to Hollywood to make into a motion picture. I could imagine this story making the best adventure movie of all time. Ron Howard or Steven Speilburg should be given a copy of this book! It would be a hit! I wish I had the full video tape of this expidition. National Geographic's short segment in "Mysteries Underground" was a tease. If anyone knows where or if there is such a tape, please post it! This is a must read if you like adventure to the fullest!

If you like adventure, if you like caves, if you like drama and suspense, or if you breath in and out regularly and have a pulse, you really ought to read this book. The story of the years it took to connect the Flint Ridge/Mammoth cave systems, it sweeps the reader into the wonderfully obsessive world of the Flint Ridge Cavers. A great book. Strongly reccomended.

I bought this book about 15 years ago while visiting Mammoth Cave National Park. I still enjoy rereading it from time to time. It is the sort of book one hates to see end.

The book narrates the history of the discovery that Kentucky's Flint Ridge-Mammoth Cave system of caves is by far the world's longest known series of continuously-connected caverns. The writers and their many cohorts are not only daring adventurers, but a collection of cavers who deeply appreciate the mystery, beauty and science of caves.

A very interesting part of the book is the well-developed character sketches of the many explorers, a good number of whom participated in parts of the long, arduous struggle to discover the connections between five different large caves so as to make them one.

The overriding star of the show is the cave system itself, and the book contains many facinating portions about the beauty, danger, wonder, and history of the things found there by explorers dating back to prehistoric Native Americans, forward.

After a frustrating series of events, including an initial startling lack of interest/resistance by National Park personnel, progress begins to be made in leaps and bounds. When the Ohio cavers find that the Flint Ridge system is the longest then know, an effort is taken up to connect it with Mammoth Cave.

In a spine-tingling narrative about going past the "Tight Spot", a very small passage, the cavers eventually make the connection by going down in Flint Ridge and emerging in a well-known Mammoth Cave tourist gallery. The sense of truiumph and relief is overwhelming and excellently captured.

My size and age prohibit me from doing the things described in this book, and I have never done them. But I was captivated from start to finish by the story of these brave, resourceful people and the cave system they explored and charted. It is as if I am there myself.

My only quibble is that the photographs are limited and in black and white, but the excellent descriptive writing overcomes this factor. I love the book. Very, very highly recommended.

Caves have been intertwined with Kentucky history since a man named Houchins chased a bear into Mammoth cave in the late 1700s. Later on, the valley north of Mammoth Cave was named after this early settler, and the ridge north of Houchins' Valley was called Flint Ridge. Starting in the early 1950s a group of cavers began a lifelong ambition of connecting the caves on the northern ridge (Flint Ridge) to the caves on the southern ridge (Mammoth Cave Ridge). Their goal was simple: To map the Longest Cave. This book covers that time. Along with 'The Caves Beyond' and 'Trapped', this book constitutes an informal trilogy about Mammoth Cave. It is a story of determination over hardship, of perseverence over fatigue, of triumph over nature. Roger Brucker and Red Watson write this book with the confidence of people that were there. From the very beginning, their influence on the project helped mold it into what it was to become. We see them age, from young men in their ealry twenties, to grizzled Flint Ridge veterans to seeing their children caving alongside them. There is a real sense of the passage of time here; people come, people go, the cave is eternal. Fiction should hope to be so true. Dominating all this is the cave. It is all pervading. Over three hundred miles of passage lies under their feet, and the reader fells as if he is crawling, climbing and squirming along with them. We feel the explorer's chill they wade through Hanson's Lost River, we feel their pain as they crawl through Agony Avenue. We satand alongside them as they are awed by the vastness and remoteness of Unknown Cave. Above all else, it is the story of the people who explore the cave. For fourty years, cavers have been gathering in Central Kentucky to explore this cave. To mankind, the cave is eternal. We may choos to protect it, we may, in our ignorance deface it. Either way, we live our lives by interacting with it. Or to put it in the books words: "That is where life is, that is where your friends are".

Read this b! ook.

First of all...Mr. Lowe obviously has a deep rooted love for our wonderful city of Chicago. Most importantly...he is ensuring future generations and historians the ability to reference so many facts. This simply said...is an incredible work of love and a dedicated effort.
Thank You Mr. Lowe...my children's children will know what an important part that Chicago has played as our nation grew and prospered.

L. Curt Erler Author of "Southside Kid"

Stunning photos of a beautiful city. This book is truly a step back to a time when buildings were built to withstand centuries, although tragically these examples did not. Chicago has some of the most impressive examples of architecture in the country and this book is a powerful archive of not only what the city was, but what it is today. I wish there was a similar book on the buildings of Detroit, many of which are sadly slipping into oblivion.

In Lost Chicago, historian David Lowe explores the architectural and cultural history of America's great "heartland" city. This is a community who architectural heritage was all to often squandered during the last five decades of its growth and evolution. Lowe's elegant, and informative text is wonderfully enhanced with more than 270 rare, period photos and prints (many of them published here for the first time). Lost Chicago is a celebration of the age of Gustavus Swift and Philip D. Armour and the greatest stockyards in the world; when Cyrus McCormick, Potter Palmer, George Pullman, and Marshall Field were the national barons of business and industry; when Prairie Avenue and State streets rivaled New York's Fifth Avenue; when architectural giants ranging from Louis Sullivan to Frank Lloyd Wright were designing buildings of incomparable excellence and innovation. Lost Chicago is a "must" for students of Chicago history, architecture, and personalities.

There is much to enjoy here even if one does not have a special interest in architecture. As a lifelong Chicagoan, I especially liked the photo of St. Stanislaus Kostka Church (p. 79) which occurs in the formerly Polish neighborhood that I grew up in. I also enjoyed the old maps of the Chicago area from the 1600's.

If you care about the history of Chicago and/or American architecture, you will be blown away by this photographic treasure trove of the Windy City's lost legacy. Through fire, ignorance and greed many of the country's most beautiful buildings have been lost. The Great Chicago Fire of 1871, the merchant princes and the stockyards, George Pullman and Hull House's Jane Addams, Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright, the Columbian Exposition. These people and events shaped what few would neglect to identify as one of America's architectural centers.

This beautiful book is filled with more than 200 black-and-white photographs of buildings, bridges and other structures tragically allowed to fall into disrepair, destroyed by natural disaster, or bulldozed for parking lots and malls, repeated testaments to the Gordon Curve, predicting that a building is valued most when it is new, that it is least valued and most likely to be razed at approximately 70 years of age, and that if it makes it past that nadir it will begin to rise again in value as a relic and monument.

Each chapter is preceded by several well-written and accessible pages, and each photograph is accompanied by informative paragraphs and quotes. The author delves into Chicago's beginnings as a frontier fort and its rapid growth into a bustling mercantile hive, along the way outlining the history of the peoples and policies of various times from 1803 to the 1970s, organized into ten conceptual and functional groups such as residences, hotels, railway stations, churches, arthouses, The Fire and the fairs.

The photographs are wonderful, many I've never seen before, and each is described well, though the book would benefit by containing more maps. The book is constructed of good heavyweight paper and concludes with picture sources and notes, and a good index. It should be of interest to those with some connection to Chicago, architecture or American history, particularly of the 18th and 19th century.

THIS BOOK IS POWERFUL, ITS SHOCKING, AND IT IS ASPIRING. THERE IS NOTHING ON CHANNEL 11 THAT BRINGS THE HONEST, INSIGHTFUL, VERY REAL ACCOUNT THAT MR.DOUGLASS DOES IN HIS BOOK. FROM SLAVE TO FREE-MAN, THIS IS TRUELY AN AMERICAN SUCCESS. SKIP THE INTRO, AND JUMP INTO IT.

Douglass's second, and lengthier, narrative fills in many of the gaps left in his first autobiography: we learn about his mother, his siblings, and more details about his psychological transformation from brute to man. It's quite insightful, as Douglass is careful to relate each of his personal experiences to the innate evil of the peculiar instituition, for both the slave and the slave holder.

What are your impressions of Frederick Douglass? What would you say about Douglass observation that "conscience cannot stand much violence? Do you think it was possible to be a good slave owner?Why or why not? Why does Douglass view slaveholders as well as slaves as victims of slavery? Why is education incompatible with slavery? Why do you think the white children's attitude toward slavery is different from that of their parents? How would you describe Douglass attitude towards Mrs. Auld?

Having read a biography of Douglass many years ago, I thought I knew his story. Hearing through his pen was an entirely different matter. What a master of the language and insighful set of observations on human nature.

I am a man of many words, but words fail me in my endorsement of this book. The letter to his former master in the appendix is worth the price of the book by itself.

Standing in line at the Lincoln Memorial, a book beckoned to me that I previously hadn't seen before. The face of Frederick Douglas grabbed my attention; a man that I've respected for many years, encountering him mainly through my study of Abraham Lincoln. On the spur of the moment, I snatched up a copy of "My Bondage and My Freedom", and within a few days, my admiration in Frederick Douglass was transformed from interest to awe.

Frederick Douglass orginially penned his book as a response to people's accusations that someone as articulate and composed as he couldn't possibly be a former slave. With that goal in mind, Douglass wrote his memoirs, in a straight forward, powerful way. In the book, he painfully and honestly documents the path his early life took; the memories of being owned, how slaves coped during these times, and how he managed to pull himself out of it all.

While Douglass' life in itself is amazing, (as he describes the amazing process he undertook to learn how to read), what amazed me even more are Douglass' discourses that he sprinkles through the book, discussing relevant issues during the time. In one instance, he addresses the concern about why slaves simply didn't run away from their oppressive situations. It's almost as if you can actually hear the people talking to Douglass and he responding to them.

This book does not only tell the tale of a truly amazing American, but gives us a unique insight to the times. This book should be required reading in every high school in this country.

This book was a very satisfying and rewarding experience for me. I would put this on my "must read" list if you have not done so.

This book is an incredible journey about the Episcopal Church and the history of our country through the eyes of a truly great disciple, Bishop Noble Powell.

Hein portrays the life of this Bishop in a wonderfully depicted, and accurate manner. He also reveals the discipleship of Powell and the incredible journeys it takes him on. This book is about "love in action". Bishop Powell takes on the "Great Commission" with great pride and passion his entire life. I loved this book and hope you are fortunate to glimpse into the life of Noble Powell, by David Hein.

I loved this book!! To me, someone not raised in the Episcopal church, this book told me so much not only about the twentieth-century history of this important mainline denomination but also about its ethos -- its distinctive approach to spirituality, which combines the mind and the conscience, not just the feelings. Episcopalianism focuses not simply on an emotional conversion experience but, as we see in Powell's life, a rhythm of prayer and praise, repentance and amendment of life, through the liturgical year and the sacraments. This biography is informative on such matters, and yet, what made it a delight to read was feeling the personality of Noble Powell as a constant, comforting presence on every page. The story is beautifully written and told by David Hein, and his choice of material for this book reflects an exquisite sensitivity to the important dimensions of a life lived "in Christ." I felt such admiration when I considered the extraordinary research effort that went into understanding Powell's life and the result produced in this wonderful biography. I hope the author will write more on the history of the Episcopal church.

This is an absolutely top-notch biography of an important (if heretofore little known) American Protestant leader. As Hein convincingly argues, Noble Powell was a representative figure who embodied the essential values of the religious "establishment" in the United States in the mid-twentieth century. I strongly recommend this book both to scholars and to ordinary readers interested in the evolving relationship between mainline Protestantism and American culture from 1920 to 1960.

Who needs to read about an Episcopal bishop who has been dead for 33
years? David Hein of Hood College in Frederick, Maryland persuades
us that anyone interested in the state of Christianity in America
today should know about Noble Cilley Powell, for two reasons: he was a
winsome, self-confident, compassionate leader who presided over a
church which attracted the faith of a generation emerging from the
Depression and World War II; and second, he represented a
turning-point in the role of mainline Protestantism. What Hein calls
"the Episcopal Establishment" had, at its best, a political
and social influence far beyond its numbers. Since his retirement on
Nov. 22, 1963-- the very day Kennedy was shot--the world changed and
so did the churches. In some ways this was a loss, in many ways a
gain, but it must be understood as a major shift. This
well-documented and clearly written biography shows that Noble Powell
represents the best of the old "establishment" and is a
gauge by which to measure what has changed.

This seemingly unassuming book is full of treasures to be discovered. David Hein's biography of Noble Cilley Powell, Episcopal Bishop of the diocese of Maryland from 1943 to 1963, presents so much more than an exact account of the life and works of a well-known and beloved Episcopal bishop. Hein's insightful and clear writing style is very effective at depicting the circumstances of the times in which Bishop Powell lived and how these shaped his character and his actions. The author also has been able to illustrate, through the testimonies of those who knew Bishop Powell at different stages of his life, how his noble and nurturing character influenced others inside and outside the church. But, for me the highest value of this biography is how Hein masterfully brought forth the connecting thread of Bishop Powell's life: a life signaled by love and friendship through Christ's love, or what Powell referred to as "love in action".

"A jolly, laughing lady," those are the opening words of the biography.
The closing words are:
"To be able to share what I have learned with others is a privilege and a joy. Has not this journey been an enviable inheritance in itself?"

In between those personal words, I got the chance to intimately share the life of Winnifred Eaton. Birchall opens the family vaults, secrets and intimacies; shares her deductions and her thoughts about Winnifred with me as reader; and writes in a zesty, tangy language that kept seducing me to read on and on.
The things I learned about the early filmindustry in Hollywood and the look behind the screens, are as fascinating as all the facts about the working conditions for women in the first half of the century in the USA

This biography by Birchall leads me to wonder and think about Winnifred as a human being and also about the culture and times that Winnifred went through in her life and tackled straight on, in her own inimitable style.
What more can a biography do?

Normally I am none too fond of biographies as genre. This one had me enthralled, qua content and style of writing.

Birchall's fascinating and beautifully written account of her grandmother's life is an important work for scholars in women's studies, Asian-American or American studies, Canlit, and the movie industry, and for the general reader seeking a compelling biography.

Other reviewers have mentioned Eaton/Watanna's background. I will stress instead the absorbing interest of Winnifred's successive reinventions of herself in societies that had no ready place for her. Like a brilliant slackrope walker with an increasingly awkward load, Winnifred managed to shift her balance not only to survive, but pulled off one tour de force after another. Her performances as a Japanese-American novelist, as a screenwriter and as a rancher doyenne would win applause from Daniel Defoe.

Eaton/Watanna has become a focal interest of American scholars in recent years. As her granddaughter, Birchall had informaitonal advantages in writing on her. Her graceful, well-considered book shows how glad we should be for Birchall's advantages.

I didn't mean to like Winnifred Eaton. After all, she was a bit of a fanfaronade and very much of a poseur, not at all the sort I wanted in my circle of intimates.

But Diana Birchall's sparkling biography changed my mind. Writing with unblinking honesty, Birchall describes the many lives that her chameleon grandmother lived, from journalist and novelist to story editor and screenwriter. Of most interest to me were the stories of her career as wife in two unconventional marriages and mother to four children. Birchall's graceful use of language is enhanced by her wit and intelligently ironic style. She concludes this delightful biography with the acknowledgment that sharing what she has learned about her grandmother has been a privilege and a joy. Surely it is no less a privilege and a joy for the reader.

In my library I have dozens of books inherited from my parents and my grandparents. We have been readers for several generations, and I grew up with many of these books. One of these books was a novel called "The Heart of Hyacinth" by an author mysteriously named Onoto Watanna. The author was unknown to me, but I thought the book was one of the most beautiful of all the books I'd inherited, with lovely Japanese-style illustrations and drawings.

But now I've had a chance to learn about the woman who lurked behind that exotic nom de plume. I learn she was not Japanese at all, but half Chinese and half English. Yet her true story seems to be as fully exotic as any of the character's lives from her books.

Diana Birchall has done a wonderful job of bringing her fascinating grandmother to life. The book give a wonderful look at a most unusual woman, and what life was like for young women at the turn of the last century. At least what life was like when the young women were as self-confident and gutsy as the young Winnifred Eaton.

"A jolly, laughing lady" are the first words of the bigraphy; the last ones are: "To be able to share what I have learned with others has been a privilege and a joy. Has not this journey been an enviable inheritance in itself?"

Inbetween these words Birchall indeed shares with the reader the life of Winnifred, in personal and intimate detail. Birchall also seduces the reader into not just reading, but thinking about the culture and times Winnifred faced in her own inimitable style, from her life in Canada as young girl down to the years of Hollywood.

Normally I am none too fond of biographies but this one enchanted me, by the content and by the style of Birchall's writing. Full of zest, lifely images and easy to read on and on. As non native reader I appreciated this very much; it was a joy and a privilege to share. Would that all biographies were such a good read!