Illinois Books

I must correct myself on the date of Mr. Stockanes untimely passing. The year was 1997. My apologies for the type-O in the previous review. Everything else still stands... WONDERFUL book! Thank you- SJL

"Ladies Who Knit For A Living" is a collection of short stories by Westville, Illinois native Anthony E Stockanes. Beautifully written and imaginative the author has drawn on his own experiences and the people around him growing up in both Chicago and downstate in Westville to create a work that will charm both old and young alike, tho I don't recommend for children, the informed and intelligent preteen may enjoy Mr. Stockanes humour. The only thing that I find lacking unfortunately in this book, is a short story that the author published in the Daily Illini in the late 70's I believe entitled "Seed Notes" which was, he later revealed, based on fact. Sadly, we lost this wonderful writer to cancer in 1999, But this work, a compilation of his stories is timeless and a testament to his genius. We can only hope that perhaps eventually the U of I press will re-release the book with the addition of "Seed Notes" and a few other select stories Mr. Stockanes did not include the first time around. Very highly recommended.

Nancy writes an amazing environmental memoir. It combines the rigorous research of a journalist with the touching honesty of a woman. This makes a great read for all: the scientist, the humanist, and the regular bloke like me.

I rarely read a book in one sitting, but this one I could not put down. Nancy Nichols has put together a beautifully written and robustly researched book about her sister's - and her own - struggle with cancer, and her investigation into the links between these cancers and the contaminated lake of their childhood. What I love about the book is that it is as emotionally powerful as it is intellectually honest. There seems voluminous evidence to suggest a link between her old neighborhood and her family's cancers, but she does not let her writings resort to impulsive finger-pointing. She is journalistically rigorous, while being human, real and, at times, quite funny. A truly exceptional book - something for the heart and mind.

Convincing, well-researched, elegant --- Abby Schrader presents an engaging work of history, challenging conventional notions of corporal punishment's evolution while plunging the reader deep into the Russia she examines. Forget beach reading and sink your teeth into this!

Prof. Schrader is widely considered to be as the most exciting rising star in Russian history today, and this book merely confirms that. Her treatment of the issues is thorough and reflects in depth and committed research. She makes the issues exciting, through her insights into the data. And there are great pictures.

I can't wait for the sequel!

Very interesting reading since I was from this area. Learned a few things. Good reading.

This wonderful little book is part of the Images of America series, and focuses on LaSalle County, Illinois. It is chock full of images from the earlier days of LaSalle County, beginning with a picture of Chief Shabbona. The book is organized by subject, and contains a small index that allows you to look up pictures for specific towns.

This is a neat little book! The pictures are all crystal clear, and have well-written captions. Now, a lot of the pictures seem to be from the towns of Mendota and Earlville, but they probably had a lot of pictures in their historical societies. Overall, I found this book to be quite interesting, and I highly recommend it!

The book is amazing! It's like a visit with our good friend Les Brownlee. You sense his reassurance we can make anything of our lives. You can almost hear his rich laughter and storytelling that made us smile.

The life Les lead in his turbulent time offers an insight into a life well lived. There are photos, recipes and a wonderful article "The most lethal poison is doubt." Les explained that "the challenge for us is to keep presenting a positive image of success in front of all who are afflicted..." Well, Les, I'm ready "now on this next play..." Thanks!

I just bought Les Brownlee's autobiography and read it in a day, as I couldn't put it down once I cracked it open. I was a former student of Brownlee's and good friend and reading his book was like listening to one of his great stories --of which he had millions!

At the bookstore this book is located in African-American Studies. It should be located in American History because Les' story transends race. I'm not going to rehash Les Brownlee's lifestory -- buy and read the book for that. I just want to say only in America can someone overcome what Brownlee went through with courage and grace and then move on to help others who came after him!

This book really is a must read for anyone who needs a little inspiration. I only wish the book was longer! Of course, I also wish my friend was still around to sign it for me.

-Bob Chiarito

I liked this book as it was a story back in the 1940's and early 50's of the author's life out on the desolate Nevada desert. It was funny, sad, and the family was close knit and survived on very little but had a lot in love, and good memories. Author said he designed the cover for this book and his wife made a pattern for an afghan, crocheted one, and has the pattern for sale thru Ira Pub., 4208 Jasper Ave., Nevada, 89108. I thought this was a neat idea.

autobiography of the authors young life with his family and the kind of life that was experienced back then l940' and l950'. You wanted to laugh at time and cry at times and it was their life in the nevada desert. It was easy to read and kept your attention. He told of the times that he and siblings had and what they did to pass the time away, while living in such desolate areas. It was a real excellent book for all ages to read.

The "prime goal" of this marvelous book by Gabor Boritt, Professor of Civil War Studies and director of the Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College, "is the examination of [Lincoln's] economic persuasion, of how it broadly manifested itself in his political life, and how it affected American history." For many readers, a book about Lincoln's "economic persuasion" may seem pedantic, if not trivial, but Boritt demonstrates that Lincoln's economic views were central to his political philosophy. Had Lincoln not been an economic nationalist, he almost certainly never would have risen beyond being an unknown, provincial Illinois politician.

As Boritt explains in the preface, Lincoln's "connections with political economy" "may appear to be dreadfully dull to some," but the author cautions that "it is indispensable." Lincoln first came to prominence in rural Illinois in the 1830s as an advocate for "better transportation - `internal improvements,' as Americans called it." As a member of the Illinois House of Representatives, Lincoln "supported the creation of many, though not all, private, river, canal, turnpike, and railroad companies." At the end of the first chapter, Boritt writes that Lincoln's "political activity was inspired, beyond the hope of personal or party gain, by a vision of endless material progress," which became the "American dream."

Because Lincoln's origins were humble, he often is portrayed as a champion of the common man, but, as Boritt observes, for Lincoln, "banking was a special interest," and, in 1835, he supported a state bank because, according to Boritt, "the Illinois economy needed banking facilities above all to support internal improvements." By 1837, Lincoln was a member of the [Illinois] House Finance Committee, and, according to Boritt, he "made economics the most substantial part of his campaigning, legislative labors, and private studies outside (and not infrequently inside) his legal work." In an 1837 speech defending the state bank, Boritt writes that Lincoln "was giving voice to the prime element of his developing economic persuasion. The fact was that for the man who would rise, for the nations that would rise, banks were necessary." Boritt's assessment is: "Lincoln's involvement with improvements helped him reach convictions which played a crucial role during his presidency." According to Boritt, "the improvement episode helped make Lincoln a lifelong opponent of the localism and sectionalism that proved so destructive in Illinois."

In the mid-1840s, when Lincoln was hoping to be elected to Congress, his "Whiggery was mainly economic oriented," and his acceptance of broad party principles "meant national economic goals." According to Boritt: "Lincoln's thinking...exuded nationalism." In Washington, he "desired large scale federal improvements, federally directed, at federal expense." "But in Congress Lincoln began to shift his attention from specific questions of economics" as a result of the Mexican War, which Lincoln opposed. In Boritt's view: "Lincoln's lack of enthusiasm about expansion may have been shortsighted in economic terms," but, according to Boritt, Lincoln appears to have believed that "[e]conomic development demanded peace."

In the 1850s, according to Boritt, as Lincoln was "pulled...toward Republicanism," he continued to believe "the economics of prosperity, freedom, and this democracy." In several places, Boritt observes that Lincoln believed in the inevitability of material progress. In contrast: "Slavery was a relic of barbarism." In 1856, according to Boritt, Lincoln noted that the "`central idea' of America was equality." To Lincoln, in Boritt's view, "equality" meant "opportunity to get ahead in life." Boritt explains: "Since the central idea of America was economic, the measure of the nation's success had to be economic, too." In this respect, according to Boritt, Lincoln "institutionalized the American Dream - made it perhaps the most central idea of the nation," and slavery had to be extinguished because it "subverted the Dream." According to Boritt: "Lincoln could perceive America only through nationalist eyes....As Lincoln saw it, the nation was to become either free or slave, one or the other."

During the 1850s, according to Boritt, Lincoln became increasingly absorbed with the slavery issue. Once elected president, according to Boritt, "Lincoln's eyes remained set on one foremost goal: stopping slavery extension in the name of the American Dream." According to Boritt: "Lincoln defended the Union on many occasions and in almost as many ways, but by far his most extensive and determined defense was a largely economic defense." In his annual message in 1862, according to Boritt, Lincoln declared that the "United States could not be broken up...because it formed am indivisible economic unit." In Boritt's view, "Lincoln's first important military act was essentially economic: the proclamation of a blockade of Southern ports....The adaption of economic policy to military strategy, thus began a few days after the fall of Fort Sumter, continued to Appomattox." According to Boritt: "Emancipation by itself ran counter to the President's policy of enticing Southerners back into the Union through economic means." Boritt writes: "Lincoln appreciated the need for an economic base for the former slaves." The employment of former slaves liberated by the circumstances of war, Boritt explains, "transformed the slave into a wage-earning free laborer." Nevertheless, in Boritt's view, Lincoln "failed to come to grips fully with the needs of the masses of blacks." In the final chapter, Boritt writes: "For Lincoln, unobstructed upward mobility was the most important ideal America strove for....Mobility was the ideal and slavery its antipode." For Lincoln, in Boritt's view, "the most `central idea' of the Union war effort was the preservation of man's right to rise.'"

What, ultimately, is the connection between Lincoln's economic and political philosophy? I believe Boritt would say that Lincoln's economic nationalism made him a lifelong opponent of the localism and sectionalism, as well as a strong believer in economic opportunity. In one of this book's key passages, Boritt writes that "slavery was the supreme issue for [Lincoln] because he feared its extension would strangle the American Dream." After reading this book, no reader will doubt that, throughout his public career, Lincoln was a man ahead of his time.

I've read many titles on Lincoln and have come to know the man, his words and his deeds. But now I can say that I understand him. American revisionists have lately found it fashionable and all too easy to knock down our heroes and charge them with crimes from the perspective of the Twentieth Century. Yet, Boritt's insights are a wonderful celebration of a true American hero. And better yet, Boritt makes no apologies for it. Perhaps we needed to wait for this foreign born author to remind us what has been really important about the USA all along. Wrap yourself in the red, white and blue and feel patriotic again. Oh, and by the way, don't let the title scare you. The book is quite an easy read.

Being a Lincoln fan, I pride myself on keeping up on the latest books that come out, and usually, one way or another, end up purchasing them. So, imagine my surprise when I visited a local bookstore, and was browsing in its impressive Lincoln section to find this jew, "The Lincoln Family Album". What, a book that I hadn't heard of?

At first, I thought it was just a simple recounting of the many familiar books with Lincoln photos in it. But upon glancing inside, I realized how wrong assumptions are. The pictures in this book are from the actual Lincoln photograph album, kept through the family generation after generation, until the last surviving member of the clan died in 1985. Up until then, the book lived in secrecy, but now, in this stunning paperback, the photographs have been reproduced. Each page contains a picture, and a small vignette that describes the person in the picture, and why it would be found in the Lincoln family album.

I found myself engrossed, not only in the pictures, but the information contained in each page. For some reason, the pictures came more alive to me with this information than any other picture book of Lincoln. Especially touching are the pictures of Lincoln's kids, Tad, Willie, and Robert. As proud parents would, they are well-documented in this book.

If you are a devotee of Lincoln, I highly recommend this book. With an engrossing first chapter that talks about how photography was catching on just as Lincoln became President, and a wealth of knowledge of the Lincoln family, this book is sure to please you!!

Mark Neely has compiled a fascinating collection of the Lincoln family's pictures from their family album. What's interesting is what is NOT included in the album: not many photographs of Abraham Lincoln, perhaps the most photographed president of the 19th century. But the pictures of his children and grandchildren are especially interesting and poignant, especially those of a grandson named Abraham (Robert's son) who died at 16 but who bore an uncanny likeness to his famous grandfather. An important addition to any serious Lincoln student's library.

This book, a sequel of sorts to Mr. Holzer's 1993 volume 'Dear Mr. Lincoln,' gathers together even more letters than Americans from all walks of life wrote to the President. Mr. Holzer is a Civil War and Lincoln expert, so he really knows his stuff. As he explains in the foreword, many of the letters he had decided for various reasons to leave out of the original volume are now included here. What makes this collection of letters so special is that many of them were never even seen by President Lincoln, and of the ones seen, many of them were never endorsed or answered. It was for that reason that Mr. Holzer originally thought such letters didn't merit being included, but then he realised the value of including them, particularly since many of them were written by African-Americans. They'd already been ignored once, and didn't deserve to be marginalised and written off again nearly 150 years later for the same reasons they'd been excluded before.

People wrote to President Lincoln because they felt that he was a man of the people and would therefore understand their hopes, dreams, worries, and fears. He didn't appear to them like some out of touch government bigwig who didn't care for the common people; due to his humble origins, they felt as though he were one of them. The subjects include the issue of equal pay for African-American soldiers, old widowed mothers wanting their sons, their sole source of support, back from the Army, a Harvard professor warning him that his oldest son Robert was doing pretty poorly at school, people writing to him about their warfare-related inventions, people (a number of them his relatives) wanting jobs in government (even local government), people who sent gifts (such as socks, scarves, gloves, hams, and flags), people requesting he appear or at least send a speech to their charity balls, congratulations on his re-election, warnings of assassination plots (such as the letter from the less-than-literate West Virginia man who hid inside of a wheat bin to eavesdrop on a conversation between some suspicious characters he worked with), and a man who wanted to start a Lincoln Club (but only on the precondition that the President rescind the Emancipation Proclamation!). Among my favorites were the letter written by Karl Marx (and signed by many of his colleagues) congratulating him on his re-election and lauding him for being such a friend of the common people and freeing the slaves, and the long threatening religious diatribe in verse (so long it was written by two different people) sent all of the way from New Zealand.

Though most people are traditionally used to studying history through the eyes of the ruling classes and the leaders of government, the people who supposedly make history, this book gives a valuable look into what life was like for ordinary American citizens during the Civil War. In many cases, the view of history provided through the eyes of the common people is even more interesting, and far more personal, than studying the exploits of a bunch of heads of state.

I had bought Harold Holzer's 1993 book "Dear Mr. President" and enjoyed it tremendously. That book dealt with the mail that ordinary and famous people from around the world sent to Abraham Lincoln during his term as U.S. President. Now, Holzer has produced a sequel book, "The Lincoln Mailbag", which contains even more letters written to Lincoln. A large number in this new volume consists of mail Lincoln never even saw, such as correspondence from black Americans. These two books by Holzer offer a fresh, new insight into the world of President Lincoln which is far more interesting than the ordinary, standard Lincoln biographies which seem to pop up every 6 months or so.

When it comes to baseball poetry, nobody knows his stuff better than Tim Wiles, and that expertise is evident in the outstanding quality of this collection. Many of the expected poets are here, but so are many I'd never heard of before whose work I am glad to have been exposed to. The poems range in tone from somber and serious to playful and irreverent. One of my particular favorites is the entry by former pitcher Dan Quisenberry, who was a funny guy and had quite a way with words.

I keep this book on my nightstand and try to read one poem each night before I go to sleep. Except I often have a hard time reading just one.

I thoroughly enjoyed this collection. Sometimes with anthologies of sports-related fiction/poetry, I've been disappointed because there seemed to be differing levels of quality. With Line Drives, I was satisfied because all of the poems were worth reading-they offered a consistently high level of quality and all had interesting insights or fun ideas. Then there were a number of them that were among the best baseball poems I have ever read. Katharine Harer's "The Cure" speaks with a tremendous depth of understanding of the game and the emotions that go into our continued obsession with it. Joseph Stanton's "Stealing Home" uses an engaging poetic technique to compare the difficult return to the place where we grew up with that difficult play in the game. Dan Quisenberry's "Baseball Cards" offers an important perspective on players' insecurities and the myriad aspects of their lives that fans never see.

I also appreciated that the poems collected here do not revert to cliché comparisons or images when they connect baseball to life. In fact, some of them work against clichés. David C. Ward's "Isn't it pretty to think so?" challenges the idealization of fathers and sons playing catch and reminds us that individual experience is much more powerful and thought-provoking than any (false) perfect image. The poems felt fresh and that was in large part because many of the poets used personal experience as the starting point, reaching out to the game to make connections between their lives and those of the reader. As a result, I think that even those who are not baseball fans would appreciate and enjoy many of these poems. As a baseball fan, I know I'll enjoy rereading this collection and I think most baseball fans would as well.