Illinois Books

This book was recently recommended to me. I read it on the plane as I journeyed to meetings. I found it to be a wealth of information and insights. While not surprised at much of what I was reading, I found the statistics, resources, insights and information not readily found in news reports to be extremely helpful to me.

For anyone who wants a better understanding of the problems affecting not just the Catholic Church, but churches and institutions across the board, this is a must-read.

I intend to use insights I gleaned from this book in future workshops I am doing on these issues.

Shupe has written about clergy malfeasance before. His first book, "In the Name of All That's Holy" proved to be a brilliant and easily understood analysis of clergy abuse with emphasis on clergy sexual abuse. His latest book is his best yet. It takes the reader even deeper into the mystery of why a Church would allow unspeakable abuse of its own members. Shupe cuts to the heart of the nature of organized religion and shows how it can be at odds with its spiritual roots. Anyone who seeks to comprehend the reasons behind clergy abuse especially Catholic clergy abuse must read this book.

This fourth volume of Dr.Ekberg's series of books on Colonial Ste. Genevieve, the oldest settlement on the west bank of the Mississippi, is full of surprises. Indian slavery is not a topic with which many readers are familiar but Indian women slaves loomed large in pioneer Ste. Genevieve. They ranged from housekeepers to concubines and wives of colonists. Moreover, some Indian women slaves, either widows of French mates or free in their own right, had the same civil right as white women.
Another surprise is the amount of intercourse between the west bank and the east bank of the Mississippi recently occupied by the British victors of the French-Indian war. This is accented by Dr. Eckberg's assertion that "the preferred venue for a good debauch was on the east side of the Mississippi, the British side." Hence would be revelers from the French village braved the currents of the river by means of pirogues to reach the English settlement. Such a hedonistic venture led to the dramatic events of March, 1773, to which a large portion of Ecberg's book is devoted. What the author terms "the Celedon Affair" is sufficiently theatrical to provide a movie script. It involves kidnapping of an Indian slave woman from the British colony by a half-breed French woodsman, her subsequent death either by murder or accident, the futile search for the suspected killer, and climaxed by the fugitive's successful kidnapping of a second Indian woman slave. Amid all ths exciting narrative the author scores keen insights into the wide scope of French frontier culture and the easy social relations between classes and races, free and slave, officials and residents. This volume is based upon sound research of archival documents on two continents and backed by the author's record as a prize-winning historian. This opus more than lives up to its subtitle by covering the history of Indian slavery under French and Spanish regimes. Thanks to Ekberg;s supple style the book provides an unusual and interesting view of Colonian history and a good read.

"Stealing Indian Women" is a remarkable piece of academic work. I didn't realize initially how strongly I felt about the book until after I began reading Shirley Christian's "Before Lewis and Clark: The Story of the Chouteaus". Though Christian's book is well documented, it has been nothing but a slog. And despite the detail with which she has written about Auguste and others, I don't feel any particular attachment to their characters, nor do I feel like I understand their motivations. Which is entirely unlike the experience I had reading "Stealing Indian Women". Once I started it, I could hardly put it down. And the pictures of the community was so well composed, and enthusiastically presented, that I have to say that I was left caring about the people I was introduced to -- something that doesn't often happen with an academic book.

Structurally the book falls into two sections. The first lays out the background for the development of French relations with the Indian tribes of the Upper Louisiana Territory -- commonly called the Illinois Country. These discussions cover personal relationships, such as the many forms of 'marriage' that existed between French men and Indian women, as well as general politics. And there is also quite a bit of interesting material that pertains directly to the Indian notion of slavery and how the Indians worked over time to pressure and finagle the French to bend and accept the practice.

The second half of the book focuses on what the author calls "The Celadon Affair". Leaving behind all general discussions of the Illinois Country, Dr. Ekberg plunges the reader into the midst of one of Ste. Genevieve's few serious crimes. The story begins when a party of young people, some of whom are free and some of whom are slaves, cross the river to get drunk with some friends on the British side of the Mississippi. Celadon is amongst them. A metis, he's somewhat of a bold character, and one prone to thumb his nose at authority. In any case, at some point, he and and a young female slave get separated from the rest of their party, and somehow in a botched effort to escape with Celadon, or else return home, she is shot.

The question is was it accidental or deliberate? In most cases the historian would be left with only scanty evidence on which to surmise. But the records of Ste. Genevieve are hardly sparse and Dr. Ekberg is able to fit together a scenario based on the numerous depositions that were taken at that time.

Besides being entertaining, Ekberg deftly handles this material and uses it to draw together all the previous threads of discussion --slavery, gender relations, politics -- so that you are left with a vivid sense of how these factors affected the lives of ordinary people on the frontier.

SUMMARY :::
I had a marvelous time reading this book. Dr. Ekberg certainly turned quite a few of my historical notions on their head. It was absolutely fascinating to read about how the Indians worked to modifying French politics, as well how Indian/French slavery was very much different than that practiced in the American South.

For those who have read Ekberg's "Colonial Ste. Genevieve" and wonder what this new book has to offer, I would say that it provides a refinement on Ekberg's previous research. One thing that I noticed, for example, was that his population figures have been tweaked.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone with a serious interest in the earliest European settlements/settlers along the Mississippi, especially if you are interested in a different sort of cultural interface between Europeans and Indians.

Pam T.

This wonderful book showcases one of the world's best collections of 20th. century art. Of special fascination are the works of American artist Joseph Cornell. The Bergmans are the pre-eminent Cornell collectors as the breadth and unsurpassed quality of his work showcased herein demonstrates. The photographs are exquisitely rendered and Ades' commentary is incisive. This book stands as a worthy complement to the collection housed in the Art Institute of Chicago

This beautiful book offers large, generous reproductions, many in color, and expert commentary on an impressive surrealist art collection. It has the best presentation of Joseph Cornell's work among art books I have seen-- even among those devoted entirely to the artist. Of course, several other greats are featured, including Miro, Dali, Brauner, Ernst, Magritte, Breton, Lam.... If you like this kind of art, do yourself a favor: buy the book and take a trip to downtown Chicago and the Art Institute.

My name is Ray McCormack, and I am a boxing historian. I have been following boxing for almost 50 years. This book is one of the most informative and objective books I have ever read about a boxer.

The book gives you a very accurate and exciting glimpse of the life of Billy Conn, and of the 1930's and 1940's in boxing and the USA.

I rarely recommend books about boxing. The reason being the books are usually full of mistakes and unsubstantiated rumors which soemhow become accepted as facts as the years go on. This book is 100% legitmate. I strongly recommend giving it a read

Well written and easy reading...enjoying the local references...brings the fight scene during the 30's and 40's alive and vivid...lots of facts..anyone living in the Western PA area will appreciate the narrative

This is a wonderful reference. It is quite readable and presents good useful material in succint fashion. A great graduate-level textbook.

This is a book that does exactly what it sets out to do: it is a comprehensive look at how to teach the knotty subject of music theory, particularly the beginning stages, which the author rightly regards as most crucial. Rogers, who obviously brings a great deal of experience to bear on his topic, is not shy about expressing his opinions; though he does allow for different paths to reach the same goal, he is uncompromising about what he thinks must happen in the mind of a music theory student. Beginning with an overview of different philosophical and pedagogical approaches to the subject, Rogers then addresses teaching in more specific areas, fundamentals, counterpoint, analysis and ear training, concluding by returning to more general advice on teaching strategies and curriculum construction. The book is at times dry and, rather like in an actual music theory class, one may bridle at times at being crammed with so much information in so little space. But there is certainly a wealth of useful and thought-provoking information to be gleaned here.

I had Dr. Kroll for this class at IU, and some of my journal entries are used in his book. This class had a tremendous effect on me, having grown up without any understanding of the Vietnam War. It was one of those classes that has had a lifetime effect on its students. For anyone interested in teaching about Vietnam, Dr. Kroll's approach is a great model

In this book, Dr. Kroll takes us inside his class on Vietnam War literature in order to show how a teacher can use the richness of the material to engage students and to help them develop crucial critical thinking skills. Dr. Kroll gives a useful overview to the structure of his class, whereby the literature and assignments form a meaningful progression that continually challenges students to respond, analyze, rethink, and write. The book includes a detailed list of readings and, most helpfully, models for assignments. What comes through most in this book, however, is Dr. Kroll's commitment to both the material and his students. He pays careful attention to their writing and their responses to material that can be very disturbing on a number of levels. When I was a graduate student at Indiana University, I was fortunate enough to work with Dr. Kroll when he taught this course there. This experience was easily the most significant one I have had in my teaching career; I have never witnessed a higher level of commitment on the part of a teacher nor a more favorable and affectionate response to a teacher from his students. If you are at all interested in using Vietnam War writing in your classroom, you must read this book.

Most readers would find it incomprehensible that this literary masterpiece is only ranked #4,137,804 on the Amazon sales rating. Once the movie hits the silver screen (see previous review), this book will definitely rest among the top four million bestsellers. It deserves to be in the midst of the greatest-To Kill a Mockingbird, In Cold Blood, Helter Skelter, Murder on the Orient Express. Miller weaves a tome that is captivating, heartwarming, spellbinding and outrageously funny, as he tries to continually overcome the fate bestowed on him by "The Man " of Fulton County, Illinois. The description of each time he manages to escape yet another date with the executioner is wackier and funnier than the last! This is a must read for anyone compelled to commit a heinous crime in small town Illinois-and aspires to get away with it. His hand drawn illustrations are breathtaking. This five star masterpiece cries for a staring movie role for Tom Cruise as Lloyd in the 1950's, repeatedly eating last suppers, and trying to escape a final sit-down in Stateville's "Old Sparky".

a shocking true story of a innocent man fight against corruption in illinois..a coming movie

a true shocking story by a innocent man fight against corruption in illinois..a coming movie ... a MUST to read and see the coming movie...

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This is a very readable book. With Irons's use of primary sources, Southern workers come to life at a time when they were at their most heroic. It describes the strike of cotton textile workers in four southern states in September 1934, which was part of a general strike of textile workers stretching from New England to Georgia. I've heard this strike called the largest in American history. It describes how hundreds of thousands of poor whites across the south launched a mass movement for economic justice. The author states that this strike has been a very painful episode over the years in the communities in which it affected. The workers were intimidated into submission in the years after the strike. The Wagner Act, according to Irons, did not help them much. Their story seems all too typically American.

Throughout the 1920's, what we today call "downsizing" hit the textile industry full force. The decade saw the emergence of theories on efficiency and "scientific management." Mill owners began pushing aside their pre-capitalist paternalism and started firing workers and increased the workloads of the remaining workers at levels extremely hazardous to physical and mental well-being. In textile mills, the increased workload was called the "stretch-out." These measures increased once the great depression hit and there were many strikes at individual plants which responded by firing strikers, evicting them from their homes in company towns, sending masked men to kidnap union organizers and drive them out of town, etc.etc. Now with Roosevelt in power, there was a major law passed in June 1933, the National Industrial Recovery Act, (NIRA), section 7a of which stated that workers had the right to organize unions and not suffer employee intimidation for doing so. Southern workers were very optimistic, Irons shows quoting their letters to Roosevelt.

For two years, from June 1933 to May 1935 after the NIRA passed, an attempt was made to organize the country's economy through a bureaucracy called the National Recovery Administration (NRA). The NRA was supposed to work with businesses in each industry and draw up a code for each regulating prices, wages, output levels and so on. The aim was to stabilize these industries and eliminate the cutthroat competition which had contributed to causing the Great Depression. Implementation of the textile code was handed over to a committee dominated by textile mill owners. A special NRA committee to analyze the feasibility of reducing or expanding the stretch-out was formed but it was chaired by an industry-friendly industrial engineer. The other members of this committee were an anti-union mill owner and the leader of the printing-pressman's union, George L. Berry. Irons describes how Berry left the running of the board to the other two though occasionally he wrote letters to the leaders of the United Textile Workers (UTW) demanding they do more to reign in the militancy of southern textile mill workers. When the NRA textile mill code went into effect in the summer of 1933 it called for reduced production which gave many mills the impetus to lay off workers and intensify the workload on the remaining members. Minimum wages set by the code were often the maximum wages paid. Firings of union members increased, as did evictions from company housing and physical and sexual abuse by overseers. Many workers started joining locals of the UTW. Complaints were sent to Washington by workers such as relating to the refusal of overseers to open windows in horrendously humid mill work rooms and sexual abuse of female employees. These complaints were almost always rerouted to the special NRA subcommittee on the stretch-out which rarely did anything more than send an investigator who would listen to employer denials and then leave.
The way Irons describes it, the UTW was a big problem for southern textile mill workers. The UTW leadership, as was the leadership of most unions, was anxious to increase its own power by gaining places of influence in the NRA bureaucracy. They wanted to prove their lack of militancy and their devotion to efficiency in business...They were dragged reluctantly into the strike.

Irons shows how southern workers managed to spread the strike wave dramatically with little help from the cash strapped UTW. The strike saw terrible violence. 15 strikers were killed, including the seven by gunfire at Honea Path South Carolina. Irons reconstruct the Honea Path massacre in a way that shows its barbarity, in contrast to previous efforts to minimize it.

The strike ended after a few weeks in September 1934. Mill owners were able to create a climate of fear and insecurity amongst workers. In Georgia, Irons notes, the Democratic governor Eugene Talmadge did not send out the national guard for a while. But after he won the Democratic primary that mid-September and he was thus electorally safe, he declared martial law and imprisoned many striking workers. Some mill owners apparently met with him and gave him a generous campaign contribution just before the election. However the biggest factor ending the strike was FDR using his prestige amongst the poor workers to get them to go back to work. In return for calling off the strike, workers were promised they would not be fired once they returned and a new NRA board was created to hear complaints from textile workers about employer treatment.

Despite Roosevelt's assurances, union members were fired en masse once they returned to work and the climate of fear was maintained in southern textiles. This new NRA textile labor board, Irons shows, made its pro-industry bias clear by its method in conducting its own investigation of the stretch-out. It had received complaints about the use of the stretch-out from 249 of 1200 mills in the south. It decided to investigate 36 of those mills and found 11 of them to have valid worker complaints about the stretch out. Thus with this method it decided that only 6.5 percent of the mills were engaged in excessive workloads.

Janet Irons provides a comprehensive look at a shockingly neglected piece of US labor history: the 1934 general strike of southern textile workers. Irons convincingly shows that the impetus for the strike came from the workers, and that the leadership of the United Textile Workers of America was out of touch and committed to an outdated style of leadership from the top. One of the most fascinating areas Irons explores is the effects of mass communication, new hard-surfaced roads, and inexpensive autos in enabling Southern workers to innovate a new organizing technique: the flying squadron. Teams of strikers in cars and trucks went from mill to mill throughout the Piedmont to spread the walk-out. A minor drawback to the book is its failure to put the textile strike in a broader context. The fall of 1934 saw a general strike in San Francisco and labor unrest in Seattle, Minneapolis and other cities. Arguably, FDR's New Dealers had a lot more than the textile situation on their minds in this period. There is not doubt that Irons's book is an important contribution to an emerging, more nuanced view of southern workers and their alleged passivity.

Hutcheon's definition of parody is much broader than most, and I believe it is both fitting and useful. Parodic works, to Hutcheon, are not those which imitate at the expense of the parodied text (that's satire). Rather, they confront the past, and explore the difference between the parodied text and the present. As she writes, the pleasure comes from the degree of engagement of the viewer/listener in "intertextual bouncing" between the familiar and the new.

The book's premise is that parody is a genre fundamental to 20th century art forms. The works cited come from a wide range of disciplines, and are both modern and postmodern. The language is rather straight-forward and clear, a welcome diverson from many contemporary theorists. In fact, I found the book perhaps too repetitive, too focused on making a single point. Still, Hutcheon provides a thoughtful viewpoint from which to enjoy - and to make - art.

kalinin@terra.com.br
Linda Hutcheon's A Theory of Parody is one of the most important theoretical books of the decade not only on parody but also on postmodernism. The dispute over the worth of postmodern art revolves around one of its most striking features, i.e. the outburst of intertextuality in the form of parody and pastiche. This proliferation of parody has been described as an exhaustion of creativity, appropriation of the property of others, borrowing, pirating, and cannibalisation; all of which descriptions are quite derogative. Parodists have, therefore, been considered minor artists, who take out their spite on acclaimed authors by ridiculing them. Linda Hutcheon's views on parody are far more positive and allows us to analyse contemporary writers and give them their due worth. She claims that postmodern parody has changed in its essentials when it became an imitation with critical distance. It is a highly sophisticated genre and has come to be almost an autonomous literary form. It is, in fact, a form of literary criticism. According to her, parody is "repetition with critical distance;" it is "stylistic confrontation," a modern re-coding which establishes "difference at the heart of similarity." In short, in order for one to criticise any modern work of art, I believe that her theory becomes an essential tool, since it enables us to establish the relations between the work of art and all the included references, allusions and quotations, and moreover, to discover the evaluative judgement the author expresses on both the parodied texts and on his/her own text. Hutcheon's theory on parody helps us understand better what happens to the quotation from a canonical text when it is transported into a postmodern text which uses fragmentation and irony to subvert the original meaning. Conversely, Parodies offer a dialogue and a re-evaluation of the past in the light of the present, and a critical view of present from the perspective of the past.

This is the first of the series I've read, and I'm rather pleased. There's wit and priestly advice and murder too. The collection of characters is the kind you'd expect in a story about a small parish priest, and there is a character you won't expect like Marcus the pamphleteer. I don't deal in spoilers, but Marcus is a one of the more interesting characters in the story, a story which begins with a series of odd thefts, missing pork chops and homemade jam, that lead to serious crime. The information about the people and the crime are divvied out at a comfortable pace, allowing time for Dowling and the cohort to reveal their thoughts about the crime and the world around them.

in the dreary, cold pre-Easter lull, Murkin develops a case of persnicketiness. Someone has stolen from the church's offering box. great story! of mysterious disappearances.