Illinois and Wisconsin Books

This book is great for those who like to go "outside the box", and get off the freeway as they head up north, to take in Michigan's unique beauty.

Beautifully illustrated with a wealth of color and black-and-white photographs, Backroads Of Michigan: Your Guide To Michigan's Most Scenic Backroad Adventures is a guide to touring the most breathtaking and scenic natural venues to be found in the Great Lake State. Backroads Of Michigan is a fairly large trade paperback, not meant to be carried in a pocket, purse or small backpack; yet its size also allows the fine detail in its illustrations to shine through, and its typeface is easy to read without a magnifying glass. The chapters are arranged by Michigan subsection, and cover everything from historical sites to river valleys to prime spots for beachcombing to state parks ideal for viewing wildflowers and much more, with maps and general directions. The text is written in a leisurely style that is as engaging to browse for pleasure as it is filled with practical information. Enthusiastically recommended for Michigan tourists and residents interested in the state's most wondrous sights, and also for armchair travelers.

Again, the pictures in the book are easy enough to use for my 3 year old. The information contained in the book is useful. We enjoy using this book and look forward to the spring and summer when we can travel further than our backyard.

This is a great resource book written through actual experiences of the authors. Great pictures and references. The book shares information that is not readily available through tourist information. It makes you want to get out your bike and ride along with nature. One does not have to be biking to enjoy the Bed &Breakfast establishments visited in the book.

When reading of the locations Dennis goes to you feel you were in the back seat with him. He gives very vivid detail of exact places.
One place he reviewed was Manistee Michigan the Victorian Port City. the Milwaukee House was owned by Great Grandfather and Grandfather Diefenbach and we know the information was factual and interestingly portrayed.
There are many such articles that make you want to go to these byways he deplicts.

In 1855, the recently-ordained young Norwegian immigrant pastor Johan Storm Munch and his wife Caja came to Wiota in southern Wisconsin to organize a rural church to serve the enclave of families who had arrived from Norway over the previous few years.

The book, by Peter Munch, grandson of the subject Munch's, consists of 1) a forward relating the very interesting story of how the material was located, 2) letters written between 1855 and 1859 by Caja Munch to her family in Norway; 3) a memoir by the pastor covering the same years as the letters; and 4) an excellent essay by Peter Munch, "Social Class and Acculturation," about the Norwegian immigrant experience, especially that of the group of Lutheran pastors who had arrived to serve the several communities in Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota during the time of the letters.

The book provides a wonderful portrait of both the pastors' families and those of their charges, the farmers struggling to make a living on the land in a new and undeveloped area. There is no shortage of animosity on the side of the educated Munch's toward the less sophisticated farmers and, as we learn in Caja's letters especially, vice versa.

An excellent book on several counts.

Tap into the Great Lakes - A guide to the Brewpubs and Microbreweries of Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio and Wisconsin.

What a title! What a book! This is an in-depth review of microbrews in the Great Lakes region, and oh what a region it is! Mr. Bice must have had a great time sampling the various brews throughout the five states listed.

Having visited a few of the microbreweries, I can certainly attest to the accuracy and quality of the reviews. It is very well written and clearly understandable. The glossary of brews is certainly a useful tool when search for the perfect Scotch Ale!

The book gives glimpses of his personal life, his upbringing, along with his professional life as a journalist for the Daily News, Sun Times, and finally the Tribune. I have read the Tribune for many years but never did read Royko's columns. I read this book to get an idea of why he was such a revered journalist.

I found that the book had some great stories in it and overall it was an enjoyable read, but I did not emerge as impressed with Mike Royko as I thought I would be. A good book for a nice overview for someone trying to figure who Mike Royko was. If you are not interested in learning about Royko this book will bore you out of your mind.

My oldest son,now in his thirties,greatly suprised me earlier this year when he responded to my question of what book had the most impact on him when he was growing up.He said it was more than just a book;it was the columns of Mike Royko,particularly those describing the views of Slats Grubnick."They countered all the dining room table"liberalisms"you and mom always were urging on me".While Slats and his creator,Royko,are no longer with us to directly influence my son's son on a regular basis,they are brilliantly brought back to life in this loving and honest book by Madison newspaper columnist,Doug Moe.I don't recall reading if Moe ever met Royko in person,but in this absolutely enjoyable gem,written with the cooperation of Royko's family and cohorts,Moe writes with an authority and wisdom that The Great Royko himself would love.See for yourself!As for me,I'm planning atrip to The Billy Goat tavern where I plan to hoist a few:to Slats,Royko,and Doug Moe.Thanks for the memories and inspiration.

Like millions of others, I followed the columns (read: exploits) of Mike Royko when he was in the Chicago newspapers. Doug Moe's biography serves his subject well in lean, workmanlike prose, capturing the flavor of the Chicago streets and neighborhoods as well as the man himself. Moe brings it alive so you can almost feel the ink smudges on newsprint and smell the Old Style in the corner bars in the dim light of winter nights. Photos and anecdotes complement the narrative, which Moe relates with his usual straightforward understated virtuosity (in other words, no sentences like this one), compelling the reader to turn the page to see what is going to happen next. Indispensable reading for anyone who wants to learn more about Royko, the writing life, newspapering, and a certain now-vanished and legendary era in Chicago journalism. The book fills a welcome niche on the bookshelf.

This book is a wonderful look at one of the great journalists of the 20th century. Whether you are a long time fan of Royko or are just curious about who he was and why his writing had such an impact on readers, you are in for a great read. The photos and text work very well together as Doug Moe masterfully takes you from the humble beginnings of Royko's life down through the years to his final days as the most syndicated columnist in America. Royko's story is fascinating. He was not your typical journalism school product since he, in fact, never went to journalism school. He was a self-taught, street-smart genius who learned his craft while on the job. As this book makes clear, he quickly mastered the fundamentals of sound journalism and then went on for decades entertaining and informing us all with his great writing. The book covers the highlights as well as some of the intriguing details of how it all unfolded. I recommend you read it and pass it on to a good friend.

This is far from a comprehensive biography, but still supplies a lot of information that I was always curious about. The pictures alone are priceless. Perhaps some day Studs Terkel or Bill Grainger will write the definitive Royko bio. But for now, those of us who dearly miss Mike's face on Page 3 of The Trib will have to be content with this.

I love Edna Ferber's work because she offers such a detailed look at her characters, and also succeeds in capturing a moment in time, place and history. The ending took quite a leap, for me, but overall I loved the book. Enjoy.

Last year I had to do a research paper about three American authors for an English class. I picked Edna Ferber as one of the authors, hoping that I would be able to relate better to a female author. I was at first skeptical about the book, because I'm not a big fan of classic books, but I sat down with it and after a few hours of convincing, I finally opened the book. To this day I'm still glad that I did. The story tells the tale of Fanny, a young independednt Jewish girl from a small midwestern town who's drive to become a business woman soon takes her from the small town she grew up in and plops her down in the middle of a large city where she takes a job as a sales lady, determined to prove herself. Through light humor and a playful tone Ferber shows the reader how Fanny at first struggles, but then succeeds in turning a thriving business completely around, and giving the company a whole new meaning to life. Though at first I didn't think this book would be any good at all, I encourage everyone who has ever strived for a goal in life to read this book--it will give you such a respect and admiration for Fanny that you won't be able to put it down until the very last page.

The daughter of a Hungarian-born father and Milwaukee-native mother, Edna Ferber spent much of her childhood years in small midwestern towns. Her family, while not observant, always closed their store for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, never missing a Passover seder. Ferber felt that being Jewish was to be subjected to anti-Semitism. In 1917 she wrote Fanny Herself, based largely on the experiences she had while growing up in Appleton, Wisconsin and later in Chicago, Illinois. Her's is a tale of a young Jewish girl trying to become a successful businesswoman in early twentieth century America without denying her Jewish roots or subverting her social conscience. This newly abridged, four cassette, six hour audiobook edition (wonderfully narrated by Suzanne Toren) will introduce a whole new generation of listeners to a remarkable literary talent and an engaging, personal, affirming biography.

Poor guide.

The food recomendations are mainly well known food chains. They seem to have failed to seek enough for original places.

the reviews of the restaurants is too brief and generally give insuficient information to make an lntelligent choice.

I think these make the perfect gift to anyone relocating to a 'Zagat City'. I really like how the editors construct the descriptions by combining actual reviewer quotes submitted in their survey process. Main restaurant listing is alphabetical, but includes seperate lists by location, cuisine, special features, etc.

If anything, buy one just to sit on your coffee table.

I've been living in Chicago for a year and a half. Before buying this guide I used to go to expensive and not so good restaurants and I was always complaining about it. After buying this guide I found out some amazing places at reasonable prices. Worth every penny!

Chicagoans and other northern Illinois natives have an innate migration instinct: they *must* vacation in Wisconsin. It is the dream devoutly to be wished, and God help anyone who trys to buck border traffic on I-90 and I-94 on a Friday or Sunday afternoon. Carter follows this trend, and even though some of these essays show that his interest in nature begins in Illinois -- with a trip down the Des Plaines River and one through the Skokie Lagoons -- it's the title essay and his experiences with Wisconsin land ownership that are the most personal.

Door County is the armlike peninsula that stretches northeastward into Lake Michigan. It could be considered to be the Cape Cod of the Midwest. Carter was inspired to first visit that part of Wisconsin by the work of landscape architect Jens Jensen. Then Carter himself bought some property there, cleared it a little, and sat in the middle of it on a folding chair. Eventually he decided a homemade cabin would be more practical. In Thoreauvian style, he lets us in on the building process. And he shares his encounters with the animals and plants around him. His words are accompanied by the exquisite pencil drawings of Carolyn Kenney. The pictures alone are worth the price of the volume.


It might be difficult to get hold of this book, but naturalists living in either IL or WI would benefit from owning their own copies. [This reviewer was an Illinois resident when these comments were written.]