Clik here to view.
Life in focus
Life in focus Hardworking, faithful, and resilient in the face of what others might call setbacks, professional photographer Dave Beatty has enjoyed a career photographing corporate jets and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Titanic exhibit comes to Peoria museum - See artifacts and an iceberg,...
Titanic exhibit comes to Peoria museum - See artifacts and an iceberg, opening Nov. 12 Ever since Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet stood on the bow in that blockbuster movie, crowds have flocked to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Powell’s politics of pragmatism - How downstate dealmakers got things done
Powell’s politics of pragmatism - How downstate dealmakers got things done Pragmatism used to be a dirty word in government. The pragmatist was too quick to sacrifice principle for the grimy...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Pictures of the past - A new photo collection showcases an era of preservation
Pictures of the past - A new photo collection showcases an era of preservation Springfield underwent a substantial transformation during the 1960s and 1970s. Through developments in the areas of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Parade power - A history of floats promoting visibility and understanding
Parade power - A history of floats promoting visibility and understanding Perhaps If You Saw One is a picture book of whimsical parade floats and enthusiastic participants. Published by Springfield’s...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Lincoln on leadership - Guessing what a 19th-century president would do today
Lincoln on leadership - Guessing what a 19th-century president would do today Lincoln on Leadership for Today: Abraham Lincoln’s Approach to 21st Century Issues. By Donald T. Phillips, Houghton Mifflin...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Pioneers in women’s baseball - The long road to sports equality began long ago
Pioneers in women’s baseball - The long road to sports equality began long ago Bloomer Girls: Women Baseball Pioneers, by Debra Shattuck.University of Illinois Press, 2017.The role of women in sports...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A new history of New Salem - Celebrating the town once called “Lincoln’s alma...
A new history of New Salem - Celebrating the town once called “Lincoln’s alma mater” If not for Abraham Lincoln, New Salem would have been just another frontier community lost to history. Instead, the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A courtroom thriller to make you think
A courtroom thriller to make you think Deep into his new novel, Testimony, author Scott Turow makes a prescient observation about trial lawyers through the thoughts of his protagonist, Willian ten...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Timeless hunger - A sparkling new account of the doomed Donner Party
Timeless hunger - A sparkling new account of the doomed Donner Party Of all the stories of the settling of the American West, none is as compelling, heroic and tragic as that of the Donner Party, which...
View ArticleClik here to view.
It’s hard to build heaven in Illinois
It’s hard to build heaven in Illinois Can one ever really form a true utopia – and will it actually survive? Randall J. Soland of Springfield explores six utopias formed in Illinois between 1839 and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Society of the Living Dead
Society of the Living Dead The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women By Kate Moore, 2017, Sourcebooks, 404 pages, $26.99Back in 2007, a group of students from Ottawa High School were...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Solid history, entertainingly told - Krohe’s clever prose makes mid-Illinois...
Solid history, entertainingly told - Krohe’s clever prose makes mid-Illinois history almost fun James Krohe Jr., Corn Kings & One-Horse Thieves: A Plain-Spoken History of Mid-Illinois. Carbondale:...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Colorful stories from Rochester history
Colorful stories from Rochester history Cotton, Violins & Shots in the Night – A Timeline Visit to Rochester, Illinois By Raymond and Pamela Bruzan. 467 pagesIf you live in Rochester, you should...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A reporter’s novel brings alive characters and the Klan
A reporter’s novel brings alive characters and the Klan Mark Twain’s often quoted observation, “write what you know” is often debated by writers. Some are critical, some supportive. But St. Louis...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Ali, adopted son of Illinois - The most famous man on the planet, he stayed...
Ali, adopted son of Illinois - The most famous man on the planet, he stayed in the ring too long. Muhammed Ali died in 2016 at the age of 74. Upon his death, President Barack Obama eulogized him with...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A fictional Illinois small-town police chief, pregnant and endearing
A fictional Illinois small-town police chief, pregnant and endearing Kelly McMullin is a 30-year veteran of the Chicago Police Department, having served the final decade as a detective in the bomb...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Free Frank’s City of Brotherly Love
Free Frank’s City of Brotherly Love Picture what life was like in the 1830s in western Illinois near the Mississippi River. Although the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 prohibited slavery in the area that...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Lincoln’s last trial - How a smart Springfield lawyer saved Peachy Harrison...
Lincoln’s last trial - How a smart Springfield lawyer saved Peachy Harrison from the gallows Were Abraham Lincoln to somehow miraculously reappear on the streets of Springfield this week, there would...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Harsh story well told - Sundown Town: The Negroes didn’t know they would not...
Harsh story well told - Sundown Town: The Negroes didn’t know they would not be welcome in Illinois Sundown Town is an easy, yet difficult, read. It’s a page-turner with an unbelievable, yet...
View Article
