History comes in all shapes, sizes – and shades. The public is invited to explore the 50 Shades of History during a series of free bi-monthly lunchtime book discussions at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library in downtown Springfield.
Beginning Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2012 at noon in the Presidential Library Classroom and continuing every other month through 2013, different books covering diverse topics of history will be examined and discussed by anyone wishing to participate. A list of the books to be discussed is included below so participants may obtain and read the book prior to each discussion.
On Nov. 20, a book that explores the irony of being enslaved in a free state will be examined. To kick off the New Year, readers will dip into the tale of two “frenemies” – Abraham Lincoln and Horace Greeley. The next book will examine Abraham Lincoln’s relationship with the medical field, both as his position as Commander-and-Chief during the Civil War and as his role as father and husband.
Throughout 2013 the book discussions will plunge into the frontier where war, betrayal, and conflicts with Native Americans led to the birth of Illinois; descend into a theater of war so important that if lost, a struggling new nation wouldn’t survive; delve into one author’s search for religious roots and how that search led to the history of a Protestant sect of Christianity and their struggle with persecution and survival; explore the life of a man with many roles – son, soldier, ambassador, Secretary of War, titan of his times, and stewardship of his father’s legacy; and finish with a saga of a city that begins with an aviation disaster, contains a race riot and a crippling transit strike, and ends with a sensational child murder and the birth of a modern city.
Those who would like to receive notices concerning future book discussions should email Gwenith.podeschi@illinois.gov.
Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library
Book discussion schedule, noon, Classroom
Free and open to the public
November 20
Darrell Dexter. Bondage in Egypt: Slavery and the Underground Railroad in Southern Illinois. Cape Girardeau, Missouri: Southeast Missouri State University, ? 2012.
January 15
Gregory A. Borchard. Abraham Lincoln and Horace Greeley, (Concise Lincoln Library). Carbondale, Illinois: Southern Illinois University, ? 2011.
Glenna Schroeder-Lein. Abraham Lincoln and Medicine, (Concise Lincoln Library). Carbondale, Illinois: Southern Illinois University, ? 2012.
March 19
Gillum Ferguson. Illinois in the War of 1812. Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois Press, ? 2012.
May 21
Earl Hess. The Civil War in the West. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press, ? 2012.
July 17
Frank Cicero, Jr. Relative Strangers: Italian Protestants in a Catholic World. Chicago, Illinois: Academy Chicago, ? 2011.
September 17
Jason Emerson. Giant in the Shadows: the Life of Robert T. Lincoln. Carbondale, Illinois: Southern Illinois University, ? 2012.
November 19
Gary Krist. City of Scoundrels: The 12 Days of Disaster that Gave Birth to Modern Chicago. New York: Crown Publishers, ? 2012.
