Books

Midway through Beautiful Piece, an entertaining and gritty novel written in the noir style of mysteries, I began to have an eerie feeling. Imagine, if you will, the look on the face of Bill Murray each morning at 6 a.m. when he awakens to the sound of Cher belting out the lyrics to “I got […]

The 19th century witnessed America’s transformation from a rural, agrarian economy and culture into a restless, 20th century industrial giant and imperial power. Large 19th and early 20th century firms were publicly identified with the men who founded them or guided their early growth — Ford and his auto, Edison and his light bulb, Carnegie […]

Q: What is there to love about Sufficiency of the Actual, Kevin Stein’s new book of poetry?A: Everything you’ve loved about Stein’s other work: delightful wordplay, humor (light and dark), cultural icons from classical to popular, universal themes (light and heavy)and dagger-strike vivid images. If you haven’t yet read Kevin Stein, there is no better […]

Who wants another coffee table book? Another big picture book to clutter things up? Well — we do, this one. It’s us, guys — where we live and breathe and do our everyday living, in central Illinois — along the Illinois River. In late 2005 David Zalaznik, a photographer for the Peoria Journal-Star, was invited […]

Grant Achatz’s award-winning Chicago restaurant is thought to be the best in town. If your travel budget doesn’t allow a trip north, you can enjoy, even attempt to prepare, the chef’s unforgettable dishes with the help of Alinea, a cookbook that is itself a sensual experience. Achatz, 416 pp. In The 1933 Chicago World’s Fair […]

“We are all connected.” So begins Gay Stinnett’s lovely new book about her experiences with the ancient art (she calls it the “wondrous gift”) of Reiki (pronounced ray-key). The International Center for Reiki Training defines the practice as “a Japanese technique for stress reduction and relaxation that also promotes healing. It is administered by ‘laying […]

Photographer Larry Kanfer is known for his elegant, beautifully composed prairie scenes in Illinois. Many are like portraits of the landscape. The University of Illinois Press has just published Kanfer’s fifth photography book, Barns of Illinois, and who better to document the American barn than he? Trained as an architect at the University of Illinois, […]

A Springfield native, from a long line of Springfield natives, Sarah Hathaway Thomas takes a spate of years away from her hometown when she marries an educational materials promoter/farmer living on the edge of a northern Indiana town, population 200. She becomes not only Carsten’s wife but also his business partner in both enterprises. While […]

Carl Volkmann, historian and retired director of Springfield’s Lincoln (public) Library, has meticulously researched and written a welcome book to add to our shelf of Lincolniana. Or let’s say no shelf, but at $10 each, one for the coffee table, one for the car. The format is uniform, and the statues are restricted in location […]

There was a time in this town when Second Street was today’s Koke Mill Road, at the western edge of the city. Back then the Industrial Age, nurtured for decades on the east coast, was sweeping west like wildfire, riding steel rails and embracing Illinois’ new capital city, the third town to hold the honor. […]

Who among us would have thought of the little east central Illinois town of Paris as a major location for drug dealing and criminal activity? It is hard to believe Paris, Ill., is the site of the national Mafia Pizza Connection Case, in which Rudy Giuliani prosecuted Paris resident Joe Vitale and others. Paris is […]