As its title makes plain, the interesting new book The Trials of Lenny Bruce: The Fall and Rise of an American Icon (Sourcebooks), by Ronald K.L. Collins and David M. Skover, traces the myriad legal troubles of arguably the most influential comedian of the past 50 years. But the volume, which also includes a CD […]
Books
Posted inArts & Culture
Live Poet’s Society
In the mid-1980 a Chicago construction worker named Marc Smith was organizing an open-mic poetry night at the Green Mill, an Uptown jazz club once famous for its association with Al Capone. Smith had selected the venue because he hated poetry readings–they were far too genteel. He wanted to turn his evening into a knock-down […]
Posted inArts & Culture
The big story
Sometimes real-life stories are so big they seem to be fiction. That’s what strikes you while reading Taylor Pensoneau’s latest book, Brother’s Notorious, The Sheltons: Southern Illinois’ Ledendary Gangsters. A lot of the most daring and violent bootlegging of the 1920s and ’30s took place in southern Illinois, and the Sheltons–Carl, Bernie, Earl, and Roy–were […]
Posted inArts & Culture
The Case of the Mad Gasser of Mattoon
For several weeks in September 1944, people in the town of Mattoon, Illinois, showed the symptoms of exposure to poison gas–nausea, vomiting, weakness leading to near paralysis, light headedness, even spitting up blood. All of the victims reported a “sweet cheap perfume odor” permeating their homes prior to the onset of sickness. Scott Maruna, a […]
