Books

Taylor Pensoneau’s name is familiar in these environs. He’s known for his long affiliation with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writing about Illinois politics, his influential role with the Illinois Coal Association and his books about former governors and southern Illinois gangsters. He’s the author and contributing author of seven nonfiction books. His most recent book, […]

Throughout my adult life I have set goals for myself. Like many people, my goals were always focused on improving things that were important to me – my house, my income, my job, my business interest and, most importantly, spending more quality time with my family. I spent the majority of my life working the […]

“They’re all beautiful days Buck. It’s just that some are more beautiful than others.” –Ernie Banks The true harbinger of spring is not crocuses or swallows returning to Capistrano. It is the sound of the bat on the ball, the green of the grass and the chatter on the field. It is baseball, and another […]

Looking for a good book to read? One that is so well-written that the words make you believe you are there? A page-turner that is hard to put down? One that is both inspiring and reflective? Provides insights to politics and world events? And, one that makes you feel the author is telling part of […]

New Media Futures – The Rise of Women in the Digital Arts is a 300-page, coffee table-size book that highlights 22 women from the Midwest who have made a difference in digital media. Three women artists collaborated as editors: Donna J. Cox, Ellen Sandor and Janine Fron, all innovative digital artists in their own right. […]

THE BREAKAWAY: The Inside Story of the Wirtz Family Business and the Chicago Blackhawks, by Bryan Smith. Northwestern University Press, 2018. To be a fan of a Chicago professional sports team is to prepare for a life of heartbreak. Cub and Sox fans have each experienced only one World Series victory in the past half-century: […]

Judy Barr Topinka had a distinguished career in politics, serving as Illinois representative, senator, state treasurer and comptroller. She was often called “colorful” so it is fitting that a new book about her is colorfully designed, from the front cover, filled with items representing her life, to each page bordered in red and filled with […]

Were Abraham Lincoln to somehow miraculously reappear on the streets of Springfield this week, there would be a great deal that he might recognize. He could walk to his home on Eighth Street where he lived with Mary and their children for 17 years or he could visit the law office he shared with William […]

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 became Illinois, residents could keep their current slaves. Across the river in nearby Hannibal, Missouri, slavery was part of the lifestyle. Buying slaves was considered an “investment.” In […]

Kelly McMullin is a 30-year veteran of the Chicago Police Department, having served the final decade as a detective in the bomb squad. Relocating to Loda, in east central Illinois, he began his writing career to clear his mind of the many memories from police service. His teenage daughter suggested that he write fiction with […]