Books

Books

These honored dead

A Memorial Day tribute to the unknown soldiers of the Civil War

By Mark Flotow

May 30 is Memorial Day. For many decades it was better known as Decoration Day, a day to honor fallen Civil War soldiers – South and North – by "decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion."

Mark Flotow of Springfield is author of In Their Letters, In Their Words: Illinois Civil War Soldiers Write Home. Southern Illinois University Press, 2019.

  • Baseball is back

    Some spring training reading

    By Stuart Shiffman

    Baseball is back

  • Power and politics

    Ray Long's new book chronicles a House speaker's rise. And the beginning of his fall.

    By Jason Piscia

    The House that Madigan Built: The Record Run of Illinois’ Velvet Hammer, by Ray Long. 304 pages, $29.95. University of Illinois Press, publication date March 22, 2022.

  • Thousand-Year Statehouse

    New book showcases the art, architecture and history of Springfield's palace of government

    By Cinda Ackerman Klickna

    David Finnigan's new book is available in Springfield at the Sumac Shop (the Dana-Thomas House Foundation gift shop), Prairie Archives, Books on the Square and online at https://illinoishistory.org/. The retail price is $55.

  • Dealing with dangerous ideas

    Free speech on trial at University of Illinois in the 1960s

    By Glenna R. Schroeder-Lein

    Dangerous Ideas on Campus, published by University of Illinois Press, Urbana, 2021. $24.95.

  • The Black Man's President

    Abraham Lincoln's legacy on race, reconsidered, stands up to critics

    By James Krohe Jr.

    (Left) The Black Man’s President: Abraham Lincoln, African Americans, and the Pursuit of Racial Equality. (Pegasus Books, 2021)

  • Race in the world of sports

    New book takes on a tough subject, and "the illusion of progress"

    American sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos, along with Australian Peter Norman, during the award ceremony of the 200 - meter race at the Mexican Olympic games. During the awards ceremony, Smith (center) and Carlos protested against racial discrimination. They went barefoot on the podium and listened to their anthem bowing their heads and raising a fist with a black glove. Mexico City, Mexico, 1968.

  • Insane treatment of women

    Asylums became storehouses for wives who disagreed with husbands

    By Mary Bohlen

    Elizabeth Parsons Ware Packard (1816-1897)

  • Upheaval in Alton

    Elijah Lovejoy, martyr to freedom of the press

    By Glenna R. Schroeder-Lein

    First to Fall: Elijah Lovejoy and the Fight for a Free Press in the Age of Slavery (New York: Pegasus Press, 2021, $27.95).

  • The devil comes to Illinois

    You'll recognize the places, and some people

    By Karen Ackerman Witter

    Devil on the Prairie, by Taylor Pensoneau, 2020, 264 pages, $18.95. Self-published by Downstate Publications, Inc., 427 Lexington Court, New Berlin, IL 62670. downstatepublications@mchsi.com.

  • How did these women get this way?

    The lives of homeless women in Springfield

    By Len Naumovich

    The Least Among Us: The Lives of Homeless Women in Springfield, Illinois, by James Traveler. 224 pages. Dorrance Publishing Co., 2021. $35.49.

  • Memories of a state government insider

    Zack Stamp pens a memoir – Things as I Remember Them

    By Karen Ackerman Witter

    Waiting for a meeting in governor’s office 1988.

  • From Rochester to the world stage

    The virtuoso violinist, and how he got from here to there

    By Cinda Ackerman Klickna

    Have Violin, Will Travel: The Louis Persinger Story, by Raymond Bruzan, Sangamon Valley Writing Associates, 2021. 212 pages, $24. Order at www.cottonviolinsandshots.com.

  • Punks on the prairie

    New book explores the building of a scene in central Illinois

    By Rachel Otwell

    Punks in Peoria: Making a Scene in the American Heartland, by Jonathan Wright and Dawson Barrett and published by University of Illinois Press in June 2021, is available for $22.95 at tinyurl.com/4kdrf4sw.

  • House divided

    The marriage of Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd was not made in heaven

    By James Krohe Jr

    The first known photograph of Lincoln, taken when he was in his mid-30s, by Nicholas H. Shepherd circa 1846 in Springfield. Robert Todd Lincoln wrote that this “daguerreotype was on the walls of a room in my father’s house from my earliest recollection as a companion picture to that of my mother.” Growing up in central Illinois, the noted geologist John Wesley Powell observed Lincoln and said “this is Lincoln as I knew him; his sad, dreamy eye, his pensive smile, his sad and delicate face, his pyramidal shoulders, are the characteristics I best remember.” From the Library of Congress, colorized by Jordan J. Lloyd, Dynamichrome, UK. Right: The first known photograph of Mary Todd Lincoln, circa 1846, when she was in her mid-20s, taken by Nicholas H. Shepherd in Springfield. From the Library of Congress, colorized by Gary M. Wilcox of Summersville, WV.

  • C.T. Vivian was "in the action"

    Civil rights leader's memoir covers formative Illinois years

    By Rachel Otwell

    It's in the Action: Memories of a Nonviolent Warrior, by C.T. Vivian with Steve Fiffer. Foreword by Andrew Young. Published 2021 by NewSouth Books, 208 pages, $24.95.

  • Brush up on baseball history

    A new volume on the post-WWII era, when baseball was forever transformed

    By Stuart Shiffman

    OUR TEAM: The Epic Story of Four Men and the World Series that Changed Baseball, by Luke Epplin, Flatiron Books.

  • Springfield's back yard

    Lake Springfield's story is told in a fun new history

    By James Krohe Jr

    Diving boards at public beach house.

  • It's a long way from Guyana to Springfield

    A new memoir traces an immigrant's journey of faith and kindness

    By Karen Ackerman Witter

    It's a long way from Guyana to Springfield

  • Compass Zooming Book Club

    Thursday night means children reading from their own books

    By Cinda Ackerman Klickna

    Fourth and fifth-graders have read nine books, including The One and Only Ivan

  • The library that Dolly built

    Promoting literacy for all children

    By Cinda Ackerman Klickna

    The library that Dolly built
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These honored dead

By Mark Flotow

Mark Flotow of Springfield is author of In Their Letters, In Their Words: Illinois Civil War Soldiers Write Home. Southern Illinois University Press, 2019.

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