Books

Untitled Document The subtitle of David LaVere’s Looting Spiro Mounds is a footnote to perhaps the greatest public grave robbery in history: Howard Carter’s 1924 discovery, opening, and emptying of King Tutankhamun’s tomb in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings. That story, which ran in The Times of London and captured headlines around the world, legitimized treasure […]

Untitled Document Recently, during my family excavations, I unearthed a homemade booklet, “Books Read in 1900,” belonging to my grandmother. She’d have been 30. Inside the cardboard cover she’s quoted, “Wondrous indeed is the virtue of a good book.” She begins Jan. 1 with a virtuous book: Happiness: As Found in Forethought Minus Fearthought (1898) […]

Untitled Document I resisted opening this book, even though it was an autographed gift from the author’s sister-in-law, a longtime Springfieldian. I thought that it was another book hammering me with all the books I ought to read when I already felt guilty enough about all the books I hadn’t yet read, and never would, […]

Untitled Document Politics beats a big drum in Springfield, and those disinclined to march to that drum often seek more harmonious cadences elsewhere. This was true for Mark Foutch. The Springfield native grew up on Whittier Avenue, went for his first airplane ride at age 4, made a name for himself as a musician before […]

Untitled Document Here are two books by area authors: One describes growing up on a farm near Carthage, 1930-1950; the other is the memoirs of a World War II fighter pilot, compiled by his wife, who co-manages a business in Peoria. Both are published by Vantage, an established subsidy press. About such presses: Everyone has […]

Untitled Document Here’s a curious book for June: 26 personal essays on weddings — and, occasionally, nonweddings. They touch on such subjects as plans, preparations, etiquette, gift registries, the dress, the budget, and more, including “Should you have sex on your wedding night?” (Conclusion: You’re exhausted and you’ve already had it anyway, unless you’re buying […]

Untitled Document Springfieldian Sydney Kling wanted to mark her retirement from a nursing career by doing something both different and worthwhile. She gathered her courage, did some investigating, passed tests and panels and at 67, with the blessing of her loved ones, headed for South Africa as a Peace Corps volunteer. There, her nursing and […]

Untitled Document Harry Mark Petrakis’ newest collection consists of eight short stories and a novella. The short stories are vintage Petrakis, rooted in Chicago’s Greek community, spare and eloquent in the telling — and often with surprising endings. In “Beauty’s Daughter,” which takes place on Halsted Street, a mother’s brief happiness with a lover changes […]

Untitled Document William Russell Arrington — best known as Russ — was a familiar face and factor in the Illinois General Assembly from 1945 to 1973. Moreover, he was one of history’s most dominant legislators, with ideas that influenced state government, especially the Senate, for decades. Many of the state’s elected leaders have since honored […]

Untitled Document Looking for emotion, struggle, determination, and accomplishment? They’re all there in Megan Marshall’s The Peabody Sisters, a fascinating look at the lives of three women who helped light up American culture in the early history of our Republic. Pulling information from newly discovered letters and diaries, Marshall tells us about Sophia, Mary, and […]

Untitled Document I do not like thee, Doctor PearlThe reason why is not mere churlBut you’re so smart — and hence my qu’rrel —Well, leaving the nursery verse, seeing as how I can’t find an appropriate final rhyme, your books, Dr. Pearl, just ought to be better than they are. Last summer I read the well-reviewed […]

Untitled Document Arcadia Publishing’s series Images of America enlists various authors to research the history of a certain town or area. Endnotes in the books state that Arcadia is the leading local history publisher in the United States, with more than 3,000 titles in print. Formats are similar and attractive: about 130 pages, a few early […]