Books

Bloomer Girls: Women Baseball Pioneers, by Debra Shattuck.University of Illinois Press, 2017. The role of women in sports has traveled a somewhat winding road, occasionally strewn with potholes and detours. The women of my baby-boomer era played few sports in high school or college. In the early 1970s, the passage of Title IX of the […]

Lincoln on Leadership for Today: Abraham Lincoln’s Approach to 21st Century Issues. By Donald T. Phillips, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. In his first nationally televised one-on-one interview, Donald Trump invoked the name of the president often quoted by Republican occupants of the White House. “I can be the most presidential person ever, other than possibly the great Abe […]

Perhaps If You Saw One is a picture book of whimsical parade floats and enthusiastic participants. Published by Springfield’s Coalition of Rainbow Alliances, the book amounts to an informal history of activities of the gay and lesbian community over the past 13 years. Each photo layout is accompanied by a paragraph explaining the joys and […]

Springfield underwent a substantial transformation during the 1960s and 1970s. Through developments in the areas of tourism, education, entertainment and commerce, the city wasc adamant about preserving its culture as well as modernizing in an effort to adhere to the changing landscape of the 20th century. In Springfield, Curtis Mann, director of the Sangamon Valley […]

Pragmatism used to be a dirty word in government. The pragmatist was too quick to sacrifice principle for the grimy give-and-take of backroom deals, too eager to exploit the interests of the many for the enrichment of the few. Three such pragmatists were Paul Powell, Clyde Choate and John Stelle of southern Illinois, the dealmakers […]

Ever since Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet stood on the bow in that blockbuster movie, crowds have flocked to exhibits dedicated to all things Titanic. Swinging a trip to museums in Southampton, England, or Halifax, Nova Scotia, would be a stretch, but soon your heart can go on with a day visit to Peoria. “Titanic: […]

Professional photographer David Beatty has used a 4×5 Speed Graphic camera since he began his career in 1945. He is shown here in his Fifth Street studio, circa 1979. Hardworking, faithful, and resilient in the face of what others might call setbacks, professional photographer Dave Beatty has enjoyed a career photographing corporate jets and entertainment […]

Brighton, by Michael Harvey. Ecco Publishing, 355 pages, ISBN: 9780062442970. “If my bones are Chicago, my blood is Boston, and specifically Brighton,” observes Michael Harvey in the acknowledgements to his most recent mystery novel. Harvey is a multitalented journalist who has received multiple Emmy awards for news, primetime Emmy and Academy Award nominations and has […]

Fall from Grace: The Truth and Tragedy of “Shoeless Joe” Jackson, by Tim Hornbaker. Skyhorse Publishing, 296 pages. Writer Nelson Algren once observed that “Chicago is an October sort of city even in spring.” Fans of Chicago’s baseball teams would certainly disagree since October is the month of baseball’s World Series and in the past […]

Creatures on Display, by Wm. Stage. Floppinfish Publishing Co. Ltd. Creatures on Display, by Wm. Stage. Floppinfish Publishing Co. Ltd. I have always believed that the only thing more difficult than reading about sex is writing about it. Creatures on Display, by Wm. Stage of St. Louis, overcomes that difficulty in an interesting and thoughtful […]

Mrs. Modine and the Case of the Haunted Halloween Séance. By D. Ann Johnson. ISBN 9781517140434. 206 pages. Available on Amazon or CreateSpace. Want to cozy up with a good mystery over the holidays? Meet Mrs. Modine! She’s a mature widow with a snoopy disposition and is the creation of Dency Grubbs, a Decatur author […]

A Century of Lithuanians in Springfield, Illinois by Sandy Baksys, 2015 My advice is always to “read locally,” but you’ll find when you read about Springfield’s Lithuanians, you’re reading globally. A Century of Lithuanians is an account of these immigrants – the first wave early in the century, why they left their homeland, how they […]