Poem: Vacant Lot Pope
Walk the goofy walk of the Galilee clown, laughing at denarii or spilling the coins in anger amid the pigeons and lambs, music of the heavens, lyrics by sacred hoboes […]
Patrick T. Reardon is a Chicago historian, essayist, poet and writer who was a Chicago Tribune reporter for 32 years. He is the author of nine books including The Loop: The ‘L’ Tracks That Shaped and Saved Chicago (SIU Press).
Essay: I Choose the Spring of Hope Instead of Trump’s Winter
Each morning, I wake up to two stories. One is loud and distressing, shrilly demanding attention. The other is quiet, gentle and calm. One is like being caught in a […]
Review: Scream of Protest, Cry from the Heart, For Gaza’s Children: Black, Brown and Jewish Writers and Poets Speak Out, edited by Marc Lamont Hill, Haki Madhubuti, and Keith Gilyard
For Gaza’s Children is a scream of protest against the oppression of Palestinians by those who have suffered oppression themselves. It is a cry from the heart against the destruction, […]
Review: A Spirit of Discord, Reform and Unorthodoxy, The English Soul: Faith of a Nation, by Peter Ackroyd
Peter Ackroyd’s The English Soul: Faith of a Nation, is a rich and odd book. Rich because of the author’s storytelling skill and odd because it doesn’t tell the story […]
Review: The How, When, and Why of Rail Lines, A History of the Railroad in 100 Maps, by Jeremy Black
The 1897 image on pages 110 through11 of Jeremy Black’s A History of the Railroad in 100 Maps is a striking bird’s-eye view of Chicago, looking across downtown to the […]
Review: An Elegant Tour of Great Buildings, The Story of Architecture, by Witold Rybczynski
The 1902 plan to revamp and expand the National Mall in Washington, DC, was the product of a commission of prominent Americans. Three of them worked closely together to produce […]
Review: The Steeples Dotting Chicago’s Cityscape,Chicago Catholic Churches: A Sketchbook, by Harrison Fillmore
Some time ago, a priest drove a bunch of us teenagers somewhere. As we headed down the Dan Ryan just past the turnoff for the Stevenson, he said, “Look out […]
Review: The Working Class of the Plant World, Weeds, by Nina Edwards
For eight months—September 1940 to May 1941—the German Luftwaffe conducted a ferocious bombing campaign over London and other British cities and towns. An estimated 40,000 civilians were killed and as […]
Review: A Testament to Survival and Listening, Also Here: Love, Literacy, and the Legacy of the Holocaust, by Brooke Randel
In 1944, at the age of 13, Brooke Randel’s grandmother Golda Indig was with her older sister in the German death camp of Auschwitz. They had been separated from the rest […]
Review: Exploding Myths: Globetrotter: How Abe Saperstein Shook Up the World of Sports by Mark Jacob and Matthew Jacob
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Review: Trying to Avoid Dystopia—Cry My Beloved America by Alexander Polikoff
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Review: Trees of Wind, Fire and Light—Pine by Laura Mason
Here’s a thought: Somewhere in the American Southwest—the exact location is a highly guarded secret—is a Great Basin bristlecone that botanists and foresters estimate to be 4,500 years old. It […]