Neil Young on Neil Young: Interviews and Encounters By Arthur Lizie Chicago Review Press “Serious, intense, with hooded, blue-gray eyes that always seem capable of pinning you to the wall, Neil Young […]
Guide to Chicago’s Twenty-First-Century Architecture Chicago Architecture Center and John Hill University of Illinois Press As packed with tacky tourist traps as any city, Chicago has one irreproachable draw: its architecture. After […]
Metropolis: A History of the City, Humankind’s Greatest Invention By Ben Wilson Anchor Books In the 1850s, Swedish writer Fredricka Bremer visited Chicago and, to say the least, was not impressed. Ben […]
Identity Unknown: Rediscovering Seven American Women Artists By Donna Seaman Bloomsbury USA I discovered this book about female artists who never received proper recognition after seeing the Newberry Library exhibit titled Chicago […]
“We’ve been taught the history of a country that doesn’t exist.” Nikole Hannah-Jones is today’s Ida B. Wells, both fearless females and groundbreaking African-American journalists (Hannah-Jones’ Twitter handle is Ida Bae Wells). […]
By Carr Harkrader With its dramatic palazzo ornamentation, twinkling star-lit ceiling, and mischievous cherubs nuzzling within insets, the Music Box Theatre was perhaps the perfect place for a talk with the performer […]
David Anthony Witter was born in Miller, Indiana—“across the lagoon from Nelson Algren’s summer home,” as he puts it—but has spent most of his life in Chicago. Growing up in 1970s Lincoln […]
Punks in Peoria: Making a Scene in the American Heartland Jonathan Wright and Dawson Barrett University of Illinois Press I told a friend I was reviewing a book called Punks in Peoria. […]
We all carry secrets, but not everyone has the courage to sit under stage lights, before an audience awash in shadows, and tell them to the world. But immigration attorney Qian Julie […]
Live Literature: The Experience and Cultural Value of Literary Performance Events from Salons to Festivals Ellen Wiles Palgrave Macmillan With music, open mics, and more—live performance is slowly coming back to Chicago. […]
Bessie Smith: A Poet’s Biography of a Blues Legend By Jackie Kay Vintage Books Bessie Smith, Empress of the Blues, liked to spend money on herself and on her friends, such as […]
Abandoned Chicagoland: Rust on the Prairies By Jerry Olejniczak Arcadia Publishing I’ve always been drawn to—and repelled by—demolition sites. Crumbling walls, shattered by a wrecking ball and revealing shards of past lives […]
