Note: Gina Barreca, the editor of Fast Funny Women, and Chicagoan Nicole Hollander will read from the collection of 75 essays of flash nonfiction in a Zoom event at 7 pm on […]
Review: Flashes of Wry: Fast Funny Women, edited by Gina Barreca
Review: CityFiles Press Photography Books Bring History into Focus
CityFiles Press is a small publishing company based in Chicago that has been producing books filled with stunning photography along with compelling text. Since its inception in 2003, co-publishers Michael Williams and […]
Review: A Long-Ago Blaze That Echoes the Pandemic, Chicago’s Great Fire, by Carl Smith
Chicago’s Great Fire: The Destruction and Resurrection of an Iconic American City by Carl Smith Atlantic Monthly Press Devastation is devastation, whether brought about by fire or pandemic. The Great Chicago Fire […]
Review: Re-Animaniac: Dr. Herbert West & Astounding Tales of Medical Malpractice
Dr. Herbert West & Astounding Tales of Medical Malpractice By Bruce Brown and Thomas Boatwright Arcana Comics Howard Phillips Lovecraft was once a rare beast. Following a personal literary philosophy he called […]
Review: MLK, X, and BLM—The Sword and the Shield, by Peniel Joseph
The Sword and the Shield by Peniel Joseph Basic Books Reviewed by Carr Harkrader When Martin Luther King Jr. came to Chicago in 1966 to promote integrated housing, his marches through white […]
Review: Byronic Heroines, Mad, Bad & Dangerous to Know, by Samira Ahmed
Mad, Bad & Dangerous to Know by Samira Ahmed Penguin Random House Reviewed by C.E. Archer-Helke I don’t often find a book that simultaneously transports me to the best parts of my […]
Review: The Joy and Bother of City Streets, The Streets of Europe: The Sights, Sounds, and Smells That Shaped Its Great Cities, by Brian Ladd
The Streets of Europe: The Sights, Sounds, and Smells That Shaped Its Great Cities By Brian Ladd University of Chicago Press, 320 pages, $30 I’m having a difficult time deciding what, dear […]
Review: Murder Most Female—He Had It Coming, by Kori Rumore and Marianne Mather
He Had It Coming Kori Rumore and Marianne Mather Midway: An Agate Imprint A crime only gains sex appeal after it’s been committed, and it’s usually an ingredient added by those covering […]
Review: The Very Near Future—Midwest Futures, by Phil Christman
Midwest Futures By Phil Christman Belt Publishing The Midwest is a deeply mysterious place to the coastal essayists, pundits, and politicians. Rarely visiting, save to write clunky closed factory and “Whither Main […]
Book Review: Relentless, Raw Outrage, Valentine by Elizabeth Wetmore
Valentine by Elizabeth Wetmore Harper, 306 pages, $26.99 Elizabeth Wetmore’s Valentine, set in 1976 rural West Texas, is a novel of relentless and brutally raw outrage. A fury-filled howl of women caught […]
Rubbernecking Rich Living, Chicago Apartments: A Century and Beyond of Lakefront Luxury
Chicago Apartments: A Century and Beyond of Lakefront Luxury By Neil Harris with Teri J. Edelstein University of Chicago Press, 364 pages, $85 Reading Neil Harris’s Chicago Apartments: A Century and Beyond […]
Book Review: Peace Talks, the Latest Installment of Dresden Files Holds Up, Even for Latecomers
Peace Talks By Jim Butcher Ace In the 16th installment of Chicago-based urban fantasy series The Dresden Files, wizard-for-hire Harry Dresden is tapped to work security for a treaty negotiation among supernatural […]
