2022 in Review: A Lit Retrospective
What was 2022 like in the world of Chicago, Illinois, and Midwest letters? I’ve asked the Lit section writers to share their favorite reviews and stories of the past year. […]
Review: Gay Old Times, Last Call Chicago, by Rick Karlin and St. Sukie de la Croix
Last Call Chicago is not a narrative book. Rather it is an extensive listing with brief descriptions of 1,001 LGBTQ and LGBTQ-friendly bars and such. But it is also a […]
Interview: Making Fun—Jeffrey Breslow’s 30+ Years of Toy and Game Making
Some jobs don’t sound like work. A perfect example: Jeffrey Breslow’s decades-long career as a designer, developer, and partner at one of the most successful toy- and game-making companies of […]
Review: The City in Your Pocket, AIA Guide to Chicago
Chicago is so much more than its buildings…still they’re hard to miss. Ever since Jean Baptiste Point Du Sable built his home on the Chicago River’s banks, structures have risen […]
Interview: Hearts Beat Still—Maggie Schmieder, Author of Hopeful Hearts in Highland Park
Hopeful Hearts in Highland Park is author Maggie Duplace Schmieder’s attempt to make sense out of something senseless. She and her family attended the Highland Park Independence Day parade this […]
Review: Open Heart Chicago: An Anthology of Chicago Writing, Edited by Vincent Francone
One of the many gifts of Vincent Francone’s new anthology of Chicago stories, Open Heart Chicago, is learning what it’s like to wander around Marquette Park while tripping on acid. […]
Review: Days of Wine and Roses—My Amy: The Life We Shared by Tyler James
My Amy: The Life We Shared by Tyler James Chicago Review Press Authors who write about their lives with dead celebrities must sincerely and comprehensively answer a question that fantasy […]
Review: Eating Cheap Without Eating Poorly, The Poorcraft Cookbook
The Poorcraft Cookbook By Nero Villagallos O’Reilly Iron Circus Comics If there’s one thing old people know it’s that young people are dumb. Selective amnesia makes each generation’s youth-haters forget […]
Review: Anti-Racist and More, The Anti-Racist Writing Workshop, by Felicia Rose Chavez
The Anti-Racist Writing Workshop: How to Decolonize the Creative Classroom by Felicia Rose Chavez Haymarket Books, 216 pages, $14.97 Chicago’s Haymarket Books promotes The Anti-Racist Writing Workshop: How to Decolonize […]
Essay: Back of the Book, or How I Explain My Profession
It’s the same reaction most every time I tell someone I am an indexer. Blank stare. “You know, the thing at the end of a book,” I offer helpfully.Then, a […]
Retrospective: A History That Leaves a Lot Unsaid, City of the Century By Donald L. Miller
City of the Century: The Epic of Chicago and the Making of America By Donald L. Miller Simon & Shuster For a quarter of a century, I’ve used Donald L. […]
Review: It Is What It Is: Guide to Chicago’s Twenty-First-Century Architecture
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 […]