Today marks Jane Addam’s 158th birthday and at UI Press, we’re the proud publisher of many of her books and personal papers. As a fitting tribute to the mother of […]
Category: Illinois / regional
The Evolution of a Vision: The History of the University of Illinois Press
Have you ever wondered how the University of Illinois Press got its start? Julie Laut, our Outreach Coordinator, takes us back to when the press was founded in 1918 in […]
A Triumph of Progressive Politics: Roger Biles on Mayor Harold Washington

Roger Biles is Professor Emeritus of History at Illinois State University. His books include Richard J. Daley: Politics, Race, and the Governing of Chicago and The Fate of Cities: Urban America and the Federal […]
Roger Biles on C-SPAN2 Book TV at Printers Row Lit Fest

Last weekend, Chicago hosted one of the largest literary events in the Midwest: Printers Row Lit Festival. The festival is a reader’s dream featuring a wealth of author panels, and […]
University of Illinois Press Authors at Printer’s Row Lit Festival

June 9-10, the streets of Dearborn and Polk will be flooded with booksellers, publishers, and book lovers for the annual Printer’s Row Lit Festival in Chicago! The University of Illinois […]
Q&A with Himanee Gupta-Carlson, author of “Muncie, India(na): Middletown and Asian America”
Himanee Gupta-Carlson is an associate professor at SUNY Empire State College. She recently answered some questions about her new book, Muncie, India(na): Middletown and Asian America. Q. Muncie, Indiana is […]
From Lincoln to Neoliberal Chicago: Celebrating the Illinois State Bicentennial
Illinois became a state on December 3, 1818. One hundred years later, the University of Illinois Press opened its doors. The Press’s debut book, on Abraham Lincoln, marked the beginning of […]
In search of Lincoln’s hand
The Railsplitter always remains newsworthy. Perhaps you remember the recent Lincoln-related crime wave in Kankakee, Illinois, where a thief or thieves took a plaster sculpture of Abraham Lincoln’ hand. Let’s go […]
The Beginning of a University Press
“The University of Illinois Press is destined to be one of the greatest Presses in the country.” —President Edmund J. James in a letter to the first University of Illinois […]
“What I Want for Christmas,” an excerpt from Christmas in Illinois
With hopes for peaceful holiday celebrations everywhere, here is “What I Want for Christmas,” by Robert Green Ingersoll, from Christmas in Illinois, along with the introduction by editor James Ballowe: […]
Oh, gnarly tree: A holiday tale
I am fortunately immune to nostalgia about past celebrations of the yule, with one exception: the Christmas tree. Not a tree in the abstract, but the Christmas tree I grew up with, a […]
200 Years of Illinois: Making way for Fermilab
It came from the future: Tevatron. The villain in the new Michael Bay feature? Actually, the world’s largest particle accelerator once it opened in 1983. But to get there, the giant […]