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 […]
Category: Illinois / regional
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 […]
Flammulina velutipes, the space shuttle mushroom
Flammulina velutipes (Curtis) Singer Edible, but tough. Despite appearances, the commercially produced “enoki” mushroom found in many grocery stores is a cultivated form of this mushroom. One of the best-known […]