We are pleased to announce that Creating the Land of Lincoln: The History and Constitutions of Illinois, 1778-1870 by Frank Cicero Jr. has won the Russell P. Strange Book of the Year Award from the Illinois State Historical Society (ISHS). The award is presented annually to one author in recognition of significant contribution to the study of Illinois history. The award was announced at the ISHS annual meeting on Saturday, April 26, 2019, in Petersburg, Illinois.

The award committee said:

“Creating the Land of Lincoln provides an excellent overview of Illinois’s state constitutional history from Territorial Days to the ratification of the 1870 Constitution, and it will be appreciated by both professional and amateur historians. Cicero takes us through the men and history of the development of Illinois from its pre-territorial days to after the Civil War. He does excellent work exploring the planting of slavery along both sides of the Mississippi, noting that the four nineteenth-century constitutional conventions were ‘white men’s conventions.’ . . . This is the definitive book on Illinois Constitutional history for the next 5 years, and no student can write or study about early Illinois without consulting this book.”

We’re so proud to have published this incredible work of scholarship. Congratulations Frank!