Making Photography Matter: A Viewer’s History from the Civil War to the Great Depression by Cara A. Finnegan was recently awarded the James A. Winans and Herbert A. Wichelns Memorial […]
A Brazil syllabus
It has been and remains a tumultuous time in Brazil. Of course there was the Rio Olympics, which some feared would fall into debacle under the chaos of the Zika […]
Release Party: Blue Rhythm Fantasy
Behind the iconic jazz orchestras, vocalists, and stage productions of the Swing Era lay the talents of popular music’s unsung heroes: the arrangers. In this new entry in our acclaimed […]
Throwbacklist Thursday: Money that’s ready to burn
Gambling. Like all our beloved vices, it is an ancient habit, and probably a prehistoric one. The mighty UIP handicaps some scholarship on the wagering life to get you in the […]
Release Party: Barns of Illinois
Finally available in a full-color paperback edition, Larry Kanfer’s Barns of Illinois showcases the Illinois photographer’s much-praised images of the Midwest’s iconic structure. As a state abounding with broad farmlands, Illinois has […]
200 Years of Illinois: The Last Hambletonian
On August 30, 1980, the last Hambletonian in Du Quoin got underway amidst local sadness and headlines that harness racing’s top event had scored big money in its move to the […]
Q&A with Blue Rhythm Fantasy author John Wriggle
John Wriggle is a musicologist, composer, arranger, and trombonist who has taught for the City University of New York, Rutgers University, and Boston University. He answered some questions about his […]
The Liberationists
Forty-six years ago today, national feminist groups staged the Women’s Strike for Equality. “If the success of media activism is measured by the amount of news coverage generated, the Strike […]
“Barnum of the Bigots”
Not exactly the pride of Bloomington, Illinois, American Nazi leader George Lincoln Rockwell was born into—of all things—a family of vaudeville performers. A former associate shot him to death on August […]
Throwbacklist Thursday
It’s been awhile since I could legitimately sing, “Give me a head with hair/long, beautiful hair.” But the Cowsills, via America’s tribal love-rock musical, expressed the importance of the streamin’, flaxen, […]
Release Party: Cultural Heritage in Mali in the Neoliberal Era
Up to 2012, Mali was a poster child for African democracy, despite multiple signs of growing dissatisfaction with the democratic experiment. Then disaster struck, bringing many of the nation’s unresolved […]
Bradbury Trivia: Ray and Rod
Ray Bradbury, born on August 22, 1920, is known for his breakthrough novels such as Fahrenheit 451. As Jonathan R. Eller writes in Ray Bradbury Unbound, the author also made an […]