Dear Bolshevik, With spring nearly here, I am suddenly facing the prospect that I will, in fact, graduate from college and have to find a job. I have spent the […]
Happy birthday, Jerry Lewis
A few months ago, a friend and I discussed one of those pop culture questions that go just right with a pint of beer. Which living celebrity has been famous for […]
NWSA First Book Prize entries being accepted
June 1, 2015, is the next application deadline for the NWSA/University of Illinois Press First Book Prize. From the NWSA press release: The National Women’s Studies Association and the University of […]
Hill and brimstone
Some would say Hillary Clinton makes news. But in the national mind it sometimes seems that Hillary Clinton is news, its very personification, an irresistible-to-media hybrid of politico, symbol, and celebrity sentenced […]
The news game
In a century-plus of popular culture, journalists have appeared as cynical scandalmongers, noble crusaders, nicotine-soaked cynics, and the mild-mannered alter egos of super-powered Kryptonians. The latest UIP debut Heroes and Scoundrels […]
Campaign cash and Corrupt Illinois
Political corruption isn’t just about under-the-table dealings. A major factor that contributes to a system that many see as broken in the state of Illinois and throughout the country is […]
Digital Depression author Dan Schiller on Net Neutrality
Digital Depression author Dan Schiller is a professor in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science and the Department of Communication at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In light […]
The Creolization of American Culture wins Irving Lowens Book Award
The Creolization of American Culture: William Sidney Mount and the Roots of Blackface Minstrelsy by Christopher J. Smith has been awarded the Irving Lowens Book Award by the Society for […]
Q&A with Midwest Maize author Cynthia Clampitt
Food historian and travel writer Cynthia Clampitt recently answered some questions about her book Midwest Maize: How Corn Shaped the U.S. Heartland. Q: What was the importance of corn to […]
From aeromotive to aerospace
When aviation pioneer Octave Chanute died in 1910, no one could have dreamed that man would not only conquer the air, but venture into outer space. Five years after Chanute’s […]
A video preview of The Land of Milk and Uncle Honey
“Back then farming was people,” says Alan Guebert. Guebert has written about agribusiness issues in “The Farm and Food File” since 1993. But the syndicated columnist notes that he would […]
The Stanley Brothers on the record
Gary B. Reid’s introduction to the Stanley Brothers was a used record he picked up for 33 cents in 1973. That modest investment launched Reid on an odyssey that would […]