Golf. Cook. Village (1928). Named for the game of golf. The local story is that Albert J. Erling, president of the Milwaukee Road, would have the train stopped at this […]
“Dime Novel Desperadoes” profiled in the Chicago Tribune
John Hallwas’s new book Dime Novel Desperadoes: The Notorious Maxwell Brothers was featured in the Chicago Tribune‘s October 11, 2008, “Illinois Style” column. “No books had been written about them; in the […]
Just Landed: A bevy of new books
A handful of new books landed on my desk in the past few weeks: –Terrence Malick by Lloyd Michaels (October 20, 2008) –Health Culture in the Heartland, 1880-1980: An Oral History […]
Illinois Place Name of the Day – Oct. 10, 2008
Goofy Ridge. Mason. Nine miles northeast of Havana. The origin of the name is unknown. According to a local story, the name dates from the Prohibition era of the 1920s, […]
Illinois Place Name of the Day – Oct. 9, 2008
Wing. Livingston. Seven miles northeast of Fairbury. Founded in 1883 by a man named Byrd. According to a local story, there was already a Byrd in Illinois so there ought […]
The New York Review of Books praises “The Lincoln-Douglas Debates”
The October 23, 2008, issue of The New York Review of Books includes a dual review of Lincoln and Douglas: The Debates That Defined America by Allen Guelzo and The […]
Illinois Place Name of the Day – Oct. 8, 2008
My hometown! Park Forest. Cook, Will. Founded in 1946 as a residential community for returning veterans of World War II by Carroll F. Sweet and American Community Builders. The name […]
David Wagoner featured on The Writer’s Almanac
“A Woman Feeding Gulls,” a poem from David Wagoner’s book Traveling Light: Collected and New Poems, was featured on the October 5, 2008, edition of Garrison Keillor’s The Writer’s Almanac. David […]
Pilot program for e-textbooks
The University of Texas at Austin, in coordination with John Wiley & Sons, is testing an e-textbook program, reports today’s Inside Higher Ed. “Many observers, both in academe and in the publishing […]
Illinois Place Name of the Day – Oct. 7, 2008
Foosland [FOOS luhnd]. Champaign. Village (1959) seven miles southwest of Gibson City. Founded in 1874 and named for William Foos, an absentee landlord who owned some 3,500 acres in Champaign […]
Laughter by Loyal Jones
When I received an advance copy of my book, I first thought of James “Goober” Buchanan, who had written me recently at age 100 to say he hoped to live to […]
Illinois Place Name of the Day – Oct. 6, 2008
Bug Tussle. Franklin. According to a local story, the community was named when a revival meeting attracted more june bugs than attendees, and the congregation spent most of the evening […]