Comrades, The Press has asked me, The Bolshevik, to pause from my advice column to fill in with the popular Backlist Bop feature. And good timing it is, for today […]
Climbing Twin Peaks, plus David Lynch cooks quinoa
An excerpt from Justin Nieland‘s once-again-timely book David Lynch. Laura Palmer—passive, suffering, already victimized—is one kind of a melodramatic myth, and Twin Peaks, both the series and the fictional town, is Lynch’s […]
Backlist Bop: An earthmoving industry
Born in Vermont, made in America, John Deere helped humans move enough earth to impress even Ruaumoko, the Maori god of earthquakes. Deere’s death on May 17, 1886 marked the […]
Harry Edwards on fighting for black athletes and coaches, whether they like it or not
An excerpt from the new introduction to The Revolt of the Black Athlete: 50th Anniversary Edition, by Harry Edwards. I believe that over the last fifty years, the facts, the relationships, […]
200 Years of Illinois: Cal Coolidge, controversy, and Cairo
The 1927 Mississippi River flood disaster had a far-reaching social impact, inspired timeless music, influenced policy that includes what happened during Hurricane Katrina, and received its due in at least one […]
Hirum Cronk Remembered
He fought for his country at a time when Native Americans still played a major role in New York’s military conflicts. He died when film could be taken of his funeral. On […]
Backlist Bop: John Lennon knows politics ain’t easy
As the tumultuous late Sixties and early Seventies retreat into history, the zeitgeist is steadily sanding the many rough edges off John Lennon in order to enjoy his music without […]
The origins of the Beckman Institute
An excerpt from An Illini Place: Building the University of Illinois Campus, by Lex Tate and John Franch The gift (and match) to establish the interdisciplinary Beckman Institute for Advanced […]
200 Years of Illinois: Starved Rock’s historic lodge
On May 8, 1985, the National Register of Historic Places anointed the famous Starved Rock Lodge and its nearby cabins. Once known as a vacation hotspot with a hotel and […]
Graduation Book Giveaway!
Starting from May 8th, 2017 at 10 A.M. until May 11th, 2017 5 P.M., University of Illinois Press is sponsoring a graduation book giveaway across all of our social media accounts! […]
200 Years of Illinois: Dutch windmill
On May 5, 2001, the village of Fulton officially opened the majestic De Immigrant, the 100-foot tall Dutch windmill overlooking the Mississippi River. Built in the Netherlands and reconstructed piece-by-piece […]
“Women Against Abortion” mentioned in The New Yorker
Karissa Haugeberg’s book Women Against Abortion: Inside the Largest Moral Reform Movement of the Twentieth Century was recently mentioned in an article in The New Yorker that examines the history […]