No comments about Legends and Lore of Southern Illinois (Shawnee Classics).

5 comments about Twenty Years at Hull-House (Signet Classics).

1. I enjoy reading about strong women with great vision. I also enjoy this particular period in history, so this was a perfect match for me. I would love to have been part of the Plato club, or study cooking, or sewing, or heard concerts throughout the week. I sometimes think we have so much going on in our lives right now that we don't take the time to slow down and cherish the simple things. This book did that for me. It made me want to study and focus on things. I know we have tons of technology available to us, but I wish we would still discuss philosophy, and I wish more people would read - I mean, really read. Not just the top twenty things out there. But times are different...



2. I am doing a History Fair project on the Hull House. I thought that I would just be quickly skimming over the book, but in fact i really enjoyed it and I ended up reading with a lot of intrest.



3. In 1911 Addams helped found the National Foundation of Settlements and Neighborhood Centers, and she was its first president. She was also a leader in women's suffrage and pacifist movements. In 1915 she helped found the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. She received the 1931 Nobel Peace Prize (shared with American educator Nicholas Murray Butler).
   
   The Hull House could boast a group of about 2,000 people a week. It had facilities including: a night school for adults, kindergarten classes, clubs for older children, a public kitchen, an art gallery, a coffeehouse, a gymnasium, a girls club, a swimming pool, a book bindery, a music school, a drama group, a library, and labor related divisions.
   
   The Hull House also served as a women's institution of sociology and Addams was a friend and colleague to the early men of the Chicago School of Sociology influencing their social thought of the time through her work in applied sociology, which became defined as social work by academic sociologists of the time. Addams did not, however, consider herself a social worker. She co-authored the Hull-House Maps and Papers in 1893 that came to define the interests and methodologies of Chicago Sociology. She worked with George H. Mead on social reform issues including women's rights and the 1910 Garment Workers' Strike. Addams combined the central concepts of symbolic interactionism with the theories of cultural feminism and pragmatism to form her sociological ideas.



4. Along with Addams herself, "Twenty Years At Hull-House" inspired generations of US social and political activists. For decades a Hull House sojourn, or at least a visit, was virtually a pilgrimage for all kinds of progressive reformers. Jane Addams came from a conventional Middle American milieu, but was radicalized by seeing the ravages of the Industrial Revolution both in Britain and Chicago. This timeless memoir of the years 1889-1909 documents her wide-ranging concerns, embracing public health, pacifism and feminism as well as philanthropy, working-class education and poverty alleviation. Nationalist hysteria damaged Addams's reputation as a result of her antiwar stance during World War I, but it recovered enough for her to win the 1931 Nobel Peace Prize. Students had mixed views of book and author. To some she is a revelation, but others see her as rather sanctimonious (a fair criticism to some extent). Her prose is accessible but a little archaic now, sometimes appearing flowery or pompous, which deters some readers. While I respect and admire Addams, I waited in vain for the epiphany felt by thousands inspired by her life's work. People who find their own way to "Hull-House" will probably appreciate her more than those required to read her book---but such unsought exposure lies at the heart of liberal education, and brings many rewards.



5. A well written book but a littany of "look at what I did for the less fortunate" Jane Adams clearly brings out the fact that she was of the upper class and so much better than those she sought to help. Her goal it seems was to bring high society upper middle class values to the poor. She rarely talks about others who had to be involved. If it did not include her she was not interested in reporting. She also failed to show that she actually helped anyone better thier lives. She just crows about how she brought literature and art to the poor masses.

4 comments about Steel Giants: Historic Images from the Calumet Regional Archives.

1. Beautifully composed, printed and bound. Photos of the two steel giants of Northwest Indiana in the early 20th century. Has a library style cover.



2. That vast amalgam of the steel industry that lined virtually the entire South Shore of Lake Michigan never ceased to amaze me as I flew over it on my many trips in and out of Chicago from the East Coast, and it was equally depressing to watch the slow demise and near disappearance of Big Steel over the last thirty years leaving what appears to be a vast alley of soot and rust. It never occurred to me that I would ever need to know more about the subject than my own personal observations noted above. That all changed when I was engaged to design an exhibit based on the Steel Industry on the Lake Michigan South Shore.
   The current meager supply of easily accessible information was vastly improved by the publication of "Steel Giants". This impressive photographic compilation of the now vanished industry puts in one place access to vast archives formerly easily available only to scholars and those willing to travel to Indiana. Due to the source material itself, it's not not the perfect compendium of the industry that might have been compiled by an independent eye. It is instead what the steel industry saw as important to note for reasons of publicity or record. That other book will have to be left to other enquiring industrial archaeologists yet to come. So take this book for what it is---a vast self-portrait of the Twentieth Century steel giants as they saw themselves. That said, it comprises a magnificent and beautifully produced corporate photographic record that you can actually hold in your hands and appreciate at a cost far less than a plane ticket.



3. I think anyone who has either worked, lived, or has a family member that worked at either Inland Steel or USS Gary Works must have this book. Very few words but lots of very interesting and previously unseen by many people in and or from the area. The adjacent areas to these two mills have come full circle. They both started as sand dunes and now are re-approaching that same state again. AS the Steel Industry in these areas have gone, so have the areas (cities). Again, this is a must for anyone from these areas. Besides many of my fathers pictures are in this book. Regardless IT'S A MUST.



4. The book provides an excellent pictorial presentation of the development of the Steel Industry in Northwest Indiana. It presents background information identifying the development of the communities during the subsequent construction of two of the largest steel producing facilities in the United States.

5 comments about Local People: The Struggle for Civil Rights in Mississippi (Blacks in the New World).

1. In my opinion this work looks at the civil rights movement in a way that all historians shoud take note of. Dittmer's in-depth bottom up look at the way movements happen allows a deeper understanding of the incredible struggles that local Mississippians went through for a few small steps toward racial equality. It also knocks the national leaders (JFK, LBJ, MLK) off the pedestals that mainstream history has placed under them and shows the truly peripheral role that they played in the struggle.



2. Much of our common knowledge of U.S. civil rights movement's history comes from books and films portraying the nationally known struggles of the 1950s and 1960s. This book tells a different story - the struggles of the largely African American activists who, working without the benefit of the national spotlight, sought to open up the closed society of Mississippi to equal treatment for its African American citizens. It was a tremendous and extremely dangerous task. Mississippi was the toughest nut to crack among the Southern states. It was the most impoverished state in the union, where subjugation of African Americans was strictly enforced through intimidation, violence, disenfranchisement, job firings and economic ruin. Any sympathetic whites who dared to even question Mississippi justice were financially ruined and all but run out of the state. In this seemingly impossible to change social, political, and economic climate, a movement of local Mississippi African Americans emerged, with the help of activists from other states, who challenged the situation head-on by attempting to empower African Americans through voter registration drives, by attempting to set up cooperatives in order to gain economic power, and through education. The emphasis was not so much on organizing for desegregation of public facilities as it was on changing the power structure of Mississippi, to enfranchise its African American citizens and gain for them political and economic justice. Working from the bottom up, these activists had few allies, were largely ignored by the national media, and faced life threatening dangers on a daily and nightly basis. Many were savagely beaten, shot at, and repeatedly jailed. Several were murdered. They persisted, working diligently and out of the spotlight. Local People details the successes and failures of these every day struggles, and by doing so, lifts this aspect of the movement from obscurity to its rightful place in history. Prof. Dittmer is a first-rate writer - this book is very hard to put down once you start reading it. What emerges is a portrait of some of the most courageous people in our nation's history, such as Fannie Lou Hamer, Amzie Moore, and Bob Moses, and the local people who responded to the activists efforts. Local People is essential reading for any true understanding of the civil rights movement.



3. Marvelous. Should be required reading for all college and university students.



4. This was required reading for a graduate course in American history.
   
   John Dittmer's Local People: The Struggle for Civil Rights in Mississippi paints a portrait of one of the most horrendous acts committed in our nation's history. The torture and abuse the black population endured just to be able to vote was unimaginable. Black men from Mississippi fought for our country in World War II but they could not have a voice in who helped run our country. They remained disenfranchised in this state. White supremacy ran rampant in Mississippi for decades.
   
   Trying to keep blacks from voting in the 1940's made headlines in the Jackson Daily News which read: "DON'T TRY IT!": "Don't attempt to participate in the Democratic primaries anywhere in Mississippi on July 2nd* Staying away from the polls on that date will be the best way to prevent unhealthy and unhappy results." (2) Senator Theodore "The Man" Bilbo played a major role in what became known as the "reign of terror" in trying to keep blacks from voting. Although a complaint was filed with the US Senate committee to Investigate Campaign Expenditures claiming Bilbo had something to do with ostracizing blacks he denied all charges of wrongdoing and was exonerated.
   
   The state constitution had been set up in such a manner that made it almost impossible . for any black man or woman to be able to register to vote. The four main criteria were:
   
   1. Prevent them from registering in the first place
   2. Two year residency requirement
   3. Two dollar poll tax
   4. "Understanding clause" which stated that any prospective voter must be able to read any section of the constitution or as an alternative, be able to understand it when read to him, or to give" a reasonable interpretation of it". (6)
   
   The vast majority of white Mississippians believed blacks should not vote. For four decades blacks struggled against forces of white supremacy with limited success. Most of the' power coming from the "Delta Aristocracy" dominated the state politically and economically for almost half the century (10).
   
   Racial violence was a daily reality for blacks in Mississippi. The caste system that existed before World War II still lingered and remained well into the future, After the war black activism began. Efforts began to be made for voter registration. Organizations began to form in order to advance the black population into what should already be theirs, human rights. Many still held jobs associated with slavery. Jim Crow commanded the pace of life in Mississippi. "Keeping the Negro in his place" was the duty of every white citizen (20). The black vote was not progressing the way organizations like the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) wished it would. Three of the factors that accounted for the failure to register large numbers of black votes are as follows:
   
   1. Tactics of intimidation
   2. No on to vote for
   3. Registration campaigns centered on the small black middle class
   
   Organizations such as the NAACP and the RCNl (Regional Council of Negro leadership) were both working toward the same goal; however, their differences were more territorial than ideological. They had to remember that their common enemy was the same. Mississippi came to be in a class by itself. The philosophy of the white population came to be that it was "open season" on blacks. If any black man ever achieved anything or got
   ahead in any way white supremacy out ranked him every time. Voting remained the main objective for blacks for many years. They continued to have many obstacles in which to overcome in order to just get registered. The state kept the difficult tests in place and violence was EVERYWHERE.
   
   By the early 1960's outsiders began to infiltrate the state. Freedom rides began, college students began protesting in different ways, sit-ins and demonstrations started; and during this time President Kennedy's only goal was to avoid violence. Voter registration came to a standstill after the murder of Herbert Lee, a member of the Mississippi state legislature. His murder was sending a message to the black population which was standing up for your rights in southwest Mississippi could get you killed (109). Organizers came to the realization that no progress could be made unless someone was willing to die.
   
   The activist decide to go to the Delta which was the most oppressed and poor area of Mississippi. There they find that the poorest people are the most willing to act because they have nothing to lose. Violence follows them everywhere but patience begins to subside with the black population and they start to fight back.
   
   James Meredith applied to Ole Miss after serving in the military and enrolling in Jackson State in 1960. His main goal was to desegregate Ole Miss. After many appeals, Meredith was admitted and the governor, Ross Barnett, had been in secret negotiations with the Kennedy' son how to keep Ole Miss from becoming integrated. The Kennedy's had trusted Barnett to keep the peace with this matter; however, on September 30, 1962 the Ole Miss riot took place when Meredith entered Oxford with federal Marshalls. When it was over two men were dead and 160 marshals were injured (140).
   
   Hunger, illiteracy and voting were concerns that needed to be addressed immediately. The SNCC(Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee) forced the Kennedys to do what they did not want to do, to "be on somebody's side" (153). The black community became excited. They got involved. The Greenwood movement, as it was known, survived the repression it experienced and the SNCC workers returned to their projects once again. However, the federal indifference and the white narrow-mindedness did not put an end to the fight for civil rights. At the same time in Jackson they were getting ready for a campaign against segregated facilities and discriminatory employment practices. They were insisting on the use of courtesy titles, equality in hiring and promotion, and an end to Jim Crow practices (157). After gaining some momentum in their quest the NAACP decided to reverse their direction which is still unclear. In Jackson, the Kennedys' primary objective was to bring an end to violence, which meant getting black people off the streets. They preferred order to justice (169).
   
   Violence, hunger, and hatred continued to ensue throughout the state. Pastors of black churches finally opened their doors to organizations so they would have somewhere to meet. Voting rights were still a primary goal. With more organizations in the middle of things conflicting strategies became a problem. They all wanted the same end result but the ideologies were not the same. Therefore, they each had a different opinion on how things should be done.
   
   Willie Dillon a COFO (Council of Federated Organizations) participant and parent of children, who went to Freedom Schools, had his house bombed in McComb. The police blamed him and arrested him for operating a garage without a license. He pleaded guilty after intimidation and without the guidance of an attorney and was fired from his job. McComb's blacks were consistently bombed by the KKK, if the blacks were active. McComb's white leadership was silent. Black principals and ministers who had not been active in the COFO movement were bombed. Black residents went to the justice department, but to no avail. Eventually the government heard rumors of marshal law and white bombers were eventually arrested and the KKK terror stopped. The bombers were let off with a stern warning. With nationwide media watching, McComb desegregated for the cameras; but returned to the old way of life once the media was gone. Black activists decimated the Klan's authority and won some small battles; and some white moderate voices were beginning to be heard.
   
   In 1964 COFO emerged as a powerful force in the election by trying to get blacks registered and voting. COFO was expanding. Some people returned to school. CORE(Congress of Racial Equality) and SNCC had low morale and few activists signed up in 1964. Women were discriminated against in SNCC as secretaries when they were qualified for much more. The Freedom Democratic Party would be an independent force, the successor to both COFO and SNCC.
   
   Freedom Democrats contested the Mississippi elections of five House representatives. More than a third of the House membership voted to bar the Mississippi members. National publicity and lawyers came to Mississippi because of the contention. COFO and the NAACP could not agree on anything and were increasingly hostile towards each other. COFO was abolished and SNCC went under the FOP. SNCC activists were alienated from mainstream politics. White terror made it so blacks did not want to vote. Natchez was a town of the "Old South". Charles Evers emerged as that section of Mississippi's main leader and played the organizations against each other. The Natchez blacks demanded equality in the police force, government and business or the blacks would boycott white stores. FOP did not agree with Evers, but Evers won with popularity. He was cautious and did not march when the other organizations thought they should. Evers went against FOP thought and ended the boycott to white stores that had compromised. FOP was on the major decline, defeated in Natchez. FOP
   money was running tight. New strategies would have to be employed.
   
   In early April 1965 the Mississippi Freedom Labor Union (MFLU) and the Child Development Group of Mississippi (CDGM) were created to organize black farm and domestic workers in the Delta region. The MFLU efforts failed not only because the traditional hostility of white Mississippians toward all labor unions, but also because farm workers had no leverage to use against the planters. Efforts to form farmers cooperatives in the region barely made a dent in the problems of black unemployment and poverty. CDGM was one of the nation's pioneer Head Start programs, providing poor children with preschool training, medical care, and two hot meals a day. It also provided employment at decent wages for hundreds of local teachers and paraprofessionals at Head Start centers.
   
   On June 4, 1966, James Meredith began his 220 mile walk from Memphis to Mississippi's state capital of Jackson to challenge the fear that was still dominant among black Mississippians and to convince them it was now safe to register and vote in the Magnolia State. On the second day, Meredith was shot, but while he was recuperating leaders of the national civil rights organizations continued the march. During the first week of the Meredith march there were few white hecklers. Local officials were eager to avoid incidents of violence and the march itself had an informal and relaxed quality. That all changed during the final ten days with familiar tactics of repression and mob violence; but it also became more militant as the ideological and philosophical divisions among its leaders became more apparent (395 & 396). When the march ended anticlimactically on June 26th, and the national civil rights leadership left the state - fighting over who would pay the march's bills - Mississippi was still segregated, black poverty was still getting worse, and local black Mississippians were still left to pick up the pieces.
   
   SNCC as an organization had little impact on the Mississippi movement after 1966; it had become preoccupied with internal problems centering on the definition and implications of black power and it had voted to expel all whites from the organization in December 1966. The local people, who had been the backbone of the old COFO coalition and the Freedom Democratic Party (FOP), faced challenges from black and white political moderates. FOP leaders agreed that the 1967 state and local elections would make or break their party (410). In the face of urban race riots in the North, and calls for revolution among black nationalists, FOP continued to work within the political system and welcomed support from all people who identified with its theme of black empowerment. State legislative strategies conspired to dilute black voting strength(gerrymandering congressional districts, creating multimember legislative districts requiring at-large voting, and increased filing requirements for independent candidates); this, combined with black political infighting and white intimidation limited FOP's achievements (411-415).
   
   Recommended reading for anyone interested in American history, civil rights history.



5. John Dittmer's study of the Mississippi truly reaches the level of factual study that presents the reader with all the information needed to see the Mississippi civil rights movement on the ground. It provides the facts of the 1940's and 1950's, pointing out the 83,000 Mississippi African Americans who served in the armed forces in World War II and in those who returned to Mississippi as those who were important in no small part to the student civil rights movement that blossomed there in the 1960's.
   
   To study the Mississippi movement without reading Dittmer's work is to fail to get a true picture as to what happened there. Taken together with Charles Payne's I've Got the Light of Freedom: The Organizing Tradition and the Mississippi Freedom Stuggle, one is able to understand the Mississippi student civil movement of the 1960's to a large degree.

5 comments about Chicago Then and Now (Compact) (Then & Now Thunder Bay).

1. I have several of these "then and now" books, and I would say this is the weakest of the bunch. I dearly love Chicago, and some of the old photographs were very interesting, but the book has a few problems. First, the photographic perspectives are rarely in synch, so it is difficult to compare the two pictures directly; either the angle is off to the side, or it's at a different distance. This seems rather to defeat the purpose of a "then and now" theme, which is to facilitate comparison. Secondly, a great many of the buildings and scenes are virtually identical to what they were, so one wonders why they were included. Finally, a map should have been included.

   On the positive side, many of Chicago's key spots are targeted, such as the Water Tower, the stockyards and Hull House, and the paragraphs that accompany each picture do convey a lot of interesting information.

   If you are interested in Chicago or urban history you will undoubtedly still enjoy this volume, but lower your expectations a bit before the book arrives so you won't be disappointed.




2. I enjoyed this book. Some of the pictures do not compare well because they were taken at different angles or from a different side of the street. Nevertheless, this is a great book. I found lots of stuff to compare. Native Chicagoans, who take an interest in the city, will like it. I purchased it for my brother for Christmas...liked it so much I purchased one for myself.



3. Great pictures on every page of this wonderful book. Only Chicagoans will appreciate it however. The photos are large and grand, and the author has tried hard to recreate the original angle mostly. That's my only complaint. Lovely book.



4. This book has a relatively unusual format. A picture (often dating from before 1900) of a building or structure is shown on the left page, and a modern picture of the same building or structure is shown on the right facing page. A number of reviewers have complained about the fact that the comparative pictures were not usually taken from the same spot. I am unsure how easy it is to take a new picture of a structure from the exact location of a previous photo, at least without special technical assistance. In addition, the spot from which an old photo was taken may have been an empty lot which now contains a building--thus ruling out a new photo getting taken from the exact same spot as the old.
   
   Besides the familiar Chicago landmarks, this book contains some pictures of churches. I especially appreciated the photos of St. Ignatius Church and St. Stanislaus Kostka Church.



5. I received the Miami version of this book as a gift and decided to purchase the Chicago versions as gifts for my mom and mother-in law for Christmas. I haven't given them yet but of course I have read them. For any one who is interested in seeing architecture or neighborhoods as they look now and what they used to look like, it's a fascinating read. Just enough history is included as to not make the reading tedious. Also there are books of other major cities as well.

3 comments about The Outlaws of Cave-in-Rock (Shawnee Classics).

1. This book tells the story of the outlaws of the early West (western Kentucky, southeastern Illinois, and Tennessee from around 1795 to 1820). These men were not the gun-toting, bank-robbing criminals of the Wild West but were highway robbers and river pirates who most often wielded knives and axes. They preyed on pioneers living in isolated cabins in the wilderness and on traders coming down the Ohio River on flatboats or traveling inland along wilderness trails.

   Most of these criminals at one time or another used Cave-in-Rock as their headquarters. This huge cave, on the Illinois side of the lower Ohio River, is about 85 miles below Evansville, Indiana.

   The most notorious of all the criminals of this time and place were the two Harpe brothers, who were said to kill men, women, and children simply to gratify a lust for cruelty. One story epitomizes the brutality of their exploits: Traveling through western Kentucky, the Harpes came to a cabin, where they found only a mother and her baby, the husband being off hunting. They asked to spend the night, and the next morning they asked the woman to prepare breakfast for them. She consented to do so but said that it would take her some time because her child was not well and she had no one to nurse it. The men then said that she should put the baby in its cradle and they would rock it while she cooked. After the woman had served their breakfast, she went to the cradle to see if the child was asleep, expressing some astonishment that her child should remain quiet for so long a time. She found the infant lying breathless, its throat cut from ear to ear.

   "Outlaws of Cave-in-Rock" was first published in 1923 and was recently reprinted by Southern Illinois University Press. Historians, amateur and professional, will value this book interesting for the light it sheds on a period of the nation's history that has received too little attention.




2. This book by a noted historian tells how river pirates and wilderness highwaymen (and women) preyed on westward travelers in the 1800s.
   
   As the country developed westward, a particular mix of men and women criminals practiced their arts at the moving edge of civilization and law. Whether traveling by land or river, many travelers passed through Southern Illinois during this time and had to deal with criminals whose practices were sometimes beyond imagination. A central player in this drama was the "Cave-in-Rock", a large cavern that opens appealingly upriver on the Ohio near the present day village and state park of the same name.
   
   While the cavern functioned as an Inn and Tavern that was a welcome sight to travelers, at times the proprietors served up meyhem and murder along with the grog and gruel. This was aptly shown in the movie How the West Was Won.
   
   The Outlaws of Cave-in-Rock focuses on the major criminal elements and their leaders that operated along the Ohio River near Cave-in-Rock and the nearby inlands of the Shawnee Hills. Mr. Rothert does an excelent job of distinguishing between documented and oral history and tells about the individuals as well as the events of interest. The blood lust and gold lust of some of the central figures is astounding and their resourcefulness in obtaining both is frightening.
   
   In showing the flavor of the dark side of humanity that plagued these westward travelers, The Outlaws of Cave-in-Rock is unmatched.



3. Very interesting, would have liked more factual records, but realize going back to Revolutionary times might
   be hard to cover.

5 comments about Finding Your Chicago Ancestors: A Beginners Guide To Family History In The City Of Chicago.

1. This book was a true pleasure to read! Grace Dumelle has taken what could be a very complicated topic, and she has presented it in an organized and easy to follow format.
   
   I have not done any geneology work, but reading this book inspired me to try to get several questions about my ancestors answered.
   
   I now have a much better sense of where to start my search.
   
   I recommend this book highly.
   
   Alane Repa



2. Reviewed by Kathleen Dowdell for Reader Views (7/06)
   
   Did you know that in 1909 all residential streets in Chicago were renumbered? And that it was not an Illinois state requirement until 1916 to file birth certificates? These are just a couple of nuggets of information you will find helpful in your ancestral research when you read Grace DuMelle's "Finding Your Chicago Ancestors". This book is an invaluable tool for beginners as well as seasoned researchers looking for historical family back ground.
   
   This book is comprised of 16 chapters that aid the researcher in tracing their Chicago
   ancestors. Each chapter ends with a Points to Remember section that condenses the information in the chapter into an easy to use checklist. What's also unique is the unintended time line that explains where data can be found for the last two centuries.
   Included in this 321 page book are numerous websites and buildings in Chicago and Cook County that house many materials that are not available on line.
   
   This is one of the best genealogical resources for finding your ancestors that I have read. What makes it more unique is that its information is solely targeted for Chicago. But even if you're not searching for a past family member of Chicago, this book is useful because it explains how to research using historical documents. There is so much hands-on interactive information that, with the help of this book, searching for the roots of your family tree will be fun and easy to do.
   
   Grace DuMelle's background in historical research and her connections with many Chicago historical organizations is quite striking. It's a real bonus that she put all that knowledge and expertise into this great book for all to read. Definitely a book to own!



3. Great help in doing research. I didn''t realize all the resources available at my fingertips until I read this book. Buy it!



4. "Finding Your Chicago Ancestors" is a comprehensive guide for genealogists new to Windy City records. This area of the country has different nuances than New York City and other East Coast records. For example, parents' names don't appear on marriage licenses until 1968. DuMelle uses many ethnic examples and has a helpful chapter, "Ethnic Resources", pointing out societies, web sites and repositories. Using this book led me to the data I needed for further work in Eastern European archives. For someone who doesn't live in the Chicago area, this book is a "must" to navigate the many repositories, libraries and resources. It is well illustrated, easy to follow and written by an experienced professional. I strongly recommend it.
   --Miriam Weiner, author of "Jewish Roots in Poland" and "Jewish Roots in Ukraine and Moldova," www.routestoroots.com



5. This book was instrumental in getting my genealogy project going. I was able to find all sorts of information that I never would have thought of without this book. I got it from the library first and it was so great, I had to own it.

5 comments about Division Street: America.

1. Chicago is the city of big shoulders. Carl Sandburg said that. Studs Terkel, in "Division Street: America," gives us the names of those people on whom those big shoulders rest. Like Edgar Lee Masters' collection of poetic epitaphs, "Spoon River Anthology," Terkel titles each chapter with the name of those whose lives are being described.
   
   Division Street runs East-West through Chicago, ending at Lake Shore Drive. It is a major road, and Terkel could've chosen any avenue to name his book. What is important is that it cuts through the center of the city, and, symbolically, into and through the heart of it all.
   
   Each story is a page or two. Some are five or six pages. None are too long. Terkel knows when to finish the story. However, to call the short chapters 'stories' isn't really accurate. They are edited conversations with people you might have known if you lived in Chicago in 1967 when this was first published. Some of the people are cops. Others are teachers, cabbies and nuns. There is even a couple CEOs and advertising guys. Terkel manages to connect with each interviewee, and allow them to do the talking.
   
   Everything you've heard about Studs Terkel or this book is true. It is fantastically voyeuristic, and terrifically revealing without ever being cheap or exploitive. These people are so familiar, as if you overheard Terkel chatting with them at a diner or coffeehouse.
   
   I wholeheartedly recommend "Division Street: America" by Studs Terkel.
   
   Anthony Trendl
   editor, HungarianBookstore.com



2. "Division Street: America" isn't the first title that would pop into most people's minds when they think of Terkel, but I think it should be. I'll admit, I'm totally biased being in Chicago, but maybe that's the best way to read this book.
   There is a lot of upheaval and suffering throughout the city due partly to the constantly changing demographics of the neighborhoods, and many of the ethnic pockets and pyschological ghettoes that Terkel talked to people in during 1967 were in the middle of those changes. From the near north area, tight in the protective grip of Mayor Daley to the old Eastern European neighborhoods of the north and west sides which would soon become almost purely Puerto Rican, Cuban and Mexican.
   You can really see firsthand, how stupid, how intelligent, how altruistic and how mean people can be in a big city. That's the best part of this whole book: you're left at every page feeling that something monumental is taking place in urban America while the interviews are happening. Civil rights, white flight, Latin immigration, the decline of the manual labor factory job, Viet Nam, etc.
   Reading this in 1967 must have been interesting, but knowing what we know about Chicago today and how it's still in a state of flux (and maybe always will be) is really a reason to go back. The problems, the people and the strange mix still exists throughout Division Street today; but thanks to Terkel, we have a little hindsight.



3. As I have done on other occasion when I am reviewing more than one work by an author I am using some of the same comments, where they are pertinent, here as I did in earlier reviews. In this series the first Studs Terkel book reviewed was that of his "The Good War": an Oral History of World War II.
   
   Strangely, as I found out about the recent death of long time pro-working class journalist and general truth-teller "Studs" Terkel I was just beginning to read his "The Good War", about the lives and experiences of, mainly, ordinary people during World War II in America and elsewhere, for review in this space. As with other authors once I get started I tend to like to review several works that are relevant to see where their work goes. In the present case the review, his first serious effort at plebian oral history, Division Street: America, despite the metaphorically nature of that title, focuses on a serves a narrower milieu, his "Sweet Home, Chicago" and more local concerns than his later works.
   
   Mainly, this oral history is Studs' effort to reflect on the lives of working people (circa 1970 here but the relevant points could be articulated, as well, in 2008) from Studs' own generation who survived that event, fought World War II and did or did not benefit from the fact of American military victory and world economic preeminence, including those blacks and mountain whites who made the internal migratory trek from the South to the North. Moreover, this book presents the first telltale signs that those defining events for that generation were not unalloyed gold. As channeled through the most important interviewee in this book, Frances Scala, who led an unsuccessful but important 1960's fight against indiscriminate "urban renewal" of her neighborhood (the old Hull House of Jane Addams fame area) Studs make his argument that the sense of social solidarity, in many cases virtually necessary for survival, was eroding.
   
   Studs includes other stories of those , including the lumpen proletarian extraordinaire Kid Pharaoh who will be met later in Hard Times and the atypical Chicago character who gladly joins the John Birch Society in order to assert his manhood, who do not easily fit into any of those patterns but who nevertheless have stories to tell. And grievances, just, unjust or whimsical, to spill.
   
   One thing that I noticed immediately after reading this book, and as is true of the majority of Terkel's interview books, is that he is not the dominant presence but is a rather light, if intensely interested, interloper in these stories. For better or worse the interviewees get to tell their stories, unchained. In this age of 24/7 media coverage with every half-baked journalist or wannabe interjecting his or her personality into somebody else's story this was, and is, rather refreshing. Of course this journalistic virtue does not mean that Studs did not have control over who got to tell their stories and who didn't to fit his preoccupations and sense of order. He has a point he wants to make and that is that although most "ordinary" people do not make the history books they certainly make history, if not always of their own accord or to their own liking. Again, kudos and adieu Studs.



4. Division Street is Studs Terkel's attempt to make sense of Chicago. Terkel constructs Division Street in the "oral-history" style that he used in so many of his other works; specifically, he went out into Chicago, recorded a group of interviews with people who represented a cross section of 1960s Chicago, and then included verbatim quotes from his interviewees in Division Street.
   
   Perhaps the best part of the book is the candor with which Terkel's subjects speak. I am not certain how Terkel got his interview subjects to drop their guards, but it seems that no subject is taboo. After reading the book, you do have the feeling that you "know" each of the interviewees on a fairly-deep level.
   
   If I have a criticism of Division Street, it is that the book is something of a downer. Terkel's books focus on the disappointments and frustrations of life. In Division Street he is particularly concerned with race relations and The Bomb. Though I liked the book, prospective readers should be aware that it is by no means uplifting.
   
   Each reader will come away with a feeling that he or she knows something of Chicago. In the end, Terkel leaves the conclusions up to the reader. I suspect, therefore, that different readers will interpret Division Street in different ways. For those readers who want to learn something about Chicagoans, the effort will be worthwhile.



5. This early effort stands with the best oral histories by author/radio host Stud's Terkel. In the mid-1960's Terkel took his tape recorder and let dozens of ordinary Chicagoans open up. Showing our City's diversity and divisions, we hear from executives, laborers, teachers, factory hands, social workers, rich, poor, and middle-class. Many are white, others are black ("Negro") or Latino, and they range from young swingers, to stressed-out parents, to aged retirees. Nearly all offer engaging tales, views, and outlooks. Among the major issues are life in Chicago, work, racial tensions, Vietnam, worship, Martin Luther King, the Bomb, opportunity, and (President) Lyndon Johnson. Anton Faber describes tool-and-die making in The Kaiser's Germany and then Chicago after arriving in 1912. Eva Barnes recalls coal miners, teen marriages, and bootlegging in her small town, plus working in Chicago's once-vast stockyards. Janice Majewski and her colleagues describe teaching at Marshall High School, then as now one of our city's more troubled facilities. Luci Jefferson arrived seeking work in the Great Migration of Southern Blacks, while activist Florence Scala fought City Hall. Many support the elusive goal of racial reconciliation, others nervously sense the decline of the traditional factory economy (replaced by white-collar services). As with many later Terkel efforts, the interviewees lean more left than right, with definite strains of anti-establshment sentiment - even among some we'd labed as distinctly "establishment."
   
   Studs Terkel (1912-2008) made his mark by letting his subjects do the talking, and readers are better off for it. I'd have liked to hear from even more persons, plus those then fleeing to suburbia due to racial fears - what greater division existed both then and today? Still, this stellar book is as worth reading as many later Terkel efforts like HARD TIMES, WORKING, AMERICAN DREAMS, COMING OF AGE, etc.

5 comments about Bloody Williamson: A Chapter in American Lawlessness.

1. Williamsburg County had an unbelievable amount of violence, in both variety and magnitude, in such a short period of time. In less than fifty years this one county had labor wars, Ku Klux Klan wars, gang wars, and one of the worst feuds in American history. Paul Angle is a good writer, but that is only an added benefit. Reading the media accounts of these events would be fascinating enough. Anyone interested in a case study of a dysfunctional community should read this book.



2. While working near Marion, Illinois (Williamson County) in the winter of 2002 and spring of 2003 I was (at first) completely unaware of the history of the area. Finding that I was a history lover, a co-worker, native to the area, told me about "the troubles" and recommended this book. I quickly decided that Bloody Williamson was one of the better books I had ever read concerning this violent era in American history. While reading the book, I rode over many of the roads and visited as many of the old sites as I could find.



3. This is a true gem, which depicts the violent history of a rural southern county in Illinois. The author tells of organized labor, bootleggers, gangs and the KKK of the 1920s in Williamson County, Illinois. Angle writes in any easy format for most readers and his book is well indexed. I would highly recommend this book to all readers!
   
   Mike Koch, author of "The Kimes Gang."



4. If you are a history buff, you will almost certainly enjoy this book immensely as I did. It tells the incredible but little known story of one of the most violent chapters in U.S. history. In fact, some historians believe that the gangs of Williamson County were the most dangerous and violent gangs in U.S. History. Paul Angle does a wonderful job of telling this fascinating story which covers a period of about 50 years. I was particularly interested in it because my father lived through it. He lived in Marion, Illinois at the time and the Sheriff who plays a large part in the book was the father of his best friend. He also personally witnessed some of the things mentioned in the book. My father is 99 years old now and he still remembers it all clearly. But even without that personal connection to the story of Williamson County, I would have been just as fascinated.
   
   I was amazed when reading the review by Alan Mills. How could someone get the most basic facts presented in the book so wrong? He claims that the mine owner hired thugs who killed the miners when, in fact, the mine owner hired guards and non-union miners to work the mines and the union miners killed them! And the "thugs" did not hang around because they were dead! Also, Williamson is a county not a town. Another reviewer guessed that Alan had just read the back cover but he couldn't have even done that based on his "review."



5. In the late nineteenth century and early twentieth, Williamson County, Illinois became a byword for lawlessness. The county first came to nationwide attention in the 1870s, when a bloody feud, comparable to the worst that the mountains of Kentucky and Tennessee had to offer, wracked the area. Then in the 1920s, the town was beset by union and Ku Klux Klan violence to a shocking degree. Indeed, the rest of the country, and even the rest of the world was appalled at the violence, and the townspeople who condoned it.
   
   This is a wonderfully interesting book. The author does an excellent job of bringing bloody Williamson to life, and showing it in all its lack of glory. This tale of union murderers and KKK hoodlums (often the same people) is sure to shock you, and make you very glad that you didn't live then and there!
   
   I highly recommend this book!

1 comments about Chicago: A Biography.

1. Chicago is, and has been since its founding, a community of character and characters. Dominic Pacyga's wonderful Chicago: A Biography provides a rich narrative that exemplifies this statement as he takes us through the story of a ruined fort, a frontier town, a city on the make, and the establishment of a global metropolis. Always a hub of transportation and commerce, Chicago became a technological and financial center, a manufacturing behemoth, and the place where much of modern architecture was founded and nurtured. Pacyga narrates these triumphs superbly; yet he never underplays the racism and labor strife that shadowed so much of the city's business and artistic achievement.
   Anyone who has spent a little time in Chicago knows that its culture is unique, defined by a great community of the arts, a sense of comedy all its own, and a tremendous number of ethnic groups keeping their diversity alive while contributing mightily to the community as a whole. Chicago didn't invent jazz but it gave it a second home and helped a large number of its most important musicians flourish. It has its own culture of cuisine, including the best pizza in the world; a proud and fierce, if not always triumphant, sports tradition; great universities, including one that, for better or worse, completed the fundamental science that ushered in the nuclear age. Politically, there's no place like Chicago. It has a form of government balancing the interests of the people, the Party, the State, big business, the church, and perhaps from time to time the interests of organized crime. Colorful is too colorless a word to describe this unique dynamic, but Pacyga does as good a job as anyone in bringing these broad interests into focus.
   Great thingssome good, some badhave happened in Chicago. Abraham Lincoln was nominated for president here and then shepherded the nation through the dark hours required to end slavery. The Haymarket Riots occurred here as did the subsequent executions. Most of the police who were killed died from their comrades' bullets. Chicago was the site of the 1968 Democratic National Convention and the demonstrations that helped to turn around American perceptions about the war in Vietnam. For a few days the war, in attenuated form, came home to America. Recently, Chicago provided the political base that launched the first man of color into the White House and gave hope to millions and millions of people in the U. S. and around the world.
   If you have any personal or professional connection to Chicago, read this book. You'll be better informed and feel more connected to the de facto capital of the American Midwest. If you are a member of the Chicago Diaspora, curling your toes by the pool in some Sunbelt city, read this book. Come home again at least in memory to the story that in so many ways is your story and the story of your family.
   Dominic Pacyga has created a one-volume masterpiece anyone can enjoy. He grew up in this city. He even worked as a night-shift wrangler in the Stockyards during that institution's last years. Pacyga has studied Chicago, walked it, talked it, and lived it his whole life. When you read this book, you are reading a narrative only a connoisseur of lived experience could create. That narrative is steeped in the passionate lives that have made Chicago great. Read this book!