Review: Dark, Rough, Brutal, and Real: Bessie Smith by Jackie Kay
Bessie Smith: A Poet’s Biography of a Blues Legend By Jackie Kay Vintage Books Bessie Smith, Empress of the Blues, liked to spend money on herself and on her friends, […]
Essay: Taking a Walkabout on Printer’s Row, a Neighborhood Within a Neighborhood
There is a street in the South Loop—Dearborn from Polk to Harrison is only one block long—that is one of the most charming blocks in the city. I say the […]
Review: Visualizing and Honoring Black America, the Story W.E.B. Du Bois Told at the 1900 Paris Exposition
W.E.B. Du Bois’s Data Portraits: Visualizing Black America—The Color Line at the Turn of the Twentieth Century Edited by Whitney Battle-Baptiste and Britt Rusert Princeton Architectural Press Black Lives 1900: […]
Review: Why Chicago Is Chicago, A History of the Chicago Portage, by Benjamin Sells
A History of the Chicago Portage: The Crossroads That Made Chicago and Helped Make America By Benjamin Sells Northwestern University Press Let me tell you: I’m a huge Chicago history […]
Review: Hope, Nature, and Racism, Landscapes of Hope: Nature and the Great Migration in Chicago, by Brian McCammack
Landscapes of Hope: Nature and the Great Migration in Chicago By Brian McCammack Harvard University Press For African Americans who took part in the Great Migration in the first half […]
On the Road: Drizzle and Blues in Grafton, Wisconsin
Is Wisconsin the furthest state from the Mississippi Delta? Culturally, perhaps. Yet the land of butter burgers and cheese curds played a big role in preserving the blues. While 78 […]
Preview: History Museum to Celebrate Halloween With “Lovecraft Chicago: History, Horrors & Afrofutures”
“Lovecraft Chicago: History, Horror & Afrofutures” is the theme of Chicago History Museum’s Halloween celebration on Saturday, October 31. Virtual tours and events will focus on the HBO series, “Lovecraft […]
Preview: City’s Transit Lifeblood Explored in WTTW’s “Chicago by ‘L’”
Geoffrey Baer’s latest “learn about where you live” offering, “Chicago by ‘L’,” premieres Wednesday, March 4, at 7:30pm on WTTW. The 130-minute special is a fantastic voyage through the bloodstream […]
Book Review: American Warsaw—The Story of Poles in Chicago
American Warsaw: The Rise, Fall, and Rebirth of Polish Chicago by Dominic A. Pacyga (University of Chicago Press, $27) As Dominic Pacyga notes in his fine book about Chicago’s Polonia, […]
Pitchfork Music Festival Turns 15 and Announces Their Lineup!
Hey,Pitchfork Music Festival’s 2020 edition was postponed! If your looking for info on the rescheduled 2021 edition of the Pitchfork Music Festival, head over here! Festival season is approaching and […]
Book Review: Chicago’s History and Her Story, The World of Juliette Kinzie: Chicago before the Fire, by Ann Durkin Keating
The World of Juliette Kinzie: Chicago before the Fire Ann Durkin Keating University of Chicago Press, 280 pages, $27.50 When 27-year-old Juliette Kinzie settled with her husband John, the local […]
Review: Deep South Side, Lee Bey’s Southern Exposure: The Overlooked Architecture of Chicago’s South Side
Southern Exposure: The Overlooked Architecture of Chicago’s South Side By Lee BeyNorthwestern University Press, 192 pages, $30 Reviewed by Patrick T. Reardon When Lee Bey writes about Pride Cleaners, he […]