William Savage – Page 2

Revisiting ‘The Jungle’ in modern times

May 9, 2019 at 5:48 p.m.

In 1906, Upton Sinclair's novel "The Jungle" shocked the world. Sinclair told the story of Jurgis Rudkus and his extended group of family and friends emigrating from the countryside of...

Review: ‘Empire of Deception’ by Dean Jobb

May 9, 2019 at 5:28 p.m.

Chicago in the 1920s seems to be an inexhaustible source for crime stories. The most famous — the 1919 Black Sox scandal (which broke in 1920), the kidnapping and murder...

Review: ‘There Is Simply Too Much to Think About’ by Saul Bellow

May 9, 2019 at 5:19 p.m.

I had long taught Saul Bellow, and have long stopped teaching Bellow. "The Adventures of Augie March," his 1954 National Book Award-winning novel, is an epic tale of Chicago imagined...

The 1919 race riots in Chicago play a part in Elaine Lewinnek's new book, "The Working Man's Reward," which is a study of Chicago's early suburbs and the growth of suburban sprawl in the country.

Review: ‘The Working Man’s Reward’ by Elaine Lewinnek

May 9, 2019 at 5:04 p.m.

Define "suburb." More specifically, define "Chicago suburb." The task is harder than it at first seems. Affluent residential communities from which the elite commute to the Loop? Sure, but what...

Review: ‘The Disunited States’ by Vladimir Pozner

May 9, 2019 at 4:49 p.m.

French intellectuals love trying to figure out America. Essential to our victory in the Revolutionary War, our first international ally, and beloved by Founding Fathers Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin,...

The rise of U.S. Rep. Oscar De Priest is one facet of Margaret Garb's fascinating new history, "Freedom's Ballot," which traces the roots of the Civil Rights movement to late 19th- and early 20th-century Chicago.

Review: ‘Freedom’s Ballot’ by Margaret Garb

May 9, 2019 at 4:36 p.m.

Historians write to illuminate our shared past, to explicate the forces that shape our present. But successive historical narratives also can create a series of veils, distancing the past from...

Review: ‘Freedom’s Ballot’ by Margaret Garb

November 3, 2021 at 8:53 p.m.

Historians write to illuminate our shared past, to explicate the forces that shape our present. But successive historical narratives also can create a series of veils, distancing the past from...

Review: ‘Freedom’s Ballot’ by Margaret Garb

December 23, 2018 at 6:12 p.m.

Historians write to illuminate our shared past, to explicate the forces that shape our present. But successive historical narratives also can create a series of veils, distancing the past from...

Five books round the bases on the Wrigley Field centennial

May 9, 2019 at 4:26 p.m.

Wednesday, April 23, marks the 100th anniversary of the first professional baseball game at what is now Wrigley Field. The Chicago National League Ball Club LLC will, of course, promote...

Jon K. Lauck examines the often overlooked influence of the Midwest in shaping the country's heritage in "The Lost Region."

Review: ‘The Lost Region’ by Jon K. Lauck

May 9, 2019 at 4:25 p.m.

America has always been many places. Whether measured from the multiple perspectives of Native American peoples, colonial cultures imported from Europe before the American Revolution, immigrants from abroad or interregional...

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