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Folk City: New York and the American Folk Music Revival
There was a time when folk music rang out across the nation, signaling a call to social change. Among its leaders were such well known musicians as Bob Dylan and the trio known by their first names — Peter, Paul and Mary. But though they reigned in the 1950s and ’60s and were part of…
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Steve Hamilton in Chicago to discuss his latest mystery “The Second Life of Nick Mason”
“He’s made a deal with the devil,” says New York Times bestselling author Steve Hamilton about his latest book, “The Second Life of Nick Mason” (Putnam’ 2016; $26) . “Everywhere he goes he’s watched, everyone he touches is in danger and all he wants to do is reunite with his wife and daughter.” To get…
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Katie Parla Brings Rome to Chicago
Tasting Rome: Fresh Flavors and Forgotten Recipes from an Ancient City (Clarkson Potter 2016; $30). “A lot of what I do is covering the lost or disappearing foods in Rome,” says Parla, a writer, blogger and certified sommelier who earned a master’s degree in Italian gastronomic culture from Università degli Studi di Roma “Tor Vergata”.…
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The Last Voyageurs
In her last year of college, Lorraine Boissoneault, an avowed Francophile and writer who lives in Chicago, became interested in the French history of North America and the journey undertaken by René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, the first European to travel from Montreal to the mouth of the Mississippi River. Her fascination…
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The Daughters of the Last Tsar
In her latest book, The Romanov Sisters: The Lost Lives of the Daughters of Nicholas and Alexandra (St. Martin’s Press 2015; $17.99), historian Helen Rappaport writes about the four young women who, as daughters of the Tsar of Russia, were swept up in the Russian Revolution in 1917. “I had a very longstanding desire to…
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The Polar Express: A Favorite for Three Decades
It’s been three decades since “The Polar Express” first came chugging off the pages and into our lives, enchanting us with the story of a young boy who boards a train on Christmas Eve to take a fateful and reaffirming journey. In the book, which has sold more than 6.5 million copies, author Chris Van…
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White Collar Girl
Even if you weren’t addicted to the black and white movies about newspaper gals such as Katherine Hepburn in “Woman of the Year” and Glenda Farrell in the Torchy Blane series like I was, Renee Rosen’s latest book, “” about a Chicago reporter in the 1950s, is still a great read. Rosen, who plums Chicago’s…
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United States of Jihad: Investigating America’s Homegrown Terrorists
In his latest book, United States of Jihad: Investigating America’s Homegrown Terrorists (Crown 2016; $28), CNN’s national security analyst Peter Bergen discusses the factors leading to the radicalization of U.S. citizens, how social media plays a big part in recruitment and the increase in the number of women joining terrorist groups. His book, made into…
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Flickering Empire: How Chicago Invented the US Film Industry
When California was still all about oranges, Chicago ruled when it came to movies—a brief but glorious decade where local girl Gloria Swanson earned money as an extra to pay for pickles (of all things) before moving on to stardom, becoming Joe Kennedy’s mistress and then later the fading actress in the classic Sunset Boulevard.…
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Martha Stewart Weddings: Ideas and Inspirations
When it comes to all things nuptials, it’s hard to imagine anyone who knows more than Darcy Miller Nussbaum, Editorial Director of Martha Stewart Weddings, a quarterly magazine which reaches more than a million readers and, as anyone who has ever picked on up knows—could substitute for weights at the gym. Immersed in weddings since…
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