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The Last Days of Night by Graham Moore
Obsessive himself, Graham Moore, who won an Oscar for his screenplay The Imitation Game, immersed himself in 19th century Manhattan to write The Last Days of Night (Random House 2016; $28), his historic tale about the lawsuit between two other obsessive and driven people–Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse–over who invented the lightbulb. Though it may…
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Blood Runs Green: The Murder That Transfixed Gilded Age Chicago
Almost 12,000 people streamed into the First Cavalry Armory on Michigan Avenue in Chicago on May 25, 1889 to view the coffin of Dr. P.H. Cronin, an Irish physician and political activist who had been savagely murdered. “It was one of the first ‘sensational’ murders covered by the Chicago press and far beyond,” says…
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The Devil Wears Prada Author Lauren Weisberger Writes Novel About Women’s Championship Tennis
In her latest novel, The Singles Game (Simon & Schuster 2016; $26.00), Lauren Weisberger, the author of The Devil Loves Prada, tells the story of another heartless boss as we follow the attempts of Charlotte “Charlie” Silver to regain her tennis star status. Ten minutes away from playing her first match on the Centre Court…
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My Journey from Shame to Strength: A Memoir by Liz Pryor
Bundled into a car during a winter storm, 17-year-old Liz Pryor left her home in Winnetka with her mother to what she thought was a Catholic home for pregnant teenagers. Instead, Pryor found herself in a locked government-run facility filled with impoverished delinquent girls whose experiences and backgrounds were totally different than hers. Over the…
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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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Brad Thor’s Foreign Agent
“Complicated problems don’t often have simple solutions,” says New York Times best selling author Brad Thor whose latest novel, Foreign Agent (Simon & Schuster 2016; $27.99), is very timely considering the recent events such as the massacre in Orlando, Florida. “My novels let people peer into the worlds of espionage and counterterrorism. What I’m…
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Dog Gone: A Lost Pet’s Extraordinary Journey and the Family Who Brought Him Home
When six-year-old Gonker, a much loved family pet decided to do some typical canine spontaneous off-site exploring when navigating the Appalachian Trail with his owner Fielding Marshall, he was expected to shortly return. But after a while, while calling the six-year old Golden Retriever’s name, Marshall began to worry that his dog was lost. To…
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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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