In 1997, then state Senator Barack Obama sponsored legislation in the Illinois General Assembly to study the newly passed federal welfare reform and how it would affect the citizens of Illinois. He be
The Chicago Shakespeare Theater is widely known for vibrant productions that reflect the Bard’s genius for intricate storytelling, musicality of language, and depth of feeling for the human condition.
In a political culture infused with debates about personal liberties, the role of government, and even the definition of “freedom” itself,Haymaker tells the story of an isolated Michigan town that bec
"A sports history of the EIU football team from its origins in 1899 to the present. Features discussion of players, coaches, and local sports reporters who all figure into the history of Panther footb
Since its beginnings, Poland has been a moving target, geographically as well as demographically, and the very definition of who is a Pole has been in flux. In the late medieval and early modern perio
In 1996 Bryon MacWilliams left the relative stability of the United States for the chaos of post-Soviet Russia, and stayed. Over the course of nearly twelve years he reported on academe and the scienc
When Bad Things Happen to Rich People is a novel of social satire, a black comedy set in Chicago in the summer of 1995. The novel’s protagonist, Nix Walters, is an adjunct instructor of English at a c
The Romance of Teresa Hennert is a masterpiece of psychological realism and a still-shocking portrait of mixed motives and bad behavior. It renders a tragicomic vision of what happens when a society i
"Sergey Gandlevsky is widely recognized as one of the leading living Russian poets and prose writers. His autobiographical novella Trepanation of the Skull is a portrait of the artist as a young late-
Once again available in paperback, Quirk and Wrenn's Old English Grammar is a convenient reference tool to complement readings in Old English. Appropriate for basic or advanced study of Old English la
Most people will recognize the name Robert Blagojevich as the brother of ill-fated Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich. But many don’t know why Robert came to work for his brother or how he came to be n
Abraham Lincoln practiced law for nearly 25 years, five times longer than he served as president. Nonetheless, this aspect of his life was known only in the broadest outlines until the Lincoln Legal P
Document the controversies that accompanied the redevelopment of several sports stadiums in Chicago, describing the concerns and frustrations of both the residents and sports enthusiasts, as well as t
In 2015, Chicago became the first city in the United States to create a reparations fund for victims of police torture, after investigations revealed that former Chicago police commander Jon Burge tor
Available for the first time in English, Zofia Nalkowska’s Boundary was originally published asGranica in Poland in 1935. The modernist novel was widely discussed upon its publication and praised for
From the late 1940s to the early 1970s, farmers in the Corn Belt transformed their region into a new, industrial powerhouse of large-scale production, mechanization, specialization, and efficiency. Ma
This interdisciplinary volume is a new introduction to area studies in the framework of whole-world thinking. Emerging in the United States after World War II, area studies have proven indispensable t
Set in the frozen wasteland of Midwestern academia, The Lost Journals of Sylvia Plathintroduces Wilson A. Lavender, father of three, instructor of women’s studies, and self-proclaimed genius who is be
How did enlightened Russians of the eighteenth century understand society? And how did they reconcile their professed ideals of equality and justice with the authoritarian political structures in whic
