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History Reads Book Club Join us as we explore the richness of Illinois' history and its people! This book club, offered in partnership with the McLean County Museum of History, will focus on books about Illinois history. Titles may include fiction, nonfiction, biographies, and books by Illinois authors. History Reads meets quarterly in February, May, August, and November. Meetings are at 7pm. Except during February 2022 when the group will solely meet online via Zoom, meetings are simultaneously offered in person and online via Zoom. Regardless of whether you want to attend in person or virtually, registration is required. Visit our events calendar to to register. Please note that there are a limited number of available seats in each in-person session. New participants are welcome at any time! To reserve a print copy of the next title to be discussed, contact the Adult Services Desk by phone at 309.590.6168 or by email to reference@bloomingtonlibrary.org. Digital copies of each title (eBook or eAudiobook) may also be available through the Libby or Hoopla Apps. See below for details about the titles we'll discuss in 2022. |
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Stealing Lincoln's body
by Thomas J. Craughwell
On the night of the presidential election in 1876, a gang of counterfeiters out of Chicago attempted to steal the entombed embalmed body of Abraham Lincoln and hold it for ransom. The custodian of the tomb was so shaken by the incident that he willingly dedicated the rest of his life to protecting the president's corpse.
Thomas J. Craughwell returns to this bizarre, and largely forgotten, event with the first book to place the grave robbery in historical context. He takes us through the planning and execution of the crime and the outcome of the investigation. He describes the reactions of Mary Todd Lincoln and Robert Todd Lincoln to the theft―and the peculiar silence of a nation.
This rousing story of hapless con men, intrepid federal agents, and ordinary Springfield citizens who honored their native son by keeping a valuable, burdensome secret for decades offers a riveting glimpse into late-nineteenth-century America, and underscores that truth really is sometimes stranger than fiction.
Click here to register for the Zoom session.
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High-risers : Cabrini-green and the Fate of American Public Housing
by Ben Austen
Built in the 1940s atop an infamous Italian slum, Cabrini-Green grew to twenty-three towers and a population of 20,000—all of it packed onto just seventy acres a few blocks from Chicago’s ritzy Gold Coast. Cabrini-Green became synonymous with crime, squalor, and the failure of government. For the many who lived there, it was also a much-needed resource—it was home. By 2011, every high-rise had been razed, the island of black poverty engulfed by the white affluence around it, the families dispersed.
In this novelistic and eye-opening narrative, Ben Austen tells the story of America’s public housing experiment and the changing fortunes of American cities. It is an account told movingly though the lives of residents who struggled to make a home for their families as powerful forces converged to accelerate the housing complex’s demise. High-Risers is a sweeping exploration of race, class, popular culture, and politics in modern America that brilliantly considers what went wrong in our nation’s effort to provide affordable housing to the poor—and what we can learn from those mistakes.
Click here to register for the ZOOM session.
Click here to register for the IN-PERSON session.
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The seasons on Henry's farm : a year of food and life on a sustainable farm
by Terra Brockman
Henry's Farm is in central Illinois, some of the richest farming land in the world. There, Henry Brockman and his family — five generations of farmers, including sister Terra — farm in a way that produces healthy, nutritious food without despoiling the land. Terra Brockman tells their story in the form of a yearlong diary/memoir — with recipes — that takes readers through each season of life on the farm.
Studded with vignettes, photographs, family stories, and illustrations of the farm's vivid plant life, the book is a one-of-a-kind treasure. The book opens a window into what sustainable farming really entails and why it is vital and relevant to everyone who eats. Though rooted in the rolling oak-hickory hills and fertile fields and flood plains of the Mackinaw River Valley, the book ranges widely, incorporating literary, scientific, and culinary reflections occasioned by the week-by-week events of farm life.
Click here to register for the ZOOM session.
Click here to register for the IN-PERSON session.
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Trapped: the 1909 Cherry mine disaster
by Karen Tintori
On a chilly Saturday morning in the fall of 1909, four hundred and eighty men plunged into the depths of the Cherry Mine in Illinois as they had numerous times before, But this day would be different. At lunchtime, a small fire erupted in the inner recesses of the mine shaft and soon burned out of control. Despite the miners' heroic efforts to save their comrades, many sacrificing their own lives rushing in and out of the blackness, more than half of the men would be either burned to death or buried alive by nightfall. When officials sealed the mine, effectively entombing those still trapped underneath in an effort to contain the blaze, hope for survivors was slim.
Karen Tintori relates the intimate and devastating details of the Cherry Mine disaster with compassion and conviction, sharing with readers the human drama played out within this historical event. Along the way, she uncovers a compelling story of victims, survivors, widows, orphans, townspeople, firefighters, reporters, and mine owners, each playing a part in this harrowing drama.
Click here to register for the ZOOM session.
Click here to register for the IN-PERSON session.
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Join us for Book Ends on Tuesday, December 13 at 7:00 p.m.
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