Innocence, the mystery

Northwestern students face Chicago corruption

The Innocence Game, by Michael Harvey.Knopf. 256 pages.Mystery writers often set their stories in their hometowns. For Michael Connelly it is Los Angeles, for Sara Paretsky, Chicago. The late Stuart K

The book of baseball books

Start off the season with a good read

501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read Before They Die, by Ron Kaplan. University of Nebraska Press, $24.95. “The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by lik

Carefully crafted poems of imagery

Springfield professor debuts new book

Judging from his new book of poetry From Delancey West (forthcoming by BlazeVOX [books]), Springfield poet Brian Jackson will not be poetry slamming any time soon. This is no insult. This is just to s

Lindsay’s ‘Little Turtle’ comes back to life

Two famous locals’ work united in new book

Vachel Lindsay, a lifelong resident of Springfield, internationally renowned poet and author of 20 books of poetry and stories, was born in 1879. Two years before Lindsay’s death in 1931 came th

A literary album of a farm

Jackie Jackson recalls the well-ordered life of her youth

The Round Barn: A Biography of an American Farm, Volume 2, by Jacqueline Dougan Jackson. Beloit City Press, 2012. 487 pages, $24.95 Imagine you’ve discovered a box of jumbled old black and white

The golden boy of Illinois

Reading Golden: How Rod Blagojevich Talked Himself out of the Governor’s Office and Into Prison, is an excruciatingly painful experience. But the pain does not come from the work of Jeff Coen an

Minute perception and the cosmic

John Knoepfle’s latest collection of poetry

Shadows and Starlight by John Knoepfle. 84 pages, $16.68. Indian Paintbrush Poets, 2012. Few writers remain active in their ninth decade, but John Knoepfle is one of those few; his Shadows and Starlig

Spare and elegant: The William Maxwell style

Conversations with the late author and central Illinois native, edited by UIS professor

Conversations with William Maxwell, edited by Barbara Burkhardt. University Press of Mississippi. (Literary Conversations Series) 241 pages. Hardback, $40.When Barbara Burkhardt, an associate professo

A magical high school baseball season

One Shot at Forever: A Small Town, an Unlikely Coach and a Magical Baseball Season, by Chris Ballard. Hyperion, 234 pages.Here in central Illinois we love our high school sports. Granted we also pay a

Growing up in the Cultural Revolution

I thought I knew the story of Wenguang Huang, who will be the commencement speaker at the University of Illinois Springfield May 12. After all, I’ve known Wen for 21 years, first as my student a