- ARCHITECTURE / Buildings / Landmarks & Monuments
- BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Historical
- BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Corporate & Business History
- HISTORY / Military / World War I
- HISTORY / United States / General
- HISTORY / United States / State & Local / Midwest (IA, IL, IN, KS, MI, MN, MO, ND, NE, OH, SD, WI)
- PHOTOGRAPHY / Subjects & Themes / Architectural & Industrial
- PHOTOGRAPHY / Subjects & Themes / Historical
- PHOTOGRAPHY / Subjects & Themes / Regional (see also TRAVEL / Pictorials)
- SOCIAL SCIENCE / Disasters & Disaster Relief
- TRANSPORTATION / Railroads / History
- TRANSPORTATION / Railroads / Pictorial
- TRAVEL / Pictorials (see also PHOTOGRAPHY / Subjects & Themes / Regional)
- ARCHITECTURE / Buildings / Landmarks & Monuments
- BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Historical
- BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Corporate & Business History
- HISTORY / Military / World War I
- HISTORY / United States / General
- HISTORY / United States / State & Local / Midwest (IA, IL, IN, KS, MI, MN, MO, ND, NE, OH, SD, WI)
- PHOTOGRAPHY / Subjects & Themes / Architectural & Industrial
- PHOTOGRAPHY / Subjects & Themes / Historical
- PHOTOGRAPHY / Subjects & Themes / Regional (see also TRAVEL / Pictorials)
- SOCIAL SCIENCE / Disasters & Disaster Relief
- TRANSPORTATION / Railroads / History
- TRANSPORTATION / Railroads / Pictorial
- TRAVEL / Pictorials (see also PHOTOGRAPHY / Subjects & Themes / Regional)
The Society of the Living Dead
9781634992299
Regular price $24.99 Sale price $18.74 Save 25%"It will put pink cheeks on you."
That is what the managers of Radium Dial in Ottawa, Illinois, told the young women who painted radium on the faces of clock dials in the 1920s and 1930s. Instead, their teeth fell out and their jaws and bones disintegrated. Instead of putting pink in their cheeks, it put the women in their graves.
The company knew the hazards of working with radium, but they took no safety precautions. They lied to the workers and they denied compensation to the victims. To avoid financial liability, Radium Dial closed its doors and reopened a few blocks away as Luminous Processes and continued its deadly work for another forty years. Radium Dial cared more about the health and profitability of its company than they cared about the health of the women who made the company profitable.
There really was a "Society of the Living Dead," formed by the women who were dying from radium poisoning. Their astounding true story is told here.
Chicago
9781634993135
Regular price $23.99 Sale price $17.99 Save 25%For more than a century, Chicago has been a workshop to the world. The city nurtured thousands of companies that supplied a hungry market with industrial products. Successful firms that survived nearly 100 years are Mars Candy, Motorola Inc., Abbot Labs, Radio Flyer, Rand McNally, and others. Aged companies that sold off their brands or were bought-out entirely include Schwinn Bikes, Sears Stores, Pullman Rail Cars, Bell & Howell Cameras, and more. The large manufacturers listed in this history book are arranged in a "then-and-now" photo format that is easy to follow across decades.
This book is a survey of economic growth. Trace a large city firm that was once a mom-and-pop store like Brach's Candy or follow the growth of an industrial giant like Western Electric as it morphed into AT&T. Through world wars, economic recessions, and boom times, the companies in this book offer lessons on perseverance, abundant energy, and innovative labor.
Today, Chicago has lost its lead in the meat packing, farm equipment, and clothing industries, but significant gains have been made in computerization, medical services, social media, and finance. This book traces Chicago's economic legacy.
Chicago's South Shore Line
9781634990578
Regular price $28.95 Sale price $21.71 Save 25%Abandoned Illinois
9781634991803
Regular price $23.99 Sale price $17.99 Save 25%Billy Caldwell (1780-1841)
9781634991865
Regular price $22.99 Sale price $17.24 Save 25%Abandoned Chicago
9781634993654
Regular price $23.99 Sale price $17.99 Save 25%Abandoned Chicago: Decay in the Windy City is an exploration through photographs of the shuttered buildings that are scattered all over Cook County, Illinois, and the city of Chicago--from beautiful churches with colorful stained glass, a moldy medical clinic that still has all its machinery, and a funeral home with everything still left inside. Have you ever questioned what's inside that boarded-up building you pass by? This book features photographs that will show readers a glimpse inside these decaying, haunting places and make them question why some were so quickly left behind.
The city of Chicago is home to around 2.7 million people. Each year, more Chicago churches, schools, and businesses are permanently closing. Many will sit for sale in hopes of being used again or hopefully renovated into something different. Sketchy floors, dark hallways, and flooded basements won't stop explorer Alison Doshen from stepping inside and continuing to share these places through her photographs.
Abandoned Chicagoland
9781634993296
Regular price $23.99 Sale price $17.99 Save 25%Chicago is known the world over for its architecture and theater, as well as a myriad of other tourist sights. Visitors, however, usually only see the "nice" parts of the city, mostly the heavily gentrified corridor between the Loop's business district and the baseball shrine of Wrigley Field. But every city has its dark and dirty side, and Chicago is no exception. Economic upheaval and racial segregation, as well as the more mundane ravages of time, have created pockets of blight and abandonment.
The strange transformations brought on by years of decay can be both tragic and beautiful. This effect is all the more poignant when it happens a stone's throw from the opulence of the Magnificent Mile. The photos within showcase the area's neglected, sometimes forgotten places, from shuttered industrial areas to churches whose congregations have moved on. This book presents portraits of the old, abandoned and off-the-beaten-path places across all of Chicagoland. See what happens when the doors close, nature takes over, and the din of humanity fades away.
Lake Bluff 1895-2020
9781634993197
Regular price $23.99 Sale price $17.99 Save 25%Abandoned and Unusual Southern Illinois
9781634992336
Regular price $23.99 Sale price $17.99 Save 25%Have you ever passed an empty building and wondered its age, why it was built, and who worked there? Maybe you notice the deterioration and wonder why it was abandoned. Did you stop and take a closer look?
These neglected sites sparked an interest in author Michael G. Wright, leading him to an adventure to satisfy his curiosity of the past. He spent years researching and photographing Southern Illinois' old and unusual buildings, trains, machinery, and more. These daring expeditions earned him the name "Indiana Mike."
Using rich colors and digital art, the author takes readers on a journey through the past of Southern Illinois. Some may remember these places as they used to be, full of workers and bustling with activity. Pay attention to the craftsmanship and pride that was put into these structures. One of these days, they will be gone forever.
Johnny Bob
9781634994002
Regular price $26.99 Sale price $20.24 Save 25%"Patriot."
John R. Harrell of Louisville, IL, far better known as "Johnny
Bob," was--rightfully or not--called all those things during his
long, colorful life. A deeply religious, independently wealthy
man, in the 1960s, Harrell was known throughout the Midwest
for his eccentric estate (which included a full-size replica of
Washington's Mt. Vernon) and the rogue Louisville-based
religious colony he founded which many labeled a "cult."
In August of 1961, U.S. federal agents stormed his Louisville
property to retrieve an AWOL Marine who had taken refuge on
Harrell's "sovereign" grounds. This military action, involving
over 100 armed officers, was national news and set off a chain
of events in the U.S. courts, in military tribunals, and eventually
across the United States as Harrell and his family became
fugitives, running from the law.
This book retraces Johnny Bob Harrell's nine decades from his
claims of an early "miracle" healing to the founding of his
religious community to the '61 siege, and Harrell's subsequent
life as fugitive, federal inmate, and right-wing provocateur.
Lake Springfield in Illinois
9781634992930
Regular price $23.99 Sale price $17.99 Save 25%A lake is a body of water, but it can also be the place of community. During the 1930s, a small creek in central Illinois was dammed and flooded to provide water and power to a growing nearby city. The place was already rich with history, dotted with 10,000 years of archaeological remains, crossed by a 300-year French colonial road, and the encompassing farms and small towns frequented by a young Abraham Lincoln.
The vision for Lake Springfield included much more than a source of drinking water and power for the city of Springfield. During a nationwide depression, city planners and engineers thoughtfully created a unique municipal, recreational, and residential community along the new shores. Parks, beach houses, numerous organizational clubs, scouting camps for children, a memorial garden, a nature preserve, an outdoor theater, and even a public zoo soon skirted the 4000-acre lake. Now, eighty-five years after its construction, Lake Springfield is a community with its own rich history.
Bucky's Dome
9781634992107
Regular price $28.99 Sale price $21.74 Save 25%Recognized as one of the great design and architectural thinkers of the twentieth century, R. Buckminster Fuller's name is synonymous with the geodesic dome. But throughout his long life and career, Fuller would only ever call one geodesic dome "home," and that was the house he built in 1960 on a corner lot in the small Midwestern town of Carbondale, Illinois.
Erected in just one day, Carbondale's famous "Bucky Dome" was an architectural innovation that is now recognized as a local, state and national historic site. The Dome was the residence of Fuller and his wife, Anne, for over a decade and it endures until this day.
This book recounts the building of the Fuller's remarkable home, the Midwestern lives of its two famous owners, and the home's history of subsequent owners and renters. And it covers the nearly twenty-year process involving architects, carpenters, preservationists and volunteers in their efforts to restore the Dome to its original individualistic and revolutionary state.
Chicago-Area Italians in World War I
9781634991766
Regular price $24.99 Sale price $18.74 Save 25%The Illustrated History of the Cherry Mine Disaster of 1909
9781634992022
Regular price $24.99 Sale price $18.74 Save 25%The Illustrated History of the Ottawa Tent Colony
9781634993340
Regular price $24.99 Sale price $18.74 Save 25%North to West
9781634993432
Regular price $24.99 Sale price $18.74 Save 25%Abandoned Illinois
9781634990967
Regular price $24.99 Sale price $18.74 Save 25%