The ad exec who revolutionized the image of Black Americans in advertising Over a forty-year career, Chicagoan Tom Burrell changed the face of advertising and revolutionized the industry's approach to African Americans as human beings and consumers. Jason P. Chambers offers a biography of the groundbreaking creator and entrepreneur that explores ......
Indianapolis Auto Racing and the Making of Modern America
How a speedway became a legendary sports site and sparked America's car culture The 1909 opening of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway marked a foundational moment in the history of automotive racing. Events at the famed track and others like it also helped launch America's love affair with cars and an embrace of road systems that transformed cities ......
Women and Mexican American Politics in Los Angeles, 1945-1981
Mexican American women reached across generations to develop a bridging activism that drew on different methods and ideologies to pursue their goals. Marisela R. Chavez uses a wealth of untapped oral histories to reveal the diverse ways activist Mexican American women in Los Angeles claimed their own voices and space while seeking to leverage ......
How a Mid-Century Architecture Competition Reimagined the American Home
"Chicagoland Dream Houses is an engaging addition to the growing body of scholarship concerning Chicago's twentieth-century residential landscape characterized by a diverse group of architects and builders."--Michelangelo Sabatino, coauthor of Modern in the Middle: Chicago Houses 1929-1975
Political profiles of five mayors and their lasting impact on the city Chicago's transformation into a global city began at City Hall. Dick Simpson and Betty O'Shaughnessy edit in-depth analyses of the five mayors that guided the city through this transition beginning with Harold Washington's 1983 election: Washington, Eugene Sawyer, Richard M. ......
Known as the "Father of the Outdoor Movement," William HH Murray's writings have been appreciated by generations of readers looking to nature as an escape from our daily lives as well as a portal to our past, perhaps none more so than his classic Adventures in the Wilderness: Or, Camp-Life in the Adirondacks. Published in 1869 and widely hailed as ......
Postwar Baseball, the Spokane Indians, and a Tragic Bus Crash That Chang
The story of one of the most significant and overlooked seasons in professional baseball, told through the travails of the Spokane Indians. On June 24, 1946, a bus carrying the Spokane Indians minor league baseball team crashed to the bottom of a deep ravine in Washington state, killing nine players. To this day, it remains the deadliest ......
A History of Sarasota, Florida, and the Famous Ringling Brothers
Sarasota would not be what it is today without the influence of the Ringling family, particularly John and Mable Ringling and John's brother Charles. Unlike some other entertainers of the era, the Ringling family saw their enterprise as a business and as a way of entertaining the masses through good, clean fun. Three Ringling Circus will focus on ......