Best author to come from Illinois?

[Tweed]

Sadly, I don't even know where to start. I'm guessing it's not Upton Sinclair... I'm much more into non-fiction books and plays. I'm probably going to kick myself for not thinking of a playwright or two from Chicago. Anyone have good book recommendations in general? I recommend "Homegrown Democrat" by Garrison Keillor. I'm making all of the College Dems in our chapter read it right now in somewhat of a knock off of all of those Book of the Season clubs.

[imenja]

1. Carl Sandburg, Studs Terkel

not commending on best here, just some notable mentions.

[Tweed]

2. Talk about DOH!

I've only read a little Sandburg, but yeah, he is awesome. Studs Terkel, a living legend. This is what happens after four classes in one day.

[imenja]

7. Sanburg's Chicago

I remember studying this in High school. I don't know if it is still part of the standard curriculum.

CHICAGO by Carl Sandburg

HOG Butcher for the World,
Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat,
Player with Railroads and the Nation's Freight Handler;
Stormy, husky, brawling,
City of the Big Shoulders:

They tell me you are wicked and I believe them, for I
have seen your painted women under the gas lamps
luring the farm boys.
And they tell me you are crooked and I answer: Yes, it
is true I have seen the gunman kill and go free to
kill again.
And they tell me you are brutal and my reply is: On the
faces of women and children I have seen the marks
of wanton hunger.
And having answered so I turn once more to those who
sneer at this my city, and I give them back the sneer
and say to them:
Come and show me another city with lifted head singing
so proud to be alive and coarse and strong and cunning.
Flinging magnetic curses amid the toil of piling job on
job, here is a tall bold slugger set vivid against the
little soft cities;

Fierce as a dog with tongue lapping for action, cunning
as a savage pitted against the wilderness,
Bareheaded,
Shoveling,
Wrecking,
Planning,
Building, breaking, rebuilding,
Under the smoke, dust all over his mouth, laughing with
white teeth,
Under the terrible burden of destiny laughing as a young
man laughs,
Laughing even as an ignorant fighter laughs who has
never lost a battle,
Bragging and laughing that under his wrist is the pulse.
and under his ribs the heart of the people,
Laughing!
Laughing the stormy, husky, brawling laughter of
Youth, half-naked, sweating, proud to be Hog
Butcher, Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat, Player with
Railroads and Freight Handler to the Nation.

http://carl-sandburg.com/chicago.htm

Other Sandburg poems available here: http://carl-sandburg.com/POEMS.htm

[Tweed]

9. Damn, what a great poem

Alot of it is only a memory as Chicago as changed so much, but there is still alot of grit about Chicagoans. I like it. It keeps the people here more down to earth.

[followthemoney]

24. Spent a couple of hours in a small hall at O'Hare with Studs

waiting for Kucinich to arrive from Minnesota while the Cubs lost their playoff game after Alou had his foul ball catch blocked.

He kept the crowd entertained for over an hour while waiting. Ninety years old and tremendous energy.

Read "Working" in the seventies and named a pet turtle I've had for over thirty years "Studs Turtle".

[imenja]

3. Hemingway is from Oak Park

I was born in Illinois, but never lived there for an extended period of time. I loved Hemingway as a young reader. But when I think of Illinois, I think of Sandburg.

[charlyvi]

4. Sherwood Anderson is a good one. n/t

[Tweed]

6. What kind of stuff has Sherwood wrote?

Fiction, non-fiction? Love stories? War stories?

[imenja]

8. link here

http://andersonproject.winesburg.com/hisworks.htm

[charlyvi]

11. Thanks, imenja

You posted the perfect link for Tweed re Sherwood Anderson--I was browsing in another thread!

[imenja]

5. Richard Wright, Saul Bellow

Wright lived in Chicago most of his adult life, having migrated from Mississippi. He evidently was part of the Great Migration.

Gwendolyn Brooks was another Chicago writer. Willard Motley's "Knock on Any Door" was a book I LOVED as a teenager.

See this link on post-World War II African-American literature from Illinois.
http://www.lib.niu.edu/ipo/il960136.html

I get obsessive once I start to think about these things. I hope I'm not being irritating with all of these posts.

[madrchsod]

10. maybe this will help

<http://www.ncteamericancollection.org/litmap/illinois.htm[br />Illinois]


<http://illinoisissues.uis.edu/features/2004Mar/books.html[br />Forgotten cannon - by James Krohe Jr. - Illinois Issues]



<http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/nalgren.htm[br />Nelson Algren]

[elehhhhna]

12. Was Rod McCuen from Illinois? lol.

[Withywindle]

13. Nelson Algren!

Not born here, but THE Chicago writer.

[RiDuvessa]

14. Another for Sandberg

Although Mike Royko wrote an outstanding biography of Richard Daley. It's called "The Boss." If you like Chicago history, you should definitely check it out.

[barb162]

15. Saul Bellow, a great writer, Nobel Prize for lit

[followthemoney]

16. Let's not forget the non-fiction authors. Bob McChesney

I don't know where else Robert W. McChesney is from but he is a prof at the University of Illinois. "The Problem of the Media" lays out the essential obstacles to democracy.

[Tweed]

18. True true, McChesney is awesome

Have you read Rich Media, Poor Democracy? Part of me wants to go to U of I so I could take a class with him (Could you imagine how cool that would be?), but at this point, I would never graduate.

[followthemoney]

23. Met him at Fighting Bob Fest last fall

and I never miss his Media Matters, Sundays 1:00 P.M. on WILL radio.

[Tweed]

26. Damn! His show is Sundays at 1?

I'm just starting a radio show at my college that is playing from 12-2. The last half hour will have some stiff competition.

[followthemoney]

27. Don't worry, everybody can listen to McChesney anytime

after the show is over. If you go to WILL web site you can listen to the archives. You just can't call in.

Is your show on line? What is the station?

[Tweed]

28. I just posted a general thread about it

It's online at www.radio.depaul.edu

[followthemoney]

29. I am going to check out your show. Best of Luck.

[dog_lovin_dem]

17. The only Illinois author

I am aware of is James Jones. He wrote "From Here To Eternity" and "The Thin Red Line", among others. Don't know if he's the best, though.

[Guns Aximbo]

19. Hemmingway

Definately Hemmingway.

[Southsideirish]

20. James T. Farrell

[Can o Beans]

21. Me?

Well, only if you read nerdy stuff.

[Tweed]

22. Nerdy stuff about what?

Perhaps you could PM me some of your titles as well?

[RetroLounge]

25. If you like Chicago based mysteries

Sara Paretsky is good.

RL