A Penny's Worth of Minced Ham

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Publisher : SIU Press
ISBN 13 : 9780809313044
Total Pages : 120 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (13 download)

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Book Synopsis A Penny's Worth of Minced Ham by : Robert J. Hastings

Download or read book A Penny's Worth of Minced Ham written by Robert J. Hastings and published by SIU Press. This book was released on 1986 with total page 120 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The author grew up in Marion, Illinois, entering the first grade in 1930, the start of the Great Depression. This book, which recalls memorable episodes in Hastings' youth, is a sequel to his popular Nickel's Worth of Skim Milk, to be reissued in paperback simultaneously with this book.

A Nickel's Worth of Skim Milk

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Publisher : SIU Press
ISBN 13 : 9780809313051
Total Pages : 172 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (13 download)

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Book Synopsis A Nickel's Worth of Skim Milk by : Robert J. Hastings

Download or read book A Nickel's Worth of Skim Milk written by Robert J. Hastings and published by SIU Press. This book was released on 1986 with total page 172 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Told from the point of view of a young boy, this account shows how a family "faced the 1930s head on and lived to tell the story." It is the story of grow­ing up in southern Illinois, specifically the Marion, area during the Great Depression. But when it was first published in 1972 the book proved to be more than one writer's memories of depression-era southern Illinois. "People started writing me from all over the country," Hastings notes. "And all said much the same: 'You were writing about my family, as much as your own. That's how I remember the 1930s, too.'" As he proves time and again in this book, Hast­ings is a natural storyteller who can touch upon the detail that makes the tale both poignant and univer­sal. He brings to life a period that marked every man, woman, and child who lived through it even as that national experience fades into the past.

The State of Southern Illinois

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Publisher : SIU Press
ISBN 13 : 0809390728
Total Pages : 235 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (93 download)

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Book Synopsis The State of Southern Illinois by : Herbert K. Russell

Download or read book The State of Southern Illinois written by Herbert K. Russell and published by SIU Press. This book was released on 2012-03-16 with total page 235 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In The State of Southern Illinois: An Illustrated History, Herbert K. Russell offers fresh interpretations of a number of important aspects of Southern Illinois history. Focusing on the area known as “Egypt,” the region south of U.S. Route 50 from Salem south to Cairo, he begins his book with the earliest geologic formations and follows Southern Illinois’s history into the twenty-first century. The volume is richly illustrated with maps and photographs, mostly in color, that highlight the informative and straightforward text. Perhaps most notable is the author’s use of dozens of heretofore neglected sources to dispel the myth that Southern Illinois is merely an extension of Dixie. He corrects the popular impressions that slavery was introduced by early settlers from the South and that a majority of Southern Illinoisans wished to secede. Furthermore, he presents the first in-depth discussion of twelve pre–Civil War, free black communities located in the region. He also identifies the roles coal mining, labor violence, gangsters, and the media played in establishing the area’s image. He concludes optimistically, unveiling a twenty-first-century Southern Illinois filled with myriad attractions and opportunities for citizens and tourists alike. The State of Southern Illinois is the most accurate all-encompassing volume of history on this unique area that often regards itself as a state within a state. It offers an entirely new perspective on race relations, provides insightful information on the cultural divide between north and south in Illinois, and pays tribute to an often neglected and misunderstood region of this multidimensional state, all against a stunning visual backdrop. Superior Achievement from the Illinois State Historical Society, 2013

The Civilian Conservation Corps in Southern Illinois, 1933-1942

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Publisher : SIU Press
ISBN 13 : 0809333651
Total Pages : 372 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (93 download)

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Book Synopsis The Civilian Conservation Corps in Southern Illinois, 1933-1942 by : Kay Rippelmeyer

Download or read book The Civilian Conservation Corps in Southern Illinois, 1933-1942 written by Kay Rippelmeyer and published by SIU Press. This book was released on 2015-03-03 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book details the Depression era history behind the simultaneous creations of the Civilian Conservation Corps and the Shawnee National Forest in southern Illinois, where enrollees at twenty-six camps worked on soil and forest conservation projects. A camp compendium provides photographs, the work history and company rosters of each camp.

Escape Betwixt Two Suns

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Publisher : SIU Press
ISBN 13 : 9780809323012
Total Pages : 186 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (23 download)

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Book Synopsis Escape Betwixt Two Suns by : Carol Pirtle

Download or read book Escape Betwixt Two Suns written by Carol Pirtle and published by SIU Press. This book was released on 2000 with total page 186 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although the northern Illinois chapters of the story of Susan "Sukey" Richardson's escape from slavery on the Underground Railroad are documented, the part played by southern Illinois in that historic episode has remained obscure. This book changes that by investigating the 1843 suit Andrew Borders lodged against William Hayes, charging his neighbor with helping slaves from the Borders estate escape to Galesburg. The author documents Hayes's involvement in the Illinois Underground Railroad through approximately two hundred letters received by Hayes from the early 1820s until his death in 1849. Many of these letters specifically corroborate his participation in the escape of slaves from the Borders estate. Letters written by Galesburg residents show that several prominent citizens of that community also assisted in the affair, proving that Knox College administrators and trustees were active in the Underground Railroad. The author also includes excerpts from the trial transcript from the 1844 civil case against Hayes, which was tried in Pinckneyville, Illinois. She researched newspaper accounts of the event, most notably those in the Western Citizen and the Sparta Herald. Records of the Covenanter Presbyterian church of which Hayes was a member provide partial explanations of Hayes's motives.

Always of Home

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Publisher : SIU Press
ISBN 13 : 9780809318537
Total Pages : 192 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (185 download)

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Book Synopsis Always of Home by : Edgar A. Imhoff

Download or read book Always of Home written by Edgar A. Imhoff and published by SIU Press. This book was released on 1993 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Edgar Allen Imhoff renders a series of touching, colorful vignettes about growing up in southern Illinois during the Great Depression. He writes poignantly of his family and their struggles (including his father's exhausting but successful effort at self-education) as he revisits his early childhood years in the country and his eventual move to the town of Murphysboro, where he encountered school bullies, outstanding teachers, first love, World War II, and adolescence. Imhoff contrasts these memories of his youth with events, incidents, and thoughts from his more recent past. While writing a government check with six figures to the left of the decimal, he remembers how his mother once scrounged together thirty cents so Imhoff and his brother and sister could go to the circus with their classmates. Listening to President Carter give a speech in the Rose Garden reminds him of the contrasting elocutionary style of the Reverend William Boatman, the pastor at his country church, which was built by Imhoff's great-great-grandfather and others. Through such contrasts, Imhoff not only paints a loving picture of his past, he also comments on the alienation and emptiness that mark many lives in the United States, especially those of modern nomads. Imhoff has himself become a nomad, living far from the land of his birth, enjoying a successful and rewarding career. Yet he is drawn repeatedly to his past, his family, his childhood home, and the intricate combination of events, attitudes, values, and loyalties that influenced and molded him.

Foothold on a Hillside

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Publisher : SIU Press
ISBN 13 : 9780809312986
Total Pages : 124 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (129 download)

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Book Synopsis Foothold on a Hillside by : Charless Caraway

Download or read book Foothold on a Hillside written by Charless Caraway and published by SIU Press. This book was released on 1986 with total page 124 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a style reminiscent of the master storytellers of yore, Charless Caraway recounts the story of his life, as a man and a boy, on small farms in Saline and Jackson counties, particularly around Eldorado, Makanda, and Etherton Switch. He makes no bones about the hardships of those "old days," first helping his father eke out a living from the land, then scrambling for a living as a sharecropper and fruit picker, as he scrimped and saved for the day when he and his young wife, Bessie Mae Rowan Caraway, could buy a piece of land of their own. The one-room school, the general store, the trips by wagon over roads that choked you in summer and swallowed you in winter, the home that burned: all are described in a matter-of-fact yet moving way. Many of the locations, buildings, and people are represented in equally unromanticized photographs from the family's collection. Some of the stories and photos recall the common disasters of the frontier: drought, flood, and the tornado of 1925. It is clear from these stories that each aspect of life exacted a price, but the Caraways paid that price without regret and rallied to go on their way. Charless and his family and friends fill this book with courage, strength, and an unshakable faith in the value of human endeavor.

America's Deadliest Twister

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Publisher : SIU Press
ISBN 13 : 0809333465
Total Pages : 160 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (93 download)

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Book Synopsis America's Deadliest Twister by : Geoff Partlow

Download or read book America's Deadliest Twister written by Geoff Partlow and published by SIU Press. This book was released on 2014-07-25 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner, ISHS Certificate of Excellence, 2015 Disaster relief as we know it did not exist when the deadliest tornado in U.S. history gouged a path from southeast Missouri through southern Illinois and into southwestern Indiana. The tri-state tornado of 1925 hugged the ground for 219 miles, generated wind speeds in excess of 300 miles per hour, and killed 695 people. Drawing on survivor interviews, public records, and newspaper archives, America’s Deadliest Twister offers a detailed account of the storm, but more important, it describes life in the region at that time as well as the tornado’s lasting cultural impact, especially on southern Illinois. Author Geoff Partlow follows the storm from town to town, introducing us to the people most affected by the tornado, including the African American population of southern Illinois. Their narratives, along with the stories of the heroes who led recovery efforts in the years following, add a hometown perspective to the account of the storm itself. In the discussion of the aftermath of the tornado, Partlow examines the lasting social and economic scars in the area, but he also looks at some of the technological firsts associated with this devastating tragedy. Partlow shows how relief efforts in the region began to change the way people throughout the nation thought about disaster relief, which led to the unified responses we are familiar with today.

Fluorspar Mining

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Publisher : SIU Press
ISBN 13 : 0809336693
Total Pages : 103 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (93 download)

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Book Synopsis Fluorspar Mining by : Herbert K. Russell

Download or read book Fluorspar Mining written by Herbert K. Russell and published by SIU Press. This book was released on 2019-01-03 with total page 103 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner, ISHS Best of Illinois History Award, 2019 This first-ever pictorial record of the people and methods of the Illinois-Kentucky Fluorspar District from the 1900s to the 1990s covers early and modern means of extracting, hoisting, processing, and transporting the mineral from mine mouth to end user. Nearly one hundred images carefully selected by author Herbert K. Russell show early pick-and-shovel extraction and open-flame lighting as well as primitive drilling methods and transportation by barrels, buckets, barges, mule teams, and trams, in addition to the use of modern equipment and sophisticated refinement procedures such as froth flotation. Russell also provides an overview of the many industrial uses of fluorspar, from metal work by ancient Romans to the processing of uranium by scientists seeking to perfect the atomic bomb. Preserving what is known about the industry by miners, managers, and museums, this detailed and fascinating pictorial history looks both above and below ground at fluorspar mining.

Kaskaskia

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Publisher : Southern Illinois University Press
ISBN 13 : 0809337312
Total Pages : 228 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (93 download)

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Book Synopsis Kaskaskia by : David MacDonald

Download or read book Kaskaskia written by David MacDonald and published by Southern Illinois University Press. This book was released on 2019-06-06 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This first comprehensive account of the Illinois village of Kaskaskia covers more than two hundred years in the vast and compelling history of the state. David MacDonald and Raine Waters explore Illinois’s first capital in great detail, from its foundation in 1703 to its destruction by the Mississippi River in the latter part of the nineteenth century, as well as everything in between: successes, setbacks, and the lives of the people who inhabited the space. At the outset the Kaskaskia tribe, along with Jesuit missionaries and French traders, settled near the confluence of the Kaskaskia and Mississippi rivers, about sixty miles south of modern-day St. Louis. The town quickly became the largest French town and most prosperous settlement in the Illinois Country. After French control ended, Kaskaskia suffered under corrupt British and then inept American rule. In the 1790s the town revived and became the territorial capital, and in 1818 it became the first state capital. Along the way Kaskaskia was beset by disasters: crop failures, earthquakes, tornadoes, floods, epidemics, and the loss of the capital-city title to Vandalia. Likewise, human activity and industry eroded the river’s banks, causing the river to change course and eventually wash away the settlement. All that remains of the state’s first capital today is a village several miles from the original site. MacDonald and Waters focus on the town’s growth, struggles, prosperity, decline, and obliteration, providing an overview of its domestic architecture to reveal how its residents lived. Debunking the notion of a folklore tradition about a curse on the town, the authors instead trace those stories to late nineteenth-century journalistic inventions. The result is a vibrant, heavily illustrated, and highly readable history of Kaskaskia that sheds light on the entire early history of Illinois.

All Anybody Ever Wanted of Me was to Work

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Publisher : SIU Press
ISBN 13 : 9780809319312
Total Pages : 248 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (193 download)

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Book Synopsis All Anybody Ever Wanted of Me was to Work by : Edith Bradley Rendleman

Download or read book All Anybody Ever Wanted of Me was to Work written by Edith Bradley Rendleman and published by SIU Press. This book was released on 1996 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From All Anybody Ever Wanted of Me Was to Work... "Starting around 1950, people stopped raising chickens, milking cows, and raising hogs. They just buy it at the store, ready to eat. A lot buy a steer and have it processed in Dongola and put it in their freezer. What a difference! Girls have got it so easy now. They don't even know what it was like to start out. And I guess my mother's life, when she started out, was as hard again as mine, because they had to make everything by hand. I don't know if it could get any easier for these girls. But they don't know what it was like, and they never will. Everything is packaged. All you do is go to the store and buy you a package and cook it. Automatic washers and dryers. I'm glad they don't have to work like I did. Very glad." Edith Bradley Rendleman's story of her life in southern Illinois is remarkable in many ways. Recalling the first half of the twentieth century in great detail, she vividly cites vignettes from her childhood as her family moved from farm to farm until settling in 1909 in the Mississippi bottoms of Wolf Lake. She recounts the lives and times of her family and neighbors during an era gone forever. Remarkable for the vivid details that evoke the past, Rendleman's account is rare in another respect: memoirs of the time--usually written by people from elite or urban families--often reek of nostalgia. But Rendleman's memoir differs from the norm. Born poor in rural southern Illinois, she tells an unvarnished tale of what it was really like growing up on a tenant farm early this century.

Giant City State Park and the Civilian Conservation Corps

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Publisher : SIU Press
ISBN 13 : 0809385635
Total Pages : 231 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (93 download)

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Book Synopsis Giant City State Park and the Civilian Conservation Corps by : Kay Rippelmeyer

Download or read book Giant City State Park and the Civilian Conservation Corps written by Kay Rippelmeyer and published by SIU Press. This book was released on 2010-03-02 with total page 231 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many recognize Giant City State Park as one of the premier recreation spots in southern Illinois, with its unspoiled forests, glorious rock formations, and famous sandstone lodge. But few know the park’s history or are aware of the remarkable men who struggled to build it. Giant City State Park and the Civilian Conservation Corps: A History in Words and Pictures provides the first in-depth portrait of the park’s creation, drawing on rarely seen photos, local and national archival research, and interviews to present an intriguing chapter in Illinois history. Kay Rippelmeyer traces the geological history of the park, exploring the circumstances that led to the breathtaking scenery for which Giant City is so well known, and providing insightful background on and cultural history of the area surrounding the park. Rippelmeyer then outlines the effects of the Great Depression and the New Deal on southern Illinois, including relief efforts by the Civilian Conservation Corps, which began setting up camps at Giant City in 1933. The men of the CCC, most of them natives of southern and central Illinois, are brought to life through vividly detailed, descriptive prose and hundreds of black-and-white photographs that lavishly illustrate life in the two camps at the park. This fascinating book not only documents the men’s hard work—from the clearing of the first roads and building of stone bridges, park shelters, cabins, and hiking and bridle trails, to quarry work and the raising of the lodge’s famous columns—it also reveals the more personal side of life in the two camps at the park, covering topics ranging from education, sports, and recreation, to camp newspapers, and even misbehavior and discipline. Supplementing the photographs and narrative are engaging conversations with alumni and family members of the CCC, which give readers a rich oral history of life at Giant City in the 1930s. The book is further enhanced by maps, rosters of enrollees and officers, and a list of CCC camps in southern Illinois. The culmination of three decades of research, Giant City State Park and the Civilian Conservation Corps provides the most intimate history ever of the park and its people, honoring one of Illinois’s most unforgettable places and the men who built it.

The Music Came First

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Publisher : SIU Press
ISBN 13 : 9780809314720
Total Pages : 144 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (147 download)

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Book Synopsis The Music Came First by : Theodore Paschedag

Download or read book The Music Came First written by Theodore Paschedag and published by SIU Press. This book was released on 1988 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Paschedag's career as a flute player in silent movie theaters withered in 1927 with the release of The Jazz Singer, the first talkie. When the theaters stopped hiring musicians, Paschedag came to West Frankfort, Illinois, as an employee of the C. G. Conn Musical Instrument Company. What he had to do was impossible: prepare 74 untrained children for a concert in one month. A major obstacle was that the Conn salesman had sold 22 alto saxophones but no drums. Astoundingly, the concert went well, featuring that rarest of all musical combinations, the saxophone octet. Conn extended Paschedag's contract for another month, and by the end of that time he had become the music man of West Frankfort. After 21 years, Paschedag quit teaching to devote full time to his music store. In his eighties today, he still works in that store and still conducts the Southern Illinois Concert Band.

The Flag on the Hilltop

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Publisher : SIU Press
ISBN 13 : 9780809315178
Total Pages : 166 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (151 download)

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Book Synopsis The Flag on the Hilltop by : Mary Tracy Earle

Download or read book The Flag on the Hilltop written by Mary Tracy Earle and published by SIU Press. This book was released on 1989-09 with total page 166 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Early in the Civil War, two young brothers boldly flew the Union flag from a tree atop a hill between Makanda and Cobden. This was a towering act of courage in an area teeming with Copperheads. Theodore and Al Thompson, 18 and 20 years old at the time, raised the flag in defiance of the Knights of the Golden Circle, a secessionist group that operated throughout the Midwest. Controlling its membership through terror, this secret society condemned betrayers to death by torture. The Knights, whose goals included capturing a Union prison and liberating the rebels, triggered the Civil War riot in Charleston, instigated anti-draft movements, and aided Northern deserters. Theodore Thompson, who later owned much of Makanda, Giant City, and the land that became Southern Illinois University describes the tree as a "tall tulip poplar between 3 and 4 feet in diameter at the trunk and some 60 feet to the first limbs. This noted tree could be seen in some directions 15 or 20 miles away."

Murder in Little Egypt

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Author :
Publisher : Open Road Media
ISBN 13 : 1497658659
Total Pages : 297 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (976 download)

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Book Synopsis Murder in Little Egypt by : Darcy O'Brien

Download or read book Murder in Little Egypt written by Darcy O'Brien and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2014-07-01 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: New York Times Bestseller: The “fascinating” true story of John Dale Cavaness, a much-admired Illinois doctor—and the cold-blooded killer of his own son (The Washington Post). Fusing the narrative power of an award-winning novelist and the detailed research of an experienced investigator, author Darcy O’Brien unfolds the story of Dr. John Dale Cavaness, the southern Illinois physician and surgeon charged with the murder of his son Sean in December 1984. Outraged by the arrest of the skilled medical practitioner who selflessly attended to their needs, the people of Little Egypt, as the natives call their region, rose to his defense. But during the subsequent trial, a radically different, disquieting portrait of Dr. Cavaness would emerge. Throughout the three decades that he enjoyed the admiration and respect of his community, Cavaness was privately terrorizing his family, abusing his employees, and making disastrous financial investments. As more and more grisly details of the Cavaness case come to stark Midwestern light in O’Brien’s chilling account, so too does the hidden gothic underside of rural America and its heritage of violence and blood. “A meticulous account . . . An implicit indictment of a culture that condones and encourages violent behavior in men.” —The New York Times Book Review “A fascinating story, and Darcy O’Brien does a great job of structuring it for suspense.” —The Washington Post “Riveting.”—Publishers Weekly “A terrifying story of family violence and the community that honored the perpetrator.” —Kirkus Reviews “Stunning material . . . Handled with justice and fastidiousness by a natural storyteller.” —Seamus Heaney, winner of the Nobel Prize

Fishing Southern Illinois

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Publisher : SIU Press
ISBN 13 : 9780809312948
Total Pages : 184 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (129 download)

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Book Synopsis Fishing Southern Illinois by : Art Reid

Download or read book Fishing Southern Illinois written by Art Reid and published by SIU Press. This book was released on 1986 with total page 184 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Now, let's find out where those fish are and how to catch a few," says Art Reid in his Preface. And that is the essence of this comprehensive guide to fishing in Southern Illinois. In the colorful language of one who has fished the waters and swapped tales over many a campfire, Reid draws upon more than 25 years of experience fishing the United States and several foreign countries. Liberally spiced with anecdotes, this book tells not only where the fish are and how to catch them but who catches them: no history of fishing in Southern Illinois would be complete without an abundance of profiles of the colorful people who for years have been dedicated anglers. The stories are fun and related with verve, the people fascinating, and the information as com­plete as a fisherman could find anywhere.

Growing Up in a Land Called Egypt

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Publisher : SIU Press
ISBN 13 : 0809386577
Total Pages : 157 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (93 download)

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Book Synopsis Growing Up in a Land Called Egypt by : Cleo Caraway

Download or read book Growing Up in a Land Called Egypt written by Cleo Caraway and published by SIU Press. This book was released on 2009-12-21 with total page 157 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Growing Up in a Land Called Egypt: A Southern Illinois Family Biography,author Cleo Caraway fondly recalls how she and her siblings came of age on the family farm in the 1930s and 1940s. Like many others, the Caraways were affected by the economic hardships of the Great Depression, but Cleo’s parents strived to shelter her and her six siblings from the dire circumstances affecting the nation and their home and allowed them to bask in their idealistic existence. Her love for her family clearly shines from every page as she writes of a simpler time, before World War II divided the family. Caraway revels in the life her family lived on a southern Illinois hilltop in Murphysboro township, marveling at the mix of commonplace and adventure she experienced in her childhood. She remembers her first day of school, walking three miles to the wondrous one-room building with her siblings; reminisces about strolling through the countryside with her mother, investigating the various plants and flowers, fruits and nuts; and recollects her fascination with the Indian relics she found buried near her home, a hobby she shared with her father. She also writes of seeing Gone with the Wind on the big screen at the Hippodrome in Murphysboro, of learning to sew dresses for her dolls, and of idyllic life on the farm—milking cows, hatching chicks, feeding pigs. Along with her personal memories Caraway includes interviews with neighbors and many fascinating photographs with detailed captions that make the images come alive. A delightful follow-up to her father’s popular Foothold on a Hillside: Memories of a Southern Illinoisan,Caraway’s book is a pleasant change from the typical accounts of southern Illinois before, during, and after the Great Depression. Instead of hardscrabble grit, Growing Up in a Land Called Egypt offers a refreshingly different view of the period and is certain to be embraced by southern Illinois natives as well as anyone interested in the experiences of a rural family that thrived despite the difficult times. The author’s lighthearted prose, self-deprecating humor, and genuine affection for her family make reading this book a rich and memorable experience.