No comments about Chicago Neighborhoods and Suburbs: A Historical Guide.

1 comments about Outsourcing my Education (Matt's Travelogues).

1. Okay, full confession--I wrote this book. Then again, it's only a buck, why don't you try it? Lots of people enjoyed it when I sent it out via email the first time around, maybe you will too!

No comments about A Guide to Art at the University of Illinois: Urbana-Champaign, Robert Allerton Park, and Chicago.

No comments about Fodor's Chicago's 25 Best, 6th Edition (25 Best).

No comments about North Michigan Avenue: A Building Book from the Chicago Historical Society.

No comments about Chicago Originals, Rev. Ed..

1 comments about Time Out Chicago (Time Out Guides).

1. The author took note of The History of Beer and Brewing in Chicago, 1833-1978 by Bob Skilnik in this book as "A somewhat slight but largely engrossing history of beer in this most boozy of cities."
   
   Considering that this is the ONLY book ever published on the subject, I'd like to know what Mr. La Quesne has to compare this 263-page book to?
   
   Time Out Chicago (the magazine) also did a half-hour phone interview of me about my book, and did a follow-up call to confirm some information, and then had the chutzpah to use facts from the interview in one of their features and conveniently forgot to mention that the information came from The History of Beer and Brewing in Chicago, 1833-1978 or my extensive interview with one of their lazy staff writers. Yes, I'm the author.

No comments about Exploration and Exchange: A South Seas Anthology, 1680-1900.

2 comments about The Madness of Art: A Guide to Living and Working in Chicago.

1. This "guide to living and working" is also a guide to shopping in Chicago, but the cover wisely avoids the dreaded s-word in an effort to attract wanna-bes of every artistic persuasion. Langer's guide provides lots of contact information for schools, groups, and companies: in short, stuff you can get out of the phone book, as well as a lot of snide commentary, which you can't get out of the phone book. He also interviews some promenent people (the Smashing Pumpkins' D'Arcy, for example), focusing on daft questions about the "Chicago scene." Many pages are given over to questionable "must-haves": because I am a writer, he thinks I might be interested in aspirin, coffee, a dartboard, a vintage bicycle, and a nice place to play pool, in a thinly disguised, not very clever attempt to advertise hip North Side stores and bars. There's a section in back on "where the artists are" which might better have been titled, "where the pretty people hang." Here's a listing Langer didn't include: the Harold Washington Library, 400 S. State, where this book may be best perused but not bought.



2. This is an excellent book if you're looking to live and work in Chicago as an artist.

   The chapter called "Where the Artists Are" is a terrific guide to the neighborhoods of Chicago. I collect Chicago guidebooks, and this is by far the BEST look at Chicago's neighborhoods. It is honest and informative. It does tell you where artists tend to clump in Chicago, plus alot of other helpful info. Heck, it actually helped me to decide where I live now.

   The section "A cross-section of galleries that every artist should know about" is well-written and even includes a snob rating for each gallery. Although it doesn't list all the galleries in Chicago, it does include alot of the major and minor players. Plus, that snob rating just cracks me up, but it really is incredibly helpful and insightful.

   "Getting schooled" has a good listing of art schools (if ya want to take a class in the summer, or any other time). His reviews aren't as informative, but they are still funny and honest. (Look forward to artiwu publishing a more detailed guide to chicago art schools soon.)

   The compliation of "Publications and Other Resources" is one of the best and very definitive.

   There are also sections for writers, actors, dancers, musicians, and filmmakers. But they don't water down the book. The section on the fine arts is definetely worth the money.

   Overall, this book is a pure gem. It has lots of great information for the artist starting out in Chicago. The humorous writing and jam-packed info will make you want to read it. I rate it a 5 out of 5, "An absolute buy."

2 comments about King Khama, Emperor Joe, and the Great White Queen: Victorian Britain through African Eyes.

1. This book does an excellent job of telling the tale of the visit of three great African kings to England in the late 1890s. Provides an accurate portrayal of King Khama and his interaction with Joe Chamberlain and Cecil Rhodes. An excellent, factual, entertaining story of successful African resistance.



2. This book examines the 1895 trip of Batswana Chiefs Khama, Sebele and Bathoen to London to negotiate a deal with Minister of Colonial Affairs Joe Chamberlain that would secure their land against seizure attempts by Cecil Rhodes. It relies primarily on archival sources including correspondence, diaries, papers and newspaper clippings and, to a lesser degree, on oral histories. Once the chiefs arrive in London, the book is organized by day and the author provides copious information about that day whether it is significant or simply a matter of who stayed in bed or who purchased souvenirs. At times, it seems that the main narrative will be overwhelmed by minutiae. Yet, Parsons does a brilliant job of showing how the chiefs and London Missionary Society administrator Willoughby used the temperance issue and the Non-Conformist sensibility in general to build a more sympathetic case for their position. He also demonstrates well how the journalism of the times seemed to drive much of the context and sometimes the actual negotiations.
   
   This book will be a fascinating read for anyone interested in turn-of-the-century Southern Africa or for that matter Britain due to the many excerpts from archival sources. Parson's style is quite accessible to the lay-reader with little previous background in the subject though I would recommend he or she read the last chapter first for a framework. It is particularly important for scholars of the region and of Botswana. It addresses one of the central controversies of Botswana history, i.e., whether Botswana's non-absorption into Rhodesia was the result of the chiefs' visit or the failed Jameson raid. (Parson's comes down in favor of the former.) More generally, it is a revealing look at the agency of African colonial elites.