TWO INTERTWINED STORIES, one a spookily poetic tale of sisters haunted by the past and one a Chicago police procedural, converge in startling ways. Lovely, rich with a great city’s history, beauty, and tragedy. B PLUS
We wanted to have a quiet afternoon and so we went to go to Kapej Coffee on the Brown Line. It is one of our favorite places in #Chicago with some of the best #coffee in the city. In fact, the owner was roasting coffee fresh in a little alcove off the counter.
I need some #help from my bookish friends here, particularly those in the #Chicago area. I'm trying to identify an independent #bookstore that, instead of providing gift receipts, uses a gold sticker over the price of the book. The issue is that the gold sticker doesn't tell the recipient of the book where it's from, and I'd rather not ask if I can avoid it.
The store in in a north suburb, and knowing the person who shops there, probably an affluent one.
Today in Labor History December 6, 1889: The trial of the Chicago Haymarket anarchists began amidst national and international outrage and protest. None of the men on trial had even been at Haymarket Square when the bomb was set off. They were on trial because of their anarchist political affiliations and their labor organizing for the 8-hour work-day. 4 were ultimately executed, including Alber Parsons, husband of future IWW founding member Lucy Parsons. One, Louis Ling, cheated the hangman by committing suicide in his cell. The Haymarket Affairs is considered the origin of International Workers Day, May 1st, celebrated in virtually every country in the world, except for the U.S., where the atrocity occurred. Historically, it was also considered the culmination of the Great Upheaval, which a series of strike waves and labor unrest that began in Martinsburg, West Virginia, 1877, and spread throughout the U.S., including the Saint Louis Commune, when communists took over and controlled the city for several days. Over 100 workers were killed across the U.S. in the weeks of strikes and protests. Communists and anarchists also organized strikes in Chicago, where police killed 20 men and boys. Albert and Lucy Parsons participated and were influenced by these events. I write about this historical period in my Great Upheaval Trilogy. The first book in this series, Anywhere But Schuylkill, came out in September, 2023, from Historium Press. Check it out here: https://www.thehistoricalfictioncompany.com/it/michael-dunn and https://michaeldunnauthor.com/
@romancelandia
Via Love Sweet Arrow:
We are thrilled to celebrate romance icon Beverly Jenkins, in conversation with local authors Sean D. Young and Sherelle Green at the Tinley Park Historical Society on 11/11 at 2:00pm!
Via Love Sweet Arrow:
We are thrilled to celebrate romance icon Beverly Jenkins, in conversation with local authors Sean D. Young and Sherelle Green at the Tinley Park Historical Society on 11/11 at 2:00pm!
Today in Labor History August 30, 1948: Fred Hampton revolutionary activist and chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party was born. He founded the antiracist, anti-class Rainbow Coalition, a prominent multicultural political organization that included Black Panthers, Young Patriots (which organized poor whites), and the Young Lords (which organized Hispanics), and an alliance among major Chicago street gangs to help them end infighting and work for social change. In December 1969, the Chicago police & FBI drugged Hampton, shot him and killed him in his bed during a predawn raid. They sprayed more than 90 gunshots throughout his apartment. They also killed Black Panther Mark Clark and wounded several others. In January 1970, a jury concluded that Hampton's and Clark's deaths were justifiable homicides.
Stephen King refers to Hampton in his novel “11/22/63” (2012). In that book, a character suggests that if you could travel back in time to prevent John F. Kennedy's assassination, it could have a ripple effect that also prevented Hampton's assassination.