Illinois History

 

 

New and In-Store Now!

Mariah Karson is an award-winning photographer based in Chicago, IL.  Roadtripping across the country, she was struck by the American Legion buildings prominently situated in small towns.  How do they stay maintained and relevant?  What happens inside them? From those questions, Mariah set out to find out more, focusing on four American Legion Halls in towns with less than 1000 residents, including Franklin Grove, IL.  She photographed and researched not only the buildings themselves, but also the veterans who rely on them for sense of community as a fast-paced world whirls around them and "Thank you for your service," falls as easily from the lips as "How're doing?," with no conscious thought or pause for response.
This book is a documentary of what may be lost within just a few moments.  Books on First not only gives thanks to the veterans of our military for their service, but also, to Mariah for hers.

Now on sale ($35) at Books on First.  Call us 815-285-2665 or write us to reserve your copy today.

 


It Can't Get More Local Than This

 

One hundred thirty-three years after Frank Charles Thiel, a young Bible salesman, was found slain in what is later known as Bloody Gulch, great-grandnephew John Thiel has published the definitive history of the gruesome murder and subsequent arrest & trial of Joseph Mosse, on whose person was found an Elgin National Watch Co watch chain thought to belong to the murder victim.

 

 

Duane Paulsen, nearing 82 years old and contemplating his mortality, has begun compiling his notes from primary source research and interviews, and presenting them in book form for our reading pleasure.  

Read about Billy Sunday's visit to Dixon, the intercity lightrail, the largest Chatauqua gatherings outside of New York and more.  Dixon Stories is now here at Books on First.  Copies signed by the author are, as they say, available for a limited time only.

And, did you know that there were dozens of temporary memorial arches erected to welcome the soldiers home in 1919? Most of them are long gone, but Dixon wanted to preserve theirs, rebuilding it over and over again so that it is what welcomes everyone to Dixon today.  See Duane Paulsen's interview with WREX as we commemorate 100 years of the Dixon Memorial Arch, and get his book at Books on First. 

 


Not Your Usual Book About Dixon

A.K. (aka "Erin") Thompson spent four years working on this biography of the founding family of Dixon's own Katherine Shaw Bethea Hospital.  Full of personal anguish and period history, this is not just local, but a larger story of a time when finding high quality health care was like pioneering.  The title comes from the headline of Katherine Shaw Bethea's own obituary, whose struggle with and death from tuberculosis resulted in the legacy that still bears her name today.
 
 
 
Now for sale ($19.95) at Books on First.  Call 815-285-2665 or write us for your copy today!
 
 

 
Inspired in part by the Nachusa Grasslands,
Author Guy C Fraker's new book
Lincoln's Ladder to the Presidency:
The Eighth Judicial Circuit
tells of how hard work, long days on the prairie, and some savvy networking can
pave a way to the White House. 
 
 
 
 
 
 

And, If You're Looking for Books on Dixon's Most Famous Former Resident, Look No Further Than Here 

 


 

 

Staff Pick Badge
The Ottawa Rescue Case By Heinz-Dietrich Suppan Cover Image
$14.95
ISBN: 9781478795070
Availability: Usually Ships Out to You in 3-7 Business Days
This book is nonreturnable. Once we accept this order, it cannot be cancelled and your payment will not be refunded.
Published: Outskirts Press - March 9th, 2018

This is the story of a daring save in 1859 of a runaway slave found to be not guilty of any charges in Illinois, but scheduled to be remanded to a U.S. Commission in Springfield to face charges of violation of a federal fugitive slave law and a return to his owner in Missouri, and the subsequent capture and trial of these Illinoisans in Chicago.


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Chicago: A Novel By David Mamet Cover Image
$17.99
ISBN: 9780062797209
Availability: Usually Ships Out to You in 3-7 Business Days
Published: Custom House - November 13th, 2018

This may be fiction, but David Mamet's writing simply oozes Chicago history -- writ small and large, like his Pulitzer Prize-winning play, "Glengarry Glen Ross" and this, his first novel in two decades, about 1920s mobbed-up Windy City.


The Score of a Lifetime: 25 Years Talking Chicago Sports By Terry Boers Cover Image
$19.95
Email or call for availability and price
ISBN: 9781629375755
Published: Triumph Books - November 15th, 2017

Dixon, Illinois (Images of America) By Bob Gibler Cover Image
$21.99
Email or call for availability and price
ISBN: 9780738572741
Published: Arcadia Publishing (SC) - September 23rd, 1998

Punks in Peoria: Making a Scene in the American Heartland (Music in American Life #1) By Jonathan Wright, Dawson Barrett Cover Image
$22.95
ISBN: 9780252085796
Availability: Usually Ships Out to You in 3-7 Business Days
Published: University of Illinois Press - June 15th, 2021

The Iron Road in the Prairie State: The Story of Illinois Railroading (Railroads Past and Present) By Simon Cordery Cover Image
$60.00
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ISBN: 9780253019066
Published: Indiana University Press - January 20th, 2016

City of Scoundrels: The 12 Days of Disaster That Gave Birth to Modern Chicago By Gary Krist Cover Image
$18.00
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ISBN: 9780307454300
Published: Crown - April 16th, 2013

Kingdom of Nauvoo: The Rise and Fall of a Religious Empire on the American Frontier By Benjamin E. Park Cover Image
$18.95
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ISBN: 9781324091103
Published: Liveright - August 24th, 2021

Rochelle (Images of America) By Carol Hegberg Cover Image
$21.99
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ISBN: 9780738541341
Published: Arcadia Publishing (SC) - January 17th, 2007

Starved Rock State Park: The Work of the CCC Along the I&m Canal (Images of America) By Dennis H. Cremin, Charlene Giardina Cover Image
$21.99
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ISBN: 9780738519906
Published: Arcadia Publishing (SC) - July 24th, 2002

Rockford: 1920 and Beyond (Postcard History) By Eric A. Johnson Cover Image
$21.99
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ISBN: 9780738532639
Published: Arcadia Publishing (SC) - August 6th, 2004

Princeton (Postcard History) By David Belden, Bureau County Historical Society Cover Image
$21.99
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ISBN: 9780738578187
Published: Arcadia Publishing (SC) - November 8th, 2010

Ramblers: Loyola Chicago 1963 -- The Team That Changed the Color of College Basketball By Michael Lenehan Cover Image
$18.00
ISBN: 9781572841406
Availability: Usually Ships Out to You in 3-7 Business Days
Published: Agate Midway - March 12th, 2013

Staff Pick Badge
General John A. Rawlins: No Ordinary Man By Allen J. Ottens Cover Image
$35.00
ISBN: 9780253057303
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Indiana University Press - August 3rd, 2021

Frontier Illinois (History of the Trans-Appalachian Frontier) By James E. Davis Cover Image
$30.00
ISBN: 9780253214065
Availability: Usually Ships Out to You in 3-7 Business Days
This book is nonreturnable. Once we accept this order, it cannot be cancelled and your payment will not be refunded.
Published: Indiana University Press - August 22nd, 2000

The Society of the Living Dead: The Illustrated History of Ottawa's Radium Dial Scandal (America Through Time) By Jim Ridings Cover Image
$24.99
ISBN: 9781634992299
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: America Through Time - August 24th, 2020

One More Time: The Best of Mike Royko By Mike Royko, Studs Terkel (Foreword by) Cover Image
By Mike Royko, Studs Terkel (Foreword by)
$12.00
ISBN: 9780226730721
Availability: Usually Ships Out to You in 3-7 Business Days
Published: University of Chicago Press - May 15th, 2000

Lincoln's Greatest Case: The River, the Bridge, and the Making of America By Brian McGinty Cover Image
$15.95
Email or call for availability and price
ISBN: 9781631491474
Published: Liveright - February 1st, 2016

Route 66 in Illinois (Images of America) By Joe Sonderman, Cheryl Eichar Jett Cover Image
$21.99
ISBN: 9781467111942
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Arcadia Publishing (SC) - June 9th, 2014

COVID-19 2023

COVID-19 fight update:

Please respect our service team and fellow patrons who may want to continue to wear face coverings, keep a physical distance or do the safest thing for their & their loved ones' health & safety.

 

  
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