In the latest episode of the University of Press podcast, The UPside, we sat down with Dr. Thomas J. Balcerski, editor of Connecticut History Review, to discuss a new special issue on Connecticut’s role in the American Revolution, as well as his editorship, the America250 anniversary, the importance of archives to the journal, Connecticut History Day, and more.

You can listen to the podcast here or read here for a transcript of the conversation.

Behold! The second episode of the Contemporary Film Directors Podcast, presented by the University of Illinois Press!

In this episode, series co-editor Justus Nieland, along with new series co-editors Sarah Keller and Joshua Yumibe, interview Joseph Jonghyun Jeon, author of BONG JOON HO.

Introducing the premier episode of the Contemporary Film Directors Podcast, presented by the University of Illinois Press!

In this inaugural episode, series co-editor Justus Nieland, along with outgoing series co-editor Jennifer Fay, and incoming series co-editors Sarah Keller and Joshua Yumibe, interview Shonni Enelow on her new book, Joanna Hogg.

The epic story of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints cannot be told without including its dedication to speechmaking and eloquence. Richard Benjamin Crosby and Isaac James Richards collect important speeches from a broad range of sources that highlight the history, diversity, and centrality of public speaking in Latter-day Saint life. An expert introduces each speech while offering perspective on its place in Latter-day Saint history. The collected works express a diversity of viewpoints and experiences at odds with the notion that Latter-day Saints speak in a single voice while declaring the significance of the Latter-day Saint faith in their lives.

Essential and one-of-a-kind, Latter-day Eloquence provides a foundational reference for the study of Latter-day Saint rhetoric and oratory.

https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=p089329

Once synonymous with Anheuser-Busch, St. Louis slowly embraced craft beer and became a powerhouse within the industry. Joel Bittle’s history charts the growth of the Gateway City’s craft brewing scene from its first convention-defying microbreweries in the 1990s through COVID-era difficulties and beyond.

Interviews with the founders and brewers of the city’s craft beer businesses reveal how enthusiasm and expertise coalesced into a thriving community. Their stories of brewer creativity and underdog business acumen include looks at now-iconic brands like Schlafly and 2nd Shift. Bittle also describes how St. Louis entrepreneurs used the spirit of collaboration to not only change the city’s beer culture but build a scene that attracted a following eager to move beyond the hometown beer giant and other established brands.

An engaging insider account of a craft beer bastion, Gateway Beer takes readers inside a movement while telling a story of resilience and triumph.

https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=p089589

Photographer Jim Newberry documented Chicago and its musicians for more than thirty years, shooting for the artists and labels that put the city’s music scene on the map in the ’90s, as well as for the Chicago Reader and other publications. Blending an expert eye with a talent for capturing truth beneath the veneer of performance, Newberry chronicled both the stars and experimental artists of the era with an insider’s aplomb.

Chicago Music, Seen collects images that reveal the diversity, depth, and dynamism of the city’s creative community. The selections reflect Newberry’s gift for intimate and authentic portraiture and his knack for catching many of his subjects in the early years of their careers. Reflections and stories by critics, friends, and by the artists themselves accompany the images.

Distinctive and vivid, Chicago Music, Seen presents, as Grammy award-winning author Bob Mehr says in his foreword, “a critical cultural history of a city, but moreover, a testament to a gifted Chicago artist in his own right.”

https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=c049880

Peers, foils, colleagues, and rivals—Daniel Burnham and Louis Sullivan’s impact on each other still expresses itself in architectural masterworks that anchor Chicago’s cityscape. Trygve Thoreson’s parallel biography places their lives and careers within a panoramic history of the late 1800s and early 1900s. Thoreson delves into their influences while bringing to life the social, intellectual, and cultural milieus of their time. Unearthing a wealth of personal details, Thoreson pays particular attention to the influences that formed Burnham and Sullivan and shaped not only their designs but their conception of themselves as artists. He also examines the confluence of historical forces that pulled the two men together and pushed them apart—a fruitful back-and-forth that built surprising links into their work and steered world architecture in bold new directions.

An engaging piece of nonfiction storytelling, Daniel Burnham and Louis Sullivan reveals new facets of the architects’ personal, intellectual, and artistic lives.

https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=p089183

Celebrated as one of the great landscape architects of his era, Jens Jensen drew on his love of nature to transform Illinois and the Midwest. Chicago’s Columbus Park and the Lincoln Memorial Garden in Springfield, Illinois, remain part of his vast living legacy while Jensen’s conservation work influenced the establishment of national parks and natural spaces. A member of the Prairie School, Jensen’s affinity for nature found expression not only in public spaces but in his estate designs for Henry Ford and other industrialists. William H. Tishler tracks Jensen’s career and provides a wealth of new information on his personal life: his fierce dislike of and independence from the eastern establishment, and his bold proposals for the Indiana Dunes and other spaces. Tishler also examines Jensen’s semi-retirement in Door County and his creation of The Clearing, a folk school devoted to connecting human beings with nature.

Revealing and expert, Jens Jensen illuminates the processes, challenges, and passion that shaped a visionary’s work and world.

https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=p089503