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James Ballowe

Christmas in Illinois

★★★★★
★★★★★
€18.50
€19.99 Sale €18.50
10-20
A01=James Ballowe
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Author_James Ballowe
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black and white
Bloomington Vic
Category1=Non-Fiction
Category=DNT
Category=DQ
Category=WQN
celebration
Chicago Christmas
Christmas
community
COP=United States
culture
Delivery_Delivery within 10-20 working days
eq_anthologies-novellas-short-stories
eq_biography-true-stories
eq_fiction
eq_isMigrated=2
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history
holiday
Illinois
images
Language_English
living traditions
memories
nostalgia
PA=Available
parade
Peoria Santa Parade
photography
Price_€10 to €20
PS=Active
Rockford Julotta service
Santa
Santa Claus
softlaunch
tradition

Product details

  • ISBN 9780252081354
  • Weight: 481g
  • Dimensions: 178 x 229mm
  • Publication Date: 17 Jul 2015
  • Publisher: University of Illinois Press
  • Publication City/Country: US
  • Product Form: Paperback
  • Language: English
Delivery/Collection within 10-20 working days

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Description
"Christmas seems to have been always with us. It is that time of year when we expect good cheer and goodwill, a moment's respite from the year's vicissitudes, solace during difficult times," writes James Ballowe in his introduction to Christmas in Illinois. This book is about the holiday as remembered by Illinoisans. Some are widely familiar--John W. Allen, Gwendolyn Brooks, Sandra Cisneros, Mike Royko, Carl Sandburg, Joseph Smith--but most are known only in their close-knit communities that together represent the very best of the Prairie State.

We learn here about the customs of Christmas from Chicago to Cairo, Belleville to Danville, before statehood to the present day, through hard times and good. Tales, poems, news reports, memoirs, recipes, and images are arranged in sections on Christmas in Illinois history, living traditions, songs and symbols, Christmas outdoors, eating merrily, and memories. We see how bright an occasion Christmas has been, and sometimes amusing, raucous, or even dark.

The collection's highlights include Chicago's Christmas tree ship, Peoria's Santa Parade, Rockford's Julotta service, a Victorian holiday in Bloomington, and Audubon's 1810 Christmas on the Cache River. Nature writers detail holiday bird-watching expeditions along the North Shore and in deepest southern Illinois. A letter from a member of the 130th Illinois Infantry captures Christmas Day 1863, and Jack McReynolds recalls West Frankfort's 1951 Orient Number Two mine disaster that thereafter haunted the holiday for him and many others.

The holiday table is not neglected, with traditional recipes for wild game, pickled herring, and all manner of Christmas cookies. A wide array of illustrations includes images of Chicago's grand State Street parade, the Santa Lucia celebration at Bishop Hill, Belleville's Santa Claus House, Millikin University's Vespers tradition, the University of Illinois madrigal singers, Studs Terkel singing songs of good cheer, and the holiday art of Edgar Rice Burroughs.

Heat up some cider, put a log on the fire, and curl up with Christmas in Illinois to share the holiday with friends both old and new.

About James Ballowe
A native of Herrin, James Ballowe is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of English at Bradley University. He is the author of, most recently, A Man of Salt and Trees: The Life of Joy Morton. He lives in Ottawa, Illinois.