Soren Spicknall Book Recommendations & Book Mentions

Soren Spicknall

Last night I finished up Robin Bartram's Stacked Decks, a book that resulted from the author's time interning at the Chicago Department of Buildings and shadowing building inspectors. I found it fascinating, and want to share some of my impressions. https://t.co/qEXhYmUpJd

Soren Spicknall

@PMels But Mary Ann Ahern is a general-audience reporter who covers Tom Ahern's employer, without acknowledgement of the connection in her reporting. Whereas writers for outlets like Injustice Watch, The TRiiBE, and South Side Weekly disclose any connections to their stories openly.

Soren Spicknall

Finally finished a dense book that I had been working through in spare hours for an embarrassingly long time. Next I'm picking up a dog-eared used copy of There Are No Children Here. It's monumentally influential, and I've never read it before, so I figured better now than never. https://t.co/vKqrpB2LZQ

Soren Spicknall

"The conclusion is unavoidable that the idea of Pullman is un-American . . . It is benevolent well-wishing feudalism, which desires the happiness of the people, but in such a way as to please the authorities." Richard T. Ely, 1885, nine years before the Pullman Strike

Soren Spicknall

Lots of great trivia in Almont Lindsey's book about the Pullman Strike. Hyde Park Township, before annexation, was the largest village in the world. The current neighborhood of Eden Green was built on a human sewage farm. There was a manmade island in Lake Calumet for athletics.

Soren Spicknall

Pleased to be on a watch list because of the time I purchased The Field Guide to Dumb Birds of North America

Soren Spicknall

@corruptedgem @thegemthecolor Chicago Whispers traces the history of the city's LGBT+ residents through the nightclub scene and other social venues up to about 1970. Carl Condit's The Chicago School of Architecture is older and quite dry, but is a super thorough look at defining aspects of local architecture.

Soren Spicknall

There are a lot of cute Metra stations - the development of commuter rail in tandem with development of what John R. Stilgoe calls the "Borderland", distinct from streetcar suburbs, led to stations tied to a marketable identity of place. 99th in Beverly is one of my favorites. https://t.co/CIE4fJdW05