Soren Spicknall Book Recommendations & Book Mentions
This list consists of recommendations or mentions of books spotted in media, social media accounts, podcasts or other public websites.
Soren Spicknall on X
Not as active here these days - feel free to request to follow - he/him - 'We know this world is good enough because it has to be.'

Stacked Decks: Building Inspectors and the Reproduction of Urban Inequality
Robin Bartram
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
Paperback, 2022
$27.50$13.75 + Free shipping50% off your first book
You Will Never Be Forgotten: Stories
Mary South
@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.
Paperback, 2020
$15.00$7.50 + Free shipping50% off your first book
There Are No Children Here: The Story of Two Boys Growing Up in The Other America (Helen Bernstein Book Award)
Alex Kotlowitz
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
Paperback, 1992
$19.00$9.50 + Free shipping50% off your first book
Pullman: A Social Study
Richard T. Ely
"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
Paperback, 2019
$16.50$8.25 + Free shipping50% off your first book
The Pullman Strike: The Story of a Unique Experiment and of a Great Labor Upheaval
Almont Lindsey
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.
Paperback, 1943
$49.00$24.50 + Free shipping50% off your first book
The Field Guide to Dumb Birds of America
Matt Kracht
Pleased to be on a watch list because of the time I purchased The Field Guide to Dumb Birds of North America
Paperback, 2019
$15.95$7.97 + Free shipping50% off your first book
The Chicago School of Architecture: A History of Commercial and Public Building in the Chicago Area, 1875-1925
Carl W. Condit
@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.
Paperback, 1998
$35.00$17.50 + Free shipping50% off your first book
Borderland: Origins of the American Suburb, 1820-1939
John R. Stilgoe
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
Paperback, 1990
$48.00$24.00 + Free shipping50% off your first book