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Illinois! Illinois! |
Modern Illinois: 1945-1976 |
1266. ADELMAN, GARY. 1935-
Honey Out of Stone, [by] Gary Adelman. Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1970. 191p.1267. ALGREN, NELSON, 1909-1981.A lyrical, intimate, and sensuous love story, Honey Out of Stone is an autobiographical novel set mostly in Champaign-Urbana. The author, a faculty member at the University of Illinois, describes the onset of his blindness at the age of thirty, his despair when his wife of three years leaves him shortly thereafter, and his soaring joy when his childhood sweetheart leaves her own unhappy marriage to become his second wife. The free-flowing poetic prose is not always easy for the uninitiated to follow, and images, beautiful and common, often crowd each other in both the prose sections and the extensive pages of interspersed poetry. Nevertheless, the novel tells effectively of the rejuvenating powers of love.
Kirkus, 1/1/1970, p. 28. Library Journal, 2/15/1970, p. 657. Publishers Weekly, 1/12/1970, p. 63.
The Last Carousel, [by] Nelson Algren. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, [1973.] 435p.1268. ALGREN, NELSON, 1909-1981.See No. 784.
1269. ALLEN, JAMES, and ALLEN, GENEVA.The Man with the Golden Arm, a novel by Nelson Algren. Garden City, N[ew] Y[ork:] Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1949. 343p.
Frankie Majcinek, a veteran and recipient of the Good Conduct Medal and Purple Heart, is, at 29, the best card dealer on West Division Street. Frankie's world--the world of the junkie, the prostitute, the drunk, and the gambler; a world of drugs and deals, of quarrels and murder--is described in graphic detail as the story of Frankie's frantic life and untimely death is unfolded by one of Chicago's master storytellers. Nelson Algren knows his subject well, and he expresses, with compassion for his characters, all the pathos, terror, humor, or apathy that each new situation demands. Through his eyes the reader views Chicago seething with a vitality that few authors have been able to capture and convey.
Book Review Digest, 1949, p. 7.
God Bless This Child, A Novel by James Allen and Geneva Allen. Hicksville, New York: Exposition Press, [1975.] 180p.1270. ALLEN, W. OTIS.The step-by-step development of a heroin addict is traced through the life of a black youth on Chicago's south side. At thirteen, Nicholas Pierce is the pride of his mother's heart and the one of her five children upon whom she can depend. At thirteen, Nicholas is initiated into a street gang and taught to snatch purses and pick pockets. At fourteen, he begins peddling dope near the school yard in the afternoon. At fifteen, Nicholas is a heroin addict, willing to lie, cheat, steal, or murder to feed his habit. At sixteen, he begins serving time in Menard Penitentiary for robbery. And at twenty-one, Nicholas is dead from a drug overdose. God Bless This Child is a harsh, brutal book that hides nothing for the sake of delicacy. Although poorly written, the message is clear, to the point, and fascinating for the horror of it all.
Grandma's Garden, [by] Allen W. Otis, [pseud.] New York, Washington, and Hollywood: Vantage Press, [1974.] 202p.1271. BAKER, FREDERICK SHERMAN, 1902-1976.See No. 791.
Bradford Masters, by Sherman Baker. New York: E. P. Dutton & Company, Inc., 1949. 254p.1272. BAKER, FREDERICK SHERMAN.Bradford Masters is a character study of a young man whose major pastime is evading responsibility. Set in rural Wisconsin, the scene shifts frequently to Chicago, as Bradford travels to the city for entertainment.
Book Review Digest, 1949, p. 35.
Hidden Fire, by Sherman Baker. Boston [and] Toronto: Little, Brown and Company. [1955.] 308p.1273. BALL, JANE MARY EKLUND, 1921-Max Ferguson has a beautiful wife, two small children, a mortgage in Winnetka, and an office in Chicago to which he commutes daily--until Martha Brown decides to rescue him from his rut. Frustrated by the collapse of her own marriage, Martha schemes to entice Max into an affair. Only after the Ferguson's marriage is wrecked and Max is faced with financial disaster does she return him to his understanding wife. Hidden Fire is a beautifully written novel with a very ordinary plot. The gradual disintegration of a marriage is convincingly portrayed against a North Shore Chicago setting.
Book Review Digest, 1955, p. 36.
The Only Gift, [by] Jane Eklund. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company; The Riverside Press Cambridge, 1949. 278p.1274. BALLINGER, WILLIAM SANBORN, 1912-1980.Spanning one year in the life of the Lemming family, The Only Gift relates the departures of the five Lemming children to create lives of their own, separate and apart from family ties. The emotions of those left behind are carefully probed, as Gertrude and Jason, the protective mother and busy father, react to each other, to the children, and to the people surrounding them. Mrs. Ball has produced an excellent character study. Set in Chicago during the 1940s, the tale could as easily have been set in any American city.
Book Review Digest, 1949, p. 269-70.
The Body Beautiful, by Bill S. Ballinger. New York: Harper & Brothers, [1949.] 244p.
When showgirl Coffee Stearns is knifed during a performance, her boyfriend, Chicago detective Barr Breed, vows to track down the murderer.
Book Review Digest, 1949, p. 38.
1275. BALLINGER, WILLIAM SANBORN, 1912-1980.
The Body in the Bed, [by] Bill S. Ballinger. New York: Harper & Brothers, [1948.] 242p.1276. BALLINGER, WILLIAM SANBORN, 1912-1980.Caroline MacCormick's death holds little interest for detective Barr Breed, until Paul Gibbs offers to pay handsomely for the murderer's apprehension. Taking the case, Breed himself becomes a target for murder.
Book Review Digest, 1948, p. 38-9.
Portrait in Smoke, by Bill S. Ballinger, New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, [1950.] 213p.1277. BALLINGER, WILLIAM SANBORN, 1912-1980.While house cleaning after purchasing the Clarence Moon Collection Agency, Dan April discovers a folder containing an old newspaper clipping and photograph of Krassy Almauniski, the most beautiful woman Dan thinks he has ever seen. Searching his memory, he recalls his infatuation when he first encountered her years before, and he vows to find her again. Dan's search for Krassy begins at her stepmother's tenement apartment near the Chicago stock yards, leads him to the near north side, to Oak Park, and finally to Lake Shore Drive. A good combination of suspense, humor, and intrigue make Portrait in Smoke an outstanding novel for entertainment reading. Descriptions of Chicago during the 1940s are vivid and accurate.
Book Review Digest, 1950, p. 49.
Triptych: Portrait in Smoke, The Longest Second, [and] The Tooth and the Nail, by Bill S. Ballinger. Los Angeles: Sherbourne Press, Inc., [1971.] 646p.
Three complete Ballinger novels, all previously published as separates, make up this volume. Of the three, only Portrait in Smoke is set in Illinois.
1278. BALMER, EDWIN, 1883-1959.
The Candle of the Wicked, A Novel by Edwin Balmer. New York, London [and] Toronto: Longmans, Green and Co., 1956. 247p.
As a new pastor in the small Illinois town of Innsbruck, Korean war veteran Paul Chapter finds many challenges, not the least of which is the beautiful, wealthy, but strangely troubled young woman who disclaims any religious faith and yet is found praying in church. Although this romance with a message appeared in 1956, the superlative qualities of some of the main characters suggest that it might have been written much earlier.
1279. BANNING, MARGARET CULKIN, 1891-1982.
Give Us Our Years, by Margaret Culkin Banning. New York: Harper & Brothers, [1950.] 274p.1280. BELLOW, SAUL, 1915-Eve Starr, beautiful wife of a wealthy Chicago steel executive, seems to be living a serene and happy life as she moves through middle age. Much of the serenity is only surface calm, however, as both Eve and Alec, her husband, are aware of the changes that time is bringing about, and both are frantically seeking to avoid them. Alec's restive nature, combined with her own desires, cause Eve to meddle into the lives of her grown son and daughter. Only when her son attempts suicide does Eve realize that she can't relive her life through her children. An ordinary plot is made worthwhile by the excellent development of the characters, especially Eve. She is a credible woman, devoted to her husband and children, frightened of age, secretly desiring affection, yet showing a contented, happy face to the world. Margaret Banning's novel affords a peep into the everyday lives of a wealthy couple as they move through the whirl of Chicago's elite society.
Book Review Digest, 1950, p. 49.
Herzog, [by] Saul Bellow. New York: The Viking Press, [1964.] 341p.1281. BELLOW, SAUL, 1915-Herzog, depressed after his second divorce, appears to be on the verge of a mental breakdown. Reminiscing and writing letters he never sends, he tries to bring order into the chaos of his present existence. He goes to visit a friend, but flees because he can't tolerate kindness. He goes to Chicago seeking a violent confrontation with his second wife and her lover, but retreats after seeing them through the window. He has dinner with his mistress and spends the night, but balks at marriage. Although Herzog is Jewish, this novel concerns the laboring of the intellectual mind under stress rather than Jewish life, per se. The settings are New York City, Ludeyville, Massachusetts, and Chicago in the 1950s. Although the significance of this work has been debated by the critics, it is generally considered one of Bellow's best.
Book Review Digest, 1964, p. 87-8.
1282. BENCHLY, ALEXANDRA JANE.Humboldt's Gift, [by] Saul Bellow. New York: The Viking Press, [1975.] 487p.
For years, Charles Citrine has idolized his friend, Von Humboldt Fleisher, an intellectual whose one book of poetry, Harlequin Ballads, written in the 1930s, brought him immediate acclaim. But Fleisher could neither handle the success nor maintain the image, and by 1970, had become a man "... dying of unwritten poems." As Fleisher's popularity wanes, Citrine, himself a writer of considerable merit, begins to create a name for himself in literary circles, and in so doing, strains his earlier friendship to the breaking point. Then Citrine's life turns sour. His wife divorces him; inspiration eludes him; a gangster-type operator hounds him for money; lawsuits plague him; and his mistress, a dumb but "biologically noble beauty," confounds him. At this point, a legacy from his former friend--the rights to a movie scenario written by the two in a fit of hilarity years before--provides an immediate boost to bankbook, career, and ego. But more important, it causes Citrine to evaluate his life, and to realize that much of his former work, written by an intellectual for intellectuals, has been misdirected. Set in modern day Chicago, Humboldt's Gift is an analysis of an aging, contemporary author attempting to strike a compromise between reality and art, himself and his image, and almost failing in the effort.
Book Review Digest, 1975, p. 92.
If the Heart Be Hasty, a novel by Alexandra Jane Benchly, [Berwyn, Illinois: Chekhov Publications, Ltd., 1969.] 280p.1283. BISSELL, RICHARD PIKE, 1913-1977.See No. 821.
1284. BLOCH, ROBERT ALBERT, 1917-1994.High Water, by Richard Bissell. Boston [and] Toronto: Little, Brown and Company, [1954.] (An Atlantic Monthly Press Book)
The Royal Prince, a Mississippi River tugboat, runs into difficulty with flood waters while pushing several coal barges from St. Louis to St. Paul. Little of the novel actually takes place in Illinois, but the narrator relates considerable Illinois history, lore, and scuttlebutt as the small boat makes its way slowly northward along the Illinois shore.
Book Review Digest, 1954, p. 81-2.
The Scarf, by Robert Bloch. New York: The Dial Press, 1947. 247p.1285. BORING, CHARLES O.Daniel Morley, a writer of psychopathic murder mysteries, kills women in Minneapolis, Chicago, New York, and Hollywood as a means of creating realistic endings for his stories.
Book Review Digest, 1947, p. 86.
A Christmas Mystery, by Charles O. Boring... Chicago: The Forward Movement Publishing Co., 1896. 32p.1286. BRADLEY, MARY WILHELMINA HASTINGS.See No. 315.
Nice People Poison, by Mary Hastings Bradley. Author of Nice People Murder. New York, London [and] Toronto: Longmans, Green and Company, 1952. 216p.1287. BRASHLER, WILLIAM, 1947-Wealthy socialite Veronica King changes her will to disinherit her husband, then dies two days later in what the police term an accident; but Nicholas Parr, young Chicago attorney who had been employed to draw up the will, is unconvinced.
Book Review Digest, 1952, p. 102.
1288. BRO, MARGUERITTE HARMON, 1894-1977.City Dogs, A Novel by William Brashler. New York, Evanston, San Francisco, [and] London: Harper & Row, Publishers, [1976.] 277p.
Like the Chicago el, which plays a major part in the action of City Dogs, the novel begins with a startling burst of speed; settles into a steady pace allowing for observation, contemplation, and retrospection; then screeches to a sudden stop to disgorge before returning to its point of origin. Picking up on Harry Lum, 57-year-old Polish derelict, welfare recipient, Cub fan, and wino, as he coasts through his middle years, the novel rushes him into a heist with two young hoods which, if it is successful, will put all of them in the bigtime. The plan misfires, and Harry takes the rap, but not without stooling on the others. In the course of three days, Harry's hopes are dashed; he is arrested, arraigned, bailed out, evicted, and made the target for his former friends' vindictive and deadly manhunt. But Harry views it all philosophically, rationalizing that he still has access to his basic needs--a bottle of wine and a roof. Through Harry, Brashler is able to draw a vivid, realistic portrait of Uptown Chicago, overwhelming in detail, devastating in impact. Here are the winos, bums, hookers, punks, hillbillies, thieves, derelicts, salesmen, con-men, fences, and the hoards of poor. Here, too, are the cops who do what they can to keep the area under control. In City Dogs, Brashler carves a neat slice of life from Chicago's Uptown; observes it; analyzes it, perhaps too thoroughly for the squeamish; then deftly replaces it, where it again assumes perspective and is gradually lost in the progression of time.
Kirkus, 11/1/1975, p. 1249. Library Journal, 1/15/1976, p. 360. N. Y. Times Book Review, 2/29/1976, p. 12. New Yorker, 2/16/1976, p. 118. Publishers Weekly, 11/10/1975, p. 47.
Stub; A College Romance, by Margueritte Harmon Bro. Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., [1952.] 288p.1289. BROOKS, GWENDOLYN, 1917-Stub Larson is a typically enthusiastic, 1950s variety college freshman when he enters Quilby College in Mount Runyan, Illinois. In true college fashion Stub takes full advantage of the organized sports, impromptu bull sessions, social events, and scheduled holidays that the college offers. He falls in love, helps his roommate out of a scrape, ponders his reasons for being, and frets over grades as thousands of college freshman have before and since. But social activity is a secondary concern at Quilby, and the author stresses the academic as well as the social functions of the college, bringing each into its proper perspective. Stub is a fictionalized portrait of Shimer College located in Mt. Carroll, a small community in northwestern Illinois.
Book Review Digest, 1952, p. 110.
Maud Martha, a novel by Gwendolyn Brooks. New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, [1953.] 180p.1290. BROOKS, GWENDOLYN, 1917-See No. 832.
The World of Gwendolyn Brooks, A Street in Bronzeville, Annie Allen, Maud Martha, The Bean Eaters, In the Mecca, [by] Gwendolyn Brooks. New York, Evanston, San Francisco [and] London: Harper & Row, Publishers, [1971.] 426p.1291. BROWN, FRANK LONDON, 1927-1962.See No 833.
1292. BROWN, FRANK LONDON, 1927-1962.The Myth Maker, a novel by Frank London Brown. Published posthumously, With a Remembrance by Sterling Stuckey. Chicago: Path Press, Inc.; 223 East 79th Street, [1969.] 179p.
Chicago's south side with its teeming streets, dirty tenements, dingy taverns, and hopelessly downtrodden residents, is seen vividly through the eyes of Ernest Day, who escapes temporarily into the respectable middle-class world, only to return to the ghetto, beaten and disillusioned. Ernest Day's story represents one man's search for an identity and a philosophy by which to live. His failure to find either leads him to dereliction and ruin. Written after Trumbull Park, The Myth Maker expresses little of the hope and optimism evident in Brown's earlier novel. Yet, it presents a clear and accurate image of the lifestyle of millions of black Americans in Chicago as well as in other modern cities.
1293. BROWN, FREDRIC WILLIAM, 1906-1972.Trumbull Park, A Novel by Frank London Brown. Chicago: Regnery, [1959.] 432p.
Aided by a Housing Authority employee, Buggy and Helen Martin move from their tenement apartment into Trumbull Park, a previously all-white Chicago neighborhood. When their presence is discovered, torment begins. A brick through a window, a snake in the mailbox--nothing seems too evil to do to the Martin family. All the hate, prejudice, and anger that one man can express toward another, is expressed here, until Buggy decides that he has had enough. Written by one who might have witnessed the action first hand, Trumbull Park is a vivid, sympathetic portrayal of Chicago at its worst.
Book Review Digest, 1959, p. 144-5.
The Bloody Moonlight, by Fredric Brown. New York: E. P. Dutton & Company, Inc., Publishers, 1949. 253p. (Guilt Edged Mystery)1294. BROWN, FREDRIC WILLIAM, 1906-1972.Ed Hunter, the younger half of an uncle-nephew detective team which appears in earlier Fredric Brown novels, gets a chance to solve his first case alone. All seems to be going well for Ed until complications arise in the form of two additional corpses. Chicago and Tremont, a town about one hundred miles southwest of Chicago, supply the setting for this exciting novel of murder and suspense from the 1940s.
Book Review Digest, 1949, p. 109.
Compliments of a Fiend, by Fredric Brown. New York: E. P. Dutton & Company, Inc., Publishers, 1950. 256p. (Guilt Edged Mystery)1295. BROWN, FREDRIC WILLIAM, 1906-1972.Youthful private eye Ed Hunter employs all of his professional know-how in a search for his partner-uncle Ambrose Hunter, when Am fails to return from a dangerous assignment.
Book Review Digest, 1950, p. 117.
1296. BROWN, FREDRIC WILLIAM, 1906-1972.Death Has Many Doors, by Fredric Brown. New York: E. P. Dutton & Company, Incorporated, MCMLI. 215p.
Ed and Am Hunter refuse to take Sally Doerr as a client believing her to be psychotic when she asks them to protect her from Martians. Sally's death twelve hours later, and a telephone caller who identifies himself as a Martian, cause the Hunters to reconsider and launch a full investigation.
Book Review Digest, 1951, p. 121.
The Fabulous Clipjoint, by Fredric Brown. New York: E. P. Dutton & Company, Inc., 1947. 224p.1297. BROWN, FREDRIC WILLIAM, 1906-1972.Fredric Brown's first novel, The Fabulous Clipjoint, introduces Ed and Am Hunter to the detective scene. A teenager working in a Chicago print shop when his father is murdered, Ed decides to do some amateur detecting on his own. Needing the advice and assistance of someone older, he enlists the aid of his Uncle Ambrose, a carnival man, who knows the ways of the world. Together they find the murderer and launch new careers for themselves.
Book Review Digest, 1947, p. 111.
The Late Lamented, by Fredric Brown. New York: E. P. Dutton & Company, Inc., 1959. 192p.1298. BROWN, FREDRIC WILLIAM, 1906-1972.Ed and Am Hunter get an embezzlement case from the Starlock Agency, a rival detective firm, because a Starlock employee is a prime suspect.
Book Review Digest, 1959, p. 145.
Mrs. Murphy's Underpants, by Fredric Brown. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc., 1963. 185p.
The last Fredric Brown detective story, Mrs. Murphy's Underpants finds Ed and Ambrose Hunter snooping their way into the heart of Chicago's racing syndicate. Brown's flair for mixing logic and humor is displayed again, as in the past, in a thrilling novel of crime and calculation.
Book Review Digest, 1964, p. 158.
1299. BROWN, FREDRIC WILLIAM, 1906-1972.
Night of the Jabberwock, [by] Fredric Brown. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc., Publishers, 1950. 220p. (Guilt Edged Mystery)1300. BROWN, FREDRIC WILLIAM, 1906-1972.Doc Stoeger, editor of the Carmel City, Illinois, Clarion, frequently bemoans the lack of interesting, printable news for his weekly newspaper. When a bank robbery, two murders, a suicide, and the arrest of two criminals all occur in Carmel City in the space of one night, Doc is amazed and delighted until he realizes that he is suspected of causing it all.
Book Review Digest, 1951, p. 121.
The Screaming Mimi, by Fredric Brown. New York: E. P. Dutton & Company, Inc., Publishers, [1949.] 248p. (A Dutton Guilt Edged Mystery)
Bill Sweeney, a reporter for the Chicago Blade, becomes involved in a murder case as he and a murderer stalk the same woman--for different reasons.
Book Review Digest, 1949, p. 109.
1301. BROWNE, HOWARD, 1908-
Halo for Satan, by John Evans, [pseud.] Indianapolis [and] New York: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Publishers, [1948.] 214p.1302. BROWNE, HOWARD, 1908-When a stranger walks into the office of Chicago's Bishop McManus and offers to sell, for $25,000,000, an ancient manuscript written in Jesus' own hand, the bishop enlists the aid of Paul Pine, no-nonsense private investigator, to prove the manuscript a hoax. Chicago atmosphere adds spice to a lively story.
Book Review Digest, 1948, p. 111.
Halo in Brass, A Paul Pine Mystery by John Evans [pseud.] Author of Halo in Blood and Halo for Satan. New York [and] Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc., Publishers, [1949.] 222p.1303. BROWNE, HOWARD, 1908-Finding Laura Fremont in Chicago and reporting her whereabouts to her worried parents in Lincoln, Nebraska, seems a simple job for experienced investigator Paul Pine, but as he follows through with his investigation he discovers prostitution, bribery, gambling, lesbianism and murder before he finds Laura.
Book Review Digest, 1949, p. 115.
The Taste of Ashes, by Howard Browne. New York: Published by Simon and Schuster, 1957. 282p. (An Inner Sanctum Mystery)1304. BRUNNER, BERNARD, 1923-Paul Pine declines a case involving blackmail when his client refuses to cooperate, but changes his mind when the case is compounded by the murder of a fellow private eye.
Book Review Digest, 1957, p. 126.
The Face of Night, by Bernard Brunner. New York: Frederick Fell, Inc., [1967.] 235p.1305. BRUNNER, BERNARD, 1923-When a young Negro woman dies from an overdose of drugs two detectives, one white, one black, set out to find and expose the head of the dope ring responsible for her death. Chicago's skid row provides the setting for this novel of the pushers, the junkies, the police, and the informers who live daily with the drug traffic in this country's second largest city. Not a happy book, The Face of Night tells of the death of one police detective, the resignation of the second, and the failure of each to achieve his goal. Yet the forceful, hard-hitting story is an authentic account of one of Chicago's major social problems.
Library Journal, 2/1/1968, p. 570. Publishers Weekly, 8/21/1967, p. 70. Saturday Review, 1/27/1968, p. 36.
The Golden Children, by Bernard Brunner. New York: Frederick Fell, Inc., [1970.] 350p.1306. BRUNNER, BERNARD, 1923-At the same time Clare Simmons begins to see Marcus Coleman, a Negro boys' club worker, a Negro family moves into the previously all white suburb where Clare's father is a minister. Even though her father speaks out publicly for civil rights, Clare is severely rebuffed by him when she tells him of her affair with Marcus. Disillusioned by her father's reaction, and censured by the townspeople who direct their hatred and frustration toward her, Clare marries Marcus. Told from the point of view of the white Clare, The Golden Children probes deeply into the psychology of race relations and interracial marriages, revealing all the hatred and distrust apparent between white and black, as well as the fears and frustrations encountered when two people attempt to cross the color barrier. Set in a small community near Chicago, this story paints an ugly picture of the middle-class, status conscious suburbanite.
Kirkus, 12/1/1969, p. 1281. Publishers Weekly, 2/23/1970, p. 151.
1307. BURNETT, WILLIAM RILEY, 1899-1982.Six Days to Sunday, a novel by Bernard Brunner. New York, St. Louis, San Francisco, [and] Toronto: McGraw-Hill Company, [1975.] 307p.
Chip Hughes, aging star quarterback for the Chicago Stags, realizes that his arm is weakening, and that his days as anchorman for the team are numbered. But when management and coaches replace him with a younger man, Chip makes one final effort to regain his coveted position. The result is disaster for the season. The coaching staff disagrees; the team splits into factions; racial incidents arise among the players; fans turn away in surprising numbers; and morale sinks to an all-time low. While the younger man loses game after game, Chip tries every ploy to get back into the action. At last, given a chance to regain his former position, he deliberately blows it. Six Days to Sunday is an engrossing novel of pro football, as tough and brutal as the game and the men who play it.
Best Sellers, 11/1975, p. 232. Kirkus, 7/1/1975, p. 724. Library Journal, 9/15/1975, p. 1650. N. Y. Times Book Review, 10/19/1975, p. 45. Publishers Weekly, 7/21/1975, p. 60.
Little Men, Big World, [by] W. R. Burnett. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1951. 308p.
When Ben Reisman, a newspaper columnist newly promoted from the rank of reporter, gets a lead on a big story concerning the Chicago gambling syndicate, baser instincts, remnants from his days as a reporter, compel him to go in search of the truth. Little Men, Big World is the story of Thomas Stark, City Commissioner determined to clean up the town; of Judge Greet, brilliant city justice who can be influenced; of Leon Sollas, front for the leader of the syndicate; of Ark, gambling king of Chicago; and of Reisman, who moves deftly into the ruthless, forbidden territory of Chicago's underworld, exposing city officials, police officers, and syndicate members as he encounters them. This is a shocking novel of vice and crime, in the tradition of Burnett's earlier Little Caesar and The Asphalt Jungle.
Book Review Digest, 1951, p. 135.
