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Illinois! Illinois! |
Modern Illinois: 1945-1976 |
1521. TANNER, EDWARD EVERETT, 1921-1976.
1522. TREAT, ROGER.Love and Mrs. Sargent, by Virginia Rowans [pseud.] New York: Farrar, Straus and Cudahy. [1961.] 277p.
Sheila Sargent has everything that a woman could want--charm, beauty, wealth, popularity, social position, a talented family, and a host of friends. Her advice-to-the-lovelorn column is syndicated in nine hundred forty-six newspapers throughout the nation. In short, Sheila Sargent has everything under control, until a young man enters her life, wreaking havoc to her idyllic state. Set in Chicago and the suburbs during the early 1960s, this is a delightful spoof of motherhood and Chicago's social elite, written by the author of Auntie Mame.
Book Review Digest, 1961, p. 1390-1.
The Endless Road, by Roger Treat. New York: A. S. Barnes and Company, Inc., [1959.] 301p.1523. TUCKER, ARTHUR WILSON, 1914-The moral to this story is provided by the contrast between two alcoholics who were buddies during World War II. One, a successful newspaperman in Chicago, has turned to Alcoholics Anonymous and is making a good recovery; the other is not so fortunate. There are lessons in this book on recognizing early symptoms, on devices employed by alcoholics to help them get that desperately sought drink, and on typical misunderstandings and prejudices concerning the disease. The Endless Road is a realistic and unpleasant story that reads more like a documentary on alcoholism or an unusually long testimonial for Alcoholics Anonymous than a novel.
Book Review Digest, 1960, p. 1350-1.
The Chinese Doll, [by] Wilson Tucker. New York [and] Toronto: Rinehart & Company, Inc., [1946.] 236p. (A Murray Hill Mystery)1524. TUCKER, ARTHUR WILSON, 1914-A client who thinks he is being framed, a strange case of mistaken identity, and the drowning of a Chinese girl lead private eye Charles Horne to more information than local gambling operators consider prudent. Told entirely through letters written to his estranged wife, the story gives dimension to Charles' character and imparts an atmosphere of leisure indicative of small-town life during the 1940s. The scene is an imaginary town in downstate Illinois.
Book Review Digest, 1946, p. 830.
The Man in My Grave, [by] Wilson Tucker. New York [and] Toronto: Rinehart & Company, Inc., [1956.] 250p.1525. TUCKER, ARTHUR WILSON, 1914-An epitaph in the Rocky Knoll, Illinois, cemetery reads: HERE LIES BURIED B. G. BROOKS, DEAD AS A DOORNAIL--OF COURSE, 1914-1934. It has fascinated children and intrigued curiosity seekers for years; yet, few remember B. G. Brooks or know how the stone with the strange inscription came to be on his grave; and few people care--until B. G. Brooks reappears in town. A real spellbinder, The Man in My Grave gives an authentic view of central Illinois rural life during the 1950s.
Book Review Digest, 1956, p. 940.
Red Herring, by Wilson Tucker. New York [and] Toronto: Rinehart & Company, Inc., [1951.] 214p. (A Murray Hill Mystery)1526. TUCKER, ARTHUR WILSON, 1914-When a practical joke proves fatal, detective Charles Horne goes in pursuit of the prankster. The plot seems improbable and the Illinois setting is not well defined.
Book Review Digest, 1951, p. 896.
The Stalking Man, [by] Wilson Tucker. New York [and] Toronto: Rinehart & Company, Inc., [1949.] 212p. (A Murray Hill Mystery)1527. TUCKER, ARTHUR WILSON, 1914-A railroad agent with the Alton Line is murdered as he checks for bums riding the freight out of a town in central Illinois. It takes investigator Charles Horne one week, some of it in the Chicago area, to track down the murderer.
Book Review Digest, 1949, p. 927.
Time Bomb, [by] Wilson Tucker. New York [and] Toronto: Rinehart & Company, Inc., [1955.] 246p.1528. TUCKER, ARTHUR WILSON, 1914-The Sons of America, a new political party making a strong play for power in American government, are being seriously hampered by a series of bombings strategically planned to eliminate their leaders. In danger of losing his job unless the bombings are stopped, Lieutenant Danforth of the Illinois Security Police makes a desperate attempt to find the murderers, and discovers a fantastic plot based on previously unknown scientific information.
To Keep or Kill, [by] Wilson Tucker. New York [and] Toronto: Rinehart & Company, Inc., [1947.] 186p. (A Murray Hill Mystery)1529. TUCKER, ARTHUR WILSON, 1914-A murder-extortion plan expected to net $90,000, is jeopardized when Charles Horne, Boone, Illinois' only private eye, is witness to the murder. Horne, who often refers to himself as the world's worst detective, bungles several times in the course of the novel, but eventually solves the case.
Book Review Digest, 1947, p. 914.
The Year of the Quiet Sun, by Wilson Tucker. New York, N[ew] Y[ork:] Ace Publishing Corporation; 1120 Avenue of the Americas, [1970.] 252p. (An Ace Book)1530. ULLMAN, JAMES MICHAEL.Brian Chaney, a demographics expert and author of a controversial best seller, is invited to take part in a top secret survey of the future by the United States Bureau of Standards. By use of a newly developed time displacement vehicle, Chaney and two other researchers are transported into the year 2000. Given the technology, the survey appears routine, but what the research team discovers is a devastated land that they may have helped create. The setting is Joliet and the Chicago area.
PublishersWeekly, 3/16/1970, p. 57.
House of Cards, by James Michael Ullman. London. Cassell, 1967. 223p.1531. ULLMAN, JAMES MICHAEL.House of Cards was originally published in the United States under the title The Venus Trap.
Lady on Fire, by James Michael Ullman. New York: Simon and Schuster, [1968.] 214p. (An Inner Sanctum Mystery)1532. ULLMAN, JAMES MICHAEL.Private detective Julian Forbes is in Chicago looking for a missing girl, when his secretary-mistress is murdered, apparently because she has viewed some photos of the girl. The case becomes complicated when a merchandising magnate is implicated, and Julian finds that he is being followed by five ruthless thugs.
Best Sellers, 6/1/1968, p. 104. Kirkus, 3/1/1968, p. 292. Library Journal, 4/1/1968, p. 1507.
The Venus Trap, by James Michael Ullman. New York: Simon and Schuster, [1966.] 223p. (An Inner Sanctum Mystery)1533. UNEKIS, RICHARD.Rudy Chakorian, financial wizard intent on personal gain, disappears with a fortune in diamonds, leaving his small son and business partner to suffer the consequences for his misdeeds. Considerable information concerning stock manipulation following World War II gives the novel appeal to an audience interested in business affairs. Much of the action is set in Chicago; however, the setting is not essential to the plot.
Books Today, 11/20/1966, p. 17. Kirkus, 8/15/1966, p. 861. Library Journal, 12/1/1966, p. 6004. N. Y. Times Book Review, 11/20/1966, p. 83. Saturday Review, 12/31/1966, p. 28.
The Chase, by Richard Unekis. New York: Walker and Company, [1962.] 188p.1534. VAN ATTA, WINFRED LOWELL, 1910-The carefully planned robbery of a small town super market, followed by the harried flight of the thieves over the checkerboard of roads in northwestern Illinois, creates an exciting and suspense-filled novel of modern day cops and robbers. When road blocks and other standard methods of interception fail, State Police Superintendent Franklin, a student of probability and game theory, pits his cool logic and wit against the mounting fear of the fleeing pair. Unekis doesn't bother to develop the characters in this, his first novel. However, the exciting, fast-paced story compensates adequately for any failure of the author to expand characters and scenes.
Book Review Digest, 1963, p. 1016.
A Good Place to Work and Die, [by] Winfred Van Atta. Garden City, New York: Published for The Crime Club by Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1970. 206p.1535. VAN ATTA, WINFRED LOWELL, 1910-A missing person, a murder, and a major financial scandal keep detective Jim Ferguson busy as he connects murder in Illinois to stock manipulation in New York.
Book Review Digest, 1970, p. 1416.
Hatchet Man, [by] Winfred Van Atta. Garden City, New York: Published for The Crime Club by Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1962. 184p.1536. VAN ATTA, WINFRED LOWELL, 1910-Ken Mitchell, a traveling auditor for the Chemco Corporation, is sent to Chemco's Rockdale, Illinois, plant to replace Frank Tompkins who has been killed in an automobile accident. Discrepancies in the Rockdale accounts, hints of bribery, and finally a threat against Mitchell's life call for snap decisions and quick action.
Saturday Review, 1/26/1963, p. 49.
Shock Treatment, by Winfred Van Atta. Garden City, New York: Published for The Crime Club by Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1961. 190p.1537. VAN PEEBLES, MELVIN, 1932-Under an assumed name, Dale Nelson commits himself to an Illinois state mental hospital to observe the actions of a suspected murderer. Discovered, his contact with the outside world is cut off, and he is marked as the next victim.
A Bear for the FBI, by Melvin Van Peebles. New York: Trident Press, [1968.] 157p.1538. WAGONER, DAVID RUSSELL, 1926-See No. 1228.
The Man in the Middle, [by] David Wagoner. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, [1954.] 248p.1539. WAGONER, DAVID RUSSELL, 1926-Charlie Bell, veteran railroad employee, is on duty at the crossing he tends when a woman is pushed from a slow-moving passenger train. Charlie's efforts to help the woman involve him in a blackmail scheme and make him the object of a ruthless manhunt by both the blackmailers and the Chicago police. Although the novel has some minor weaknesses, it is a powerful suspense-filled tale which leads the reader through areas of Chicago that the average tourist will never see.
Book Review Digest, 1954, p. 917.
Money Money Money, by David Wagoner. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, [1955.] 241p.1540. WAGONER, DAVID RUSSELL, 1926-Willy Grier, a mental retardate left independently wealthy by the death of an aunt, lives an idyllic life in the big family home, cared for by friendly neighbors and his attorney-guardian. Going daily to a nearby park to tend the trees and shrubs, treating the local children to candy and cokes at the refreshment stand, or swimming in Lake Michigan, Willy has few real troubles until he discovers the body of a dead man floating in the lake. This chance discovery draws the bewildered Willy into involvement with police, the syndicate, and a beautiful, seductive woman--all new experiences for him--and reveals to Willy the ruthlessness by which erring members of society live. This is an intriguing novel offering a good view of Chicago and some of its less fashionable suburbs.
Book Review Digest, 1955, p. 940.
1541. WALKER, MILDRED, 1905-Rock, a novel by David Wagoner. New York: The Viking Press, 1958. 253p.
Max Fallon returns to his parents' home near Chicago following the divorce that ends his marriage, and begins the process of readjusting to life with his family. Desperately searching for acceptance, he tries to relate to his parents, his former friends, and the crowd with which his teen-aged brother associates, while overlooking the one person who can help him find himself. More than the story of Max Fallon's search for his identity, Rock is a moving portrait of the generation of cynical, unhappy, alienated young people who, in the late 1950s, were the first products of the youth movement which became a fetish during the 1960s. Wagoner captures the times--the slang, the music, the tensions, the neuroses, the confusion--as few writers have done before or since.
Book Review Digest, 1958, p. 1088.
Medical Meeting, [by] Mildred Walker. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, [1949.] 280p.1542. WALSH, WILLIAM THOMAS.After twelve years of independent research, Dr. Henry Baker has isolated a mold culture that he believes to be a major breakthrough in the treatment of tuberculosis. Invited to announce his findings in a paper to be presented at a medical convention in Chicago, Baker accepts the invitation in the hope of achieving the recognition he so richly deserves. But his hopes are dashed when a team of doctors announces a similar, but more successful treatment just prior to his spot on the program. Dr. Baker's disappointment is understandably great, but the effect of the meeting on his wife, his family, his professional standing, and his future become as important to the plot as the meeting itself. Set mostly in Chicago around 1949, Medical Meeting accentuates Chicago's role as a leading convention city, detailing many of the tourist activities available there.
Book Review Digest, 1949, p. 953.
The Mirage of the Many, by William Thomas Walsh. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1910. 326p.1543. WARD, MARY JANE, 1905-Looking forty years into the future, the author conjures a picture of Chicago in the 1950s, apparently as a warning to those who would follow Socialism. Alfred Seebar, a young Socialist leader, becomes estranged from his fiancée when she and her wealthy father urge him to give up his candidacy for the public office he seeks. The Socialists win the election and initiate sweeping reforms. But within twelve months the new regime has proven tragically unsuccessful, the city is caught in a frightening rebellion, and the lovers have a melodramatic reconciliation. Chicago is depicted as the greatest metropolis in the nation and the Mississippi Valley as the center of commerce and industry, with extravagances of electric lighting and transportation used as evidence of futuristic technology. But the Socialism described is closer to Communism, the Capitalism is incredibly successful, and the mores belong distinctly to the beginning of the century.
Book Review Digest, 1910, p. 415.
1544. WARD, MARY JANE, 1905-Counterclockwise, [by] Mary Jane Ward. Chicago: Henry Regnery Company, [1969.] 250p
This unusual novel is another brilliant, sensitive portrayal of life in a mental hospital by the author of The Snake Pit. In describing the experiences of protagonist Susan Wood, herself the author of a best seller about the horrors of life in a mental hospital, Mary Jane Ward provides an inmate's view of one of the psychiatric institutions in the Chicago area. The story of Susan's relapse and gradual recovery is quietly told, yet is powerful in its message of the relativeness of sanity and the importance of each individual's sense of his own identity.
Best Sellers, 11/1/1969, p. 291. Booklist, 12/1/1969, p. 440. Kirkus, 7/1/1969, p. 697. Library Journal, 9/1/1969, p. 2962. N. Y. Times Book Review, 10/12/1969, p. 54. Publishers Weekly, 7/21/1969, p. 52.
It's Different for a Woman, [by] Mary Jane Ward. New York: Random House, [1952.] 246p.1545. WARD, MARY JANE, 1905-Purely a woman's point of view is expressed in this sympathetic portrait of a suburban Chicago matron. Sally's concerns include her approaching menopause, her daughter's shaky engagement, and her husband's frequent business trips with his secretary, plus other little normal irritations quite believably told. Almost lacking in plot, the book moves along well on the strength of vivid, slyly humorous characterizations, and is much lighter than the author's more widely read novels concerning mental illness.
Book Review Digest, 1952, p. 928-9.
The Other Caroline, A Novel by Mary Jane Ward. New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., [1970.] 216p.1546. WEAVER, GORDON ALLISON, 1937-Caroline Kincaid, a patient at Illinois' Applewood State Hospital for the Insane, relates scattered incidents from her stay at Applewood interspersed with long flashbacks to her life prior to commitment. Emphasis is on cause of the illness rather than on effect or cure, thus sacrificing much of the drama and emotion of the mental hospital which Ms. Ward portrayed so vividly in her earlier novel, The Snake Pit. However, The Other Caroline is a truthful and compelling tally of the pressures of life in modern suburbia that drive Americans to the psychiatrist's couch in ever-increasing numbers.
Kirkus, 6/1/1970, p. 625. Library Journal, 8/1970, p. 2723. N. Y. Times Book Review, 8/23/1970, p. 30. Publishers Weekly, 6/1/1970, p. 63-7.
Such Waltzing Was Not Easy, Stories by Gordon Weaver. Urbana, Chicago [and] London: University of Illinois Press, [1975.] 132p.1547. WELLARD, JAME HOWARD, 1909-1987.See No. 1241.
The Affair in Arcady, by James Wellard. New York: Reynal & Company, [1959.] 312p.1548. WHEELER, KEITH, 1911-Complete with extramarital love affairs, gangsters, and murder, this is the story of Clive Marshall, who attempts to write the history of the Tyler family of Arcady, Illinois, and discovers more than he bargained for in the course of his research. The Affair in Arcady is a better-than-average mystery story set in a fictitious Illinois town. The descriptions of Chicago and northern Illinois, however, are general and sometimes vague, indicating that this British author might have been unsure of his setting.
Book Review Digest, 1960, p. 1416-7.
1549. WHITMORE, STANFORD, 1925-The Reef, A Novel [by] Keith Wheeler. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc., 1951. 320p.
Although the war has been over for more than a year, Nickerson Cotten is haunted by the memory of a wrong decision made during the action on Tarawa. For Nick, the past so colors the present that he has difficulty functioning in civilian life. Nick manages to come to grips with the problem only after a visit to the scene of the disaster. The setting is Chicago and the Pacific following World War II.
Book Review Digest, 1951, p. 938.
1550. WICKWARE, FRANCIS SILL.Solo, by Stanford Whitmore. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, [1955.] 382p.
Virgil Jones, one of the greatest jazz pianists ever to come out of Chicago's south side, also proves to be one of the world's most adamant individualists. Equally at home in a south side tavern or on the stage of an uptown concert hall, Jones, with his unyielding drive for independence, seems bent on wrecking his own life as well as destroying the lives of those with whom he comes into contact. Tracing Jones' rise to fame in the entertainment world, Whitmore presents an excellent portrait of Chicago during the 1940s and 1950s.
Book Review Digest, 1955, p. 976.
Tuesday to Bed, by Francis Sill Wickware. Author of Dangerous Ground. Indianapolis [and] New York: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Publishers, [1948.] 275p.1551. WISE, WINIFRED ESTHER, 1906-A marriage threatened by infidelity is the theme of this sentimental little romance reflecting a post-war mood of concern for a materialistic nation with the atomic bomb on its conscience. Stanton Wylie discovers that his wife is going to be named in a divorce suit just as he is about to leave Westport for Chicago to receive an architectural award for his design for a model city. After one day in Chicago, Stanton presents a scathing and emotional address to the American Association of Architects and Industrial Designers, criticizing the ugliness of the city and the decadence of its people. An attractive and sympathetic young war widow who interviews him for Life magazine helps him straighten out his life.
Book Review Digest, 1948, p. 920.
Frances a la Mode, [by] Winifred E. Wise. Philadelphia: Macrae Smith Company, 1956. 224p.1552. WISE, WINIFRED ESTHER, 1906-Franny Cochrane, who labels herself socially immature during her high school years, takes a job in the fashion coordinator's office of a large Chicago department store where she develops her creative ability and her personality, and discovers love in the process. Set in Chicago during the 1950s, the major value of this novel is its behind-the-scenes descriptions of promotion and merchandising in the business world.
Book Review Digest, 1957, p. 1003.
Frances by Starlight, by Winifred E. Wise. Philadelphia: Macrae Smith Company, [1958.] 201p.1553. WOIWODE, LARRY.A sugar and spice sequel to Frances a la Mode, this novel continues the story of Frances Cochrane, who takes a break from home, boyfriend, and study at Chicago's Art Institute, to try her luck in the work-a-day world. Moving to Los Angeles, Frances obtains employment in the costume department of a Hollywood movie studio, only to decide that she can and should go home again.
Book Review Digest, 1958, p. 1125-6.
1554. WRIGHT, RICHARD NATHANIEL, 1908-1960.Beyond the Bedroom Wall; A Family Album [by] Larry Woiwode. New York: Farrar, Straus, [and] Giroux, [1975.] 623p.
Beyond the Bedroom Wall is an introspective picture of a warm, devoted German Catholic family who move from North Dakota to a small community in Illinois near Pekin. Four generations of the Neumillers are introduced, but the story focuses on Martin, hardworking and tender husband and father; his wife Alpha, at first eager and happy, then quietly accepting as she foresees her own death; and their children, who are struck with the trials of growing up too fast without a mother's care and supervision. The story is as believable as a family history can be, and the fact that this family is representative of thousands of others makes it no less compelling. Beyond the Bedroom Wall is a composite of chapters expressing the viewpoints of different family members, and including occasional selections of poetry, prose, and diary excerpts which may distract, but do nothing to lessen the impact of this impressive novel.
Book Review Digest, 1975, p. 1378.
The Outsider, by Richard Wright. New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, [1953.] 405p.An unhappy wife, a pregnant girl friend, a gospel-quoting mother, alcoholism, debts--Cross Damon, Chicago postal employee, can see little reason to live. When delivered from his dilemma by a stroke of fate, he assumes a new identity and runs away to New York to make a new life for himself. In New York, Cross again proves unequal to the challenges of life, repeats many of his former mistakes, and adds new ones, including murder to the score. His own death at the hand of a companion provides a proper finish to a wasted life.
Book Review Digest, 1953, p. 1030-1.
