The years following World War II have not been quiet ones for Illinois and its citizens, but neither has there been an event of significance to alter the course of the state's history. The Korean War and the Vietnam Conflict had their impact, of course, and that impact in reflected in the literature of the state. The Democratic National Convention held in Chicago in 1968 will be remembered—as are the Pullman Strike and the Haymarket Riot—for its impact on the city, state, and nation, as the business of the convention was eclipsed by unruly mobs protesting the United States' involvement in Vietnam. Racial tension also flared at the death of Martin Luther King, Jr. and at other times in Illinois' largest city, as African Americans asserted their rights, but historically and politically the fifty plus years since the end of World War II have been "business as usual."

Social change has been the most noticeable factor in Illinois' development since the 1940s. The changing status of women and minorities have influenced business, the economy, the workplace, politics, education, the arts, and the family. Crime continues to be a factor throughout Illinois, as do the environment, ethnicity, religion, marriage and divorce, and political corruption. Issues that have surfaced as additional concerns are drug traffic and abuse, alternative sexual orientations, health and mental illness, child abuse, and a general decline in morality.

All of these issues have influenced Illinois literature during the years since 1945. In addition, Illinois literature seems to be on the rise. From the 1890s into the 1930s Chicago was a major literary center, with such writers as George Ade, Sherwood Anderson, Willa Cather, Theodore Dreiser, Finley Peter Dunn, Edna Ferber, Robert Herrick, Ring Lardner, and Edgar Lee Masters working in the city and writing about their interests and activities there. During the 1940 and 1950s, a literary malaise developed, which was not set aside until the 1970s. The 1970s, '80s, and '90s have experienced a revival of literary interest in Illinois, with such literary giants as Saul Bellow, James T. Farrell, and Carl Sandburg maintaining the tradition established earlier, and pointing direction for new writers on the scene. Among the writers of note currently writing about Illinois are Maxine Chernoff, Robert Coover, Leon Forrest, Ralph McInerny, Sara Paretsky, Harry Mark Petrakis, Richard Powers, and Richard Stern.

Much of the credit for the revival of interest in Illinois literature has come from the State itself, with the establishment of the Illinois State Library's READ ILLINOIS program, the founding of the Illinois Center for the Book, and other programs to promote Illinois' literature and writers. No longer do young writers feel it necessary to move to New York or Los Angeles to be near resources, publishers, and other writers. With access to libraries, writing programs, and a core support group of established writers in the state, young authors can find the support they need to ply their trade in any metropolitan area or university community in the state. The results are paying off, for the volume of Illinois literature had increased dramatically during the last twenty-five years, and the trend can only continue.

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