Today, American democracy was under attack.
But truthfully, our democracy was under attack a month ago. It was under attack a decade ago, too. In fact, American democracy has never been inviolate; it was always subject to the instability of an unequal society that chose to hang its hat on the myth of equality, instead of working towards a better reality.
America has always imagined itself as the place where true democracy reigned. Yet every time the “wrong” people tried to exercise their First Amendment rights (specifically, Black and brown people), they were told their voices didn’t matter, shouldn’t be heard, and were too loud. There was no right way to protest. America was quick to avoid acknowledging the ways that bigotry had enforced the status quo.
This year we have a set of honorees that includes one unlike any before, and they truly reflect the best of what the arts and entertainment have to offer in Chicago.
Chicagoan of the Year for Books is author Mikki Kendall chicagotribune.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from chicagotribune.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Grover Cleveland biographer for Trump, Hood feminism for Biden highlight holiday gifts to politicos
Hegar gets Royce West’s cellphone number, while Angie Chen Button deserves more recognition.
What’s been described as the most consequential election season in American history is nearly in the books.
With the holiday season upon us, it’s time for your political Santa to provide gifts to some of the politicos that helped shape this fascinating election cycle.
Here’s a list of the naughty and nice.
Donald Trump
Grover Cleveland: A Study in Courage by Allan Nevins
By reading Allan Nevins’ Pulitzer Prize-winning book, outgoing President Donald Trump can study how Grover Cleveland became the only person to win the White House in nonconsecutive terms. In 1884 Cleveland, in perhaps the nastiest race in presidential history, won his first term against former House Speaker James G. Blaine. But four years later he lost against Benjamin Harrison, only to beat Harrison in an 1882
Add these stories rooted in the city to your reading list.
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Canceled events, publishing delays, shuttered bookstores in many ways, 2020 was an awful year for Chicago writers. But it was a fantastic year for Chicago readers, at least when it comes to new fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. To keep this list manageable, I ve limited it to books with a strong emphasis on the city itself. That means you won t see books set elsewhere, like Natasha Trethewey s
Memorial Drive and Kathleen Rooney s
Hood Feminism. Nonetheless, here are my favorite Chicago-focused books of 2020, available at an independent bookstore near you.