Trigger City (Ray Dudgeon) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy Trigger City (Ray Dudgeon)? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on Trigger City (Ray Dudgeon). Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

Trigger City (Ray Dudgeon) ReviewHave you ever finished a novel but found you can't start another book because the one you've just finished won't leave you alone? TRIGGER CITY is one of those books. The plot begins as a quite satisfying detective story, but Chercover skillfully layers in threads of topical events and twists the plot into a deliciously complex thriller. Ray Dudgeon is not the same Ray we knew in Chercover's first novel (BIG CITY, BAD BLOOD). This sadder but wiser Ray is still plagued by physical injuries sustained in the first novel. But even more troubling for him is the self-doubt generated by those events. It's rare for authors to explore such emotionally complex issues with their protagonist and bring them to the page so realistically. On one level, it's a standard PI novel--stakeouts, car chases, witness interviews, and so on. But Chercover adds a dimension of realism that leaves most of the genre in the dust. While reading it, I kept one ear tuned to the news, expecting to hear updates on the story. It's that real, that powerful. Only his second time at bat, but Chercover smashes this one into the stratosphere.Trigger City (Ray Dudgeon) Overview

Want to learn more information about Trigger City (Ray Dudgeon)?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

Read More...

The Futures: The Rise of the Speculator and the Origins of the World's Biggest Markets Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy The Futures: The Rise of the Speculator and the Origins of the World's Biggest Markets? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on The Futures: The Rise of the Speculator and the Origins of the World's Biggest Markets. Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

The Futures: The Rise of the Speculator and the Origins of the World's Biggest Markets Review"The Futures" is delivered as a flat midwestern yarn -- as if told by a Chi-town native, holding forth on a barstool over beers. (PBR of course.)
The story begins with Chicago's founding in the early 1800s. We find out how the futures business, originally built around grains, was a byproduct of Chicago weather: When the canal and river froze, farmers were forced to store their crops, thus creating gluts in the spring -- and the need to lock in sale prices in advance. By the mid-1860s, the first prototype of the U.S. futures contract had arrived.
There is a saying, "I went to a fight the other day and wound up trading futures in Chicago." The history, and the business itself, is built around colorful characters with descriptive nicknames like "Old Hutch," "Vince the Prince," and "Harry the Hat."
In further example, when one well-liked floor trader expired in the pit, the others kept on trading around him... and later expressed the opinion that "that's the way go."
To be clear, Lambert's book is not a primer on trading. Instead it is a series of narratives, tracing the beginnings of futures trading (and the Chicago exchanges themselves) to the present day.
Having cut my teeth as a commodity broker in the late 1990s, "The Futures" brought back memories. (There is nothing quite like arguing at the top of your lungs with a runner named Sol about a bad fill in the S&P pit, with three phone lines lighting up and the market moving away from your partially executed order.)
One of the characters Lambert touches on is Ray E. Friedman, the founder of REFCO (the firm that cleared our accounts). It turns out old Ray had done a prison stretch for selling grade B chickens as grade A to the army in the Korean War. His corner-cutting habit must have infiltrated the culture of the business. REFCO, after growing to $4 billion in customer assets, collapsed in a fraud scandal in 2005.
"The Futures" is also largely the story of onions and eggs -- the original commodities of the "Merc" or Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Lambert recounts how the CBOT was predominantly Irish and the CME Jewish: If your last name was Murray you were Board of Trade, but if your first name was Murray you went to the Merc. The onion trade was eventually banned by congressional order (at the request of angry onion farmers), while the egg trade revolved around the "butter and egg men" of Fulton Street.
Unlike onions, the egg trade was done in by modernization: Eventually chickens were laying eggs year round, which took the seasonality out. But by the time eggs went away, the bigger businesses -- currencies, indices and interest rates -- were just getting going.
There is very much a "right place, right time" aspect to the later explosive growth of the exchanges. Interest rate futures came into their own as the Volcker Fed wrestled with inflation in the early 1980s, causing bond prices to fluctuate wildly. Currency futures had started in time to take full advantage of the post-Bretton Woods era. And the big daddy of them all, stock index futures, got rolling with the help of a tax advantage at the start of the long-running bull market.
By the close of the story, the color and the craziness is clearly fading, the pushers and shovers in brightly colored jackets being replaced by the quiet hum of computers. Gone are the days of frantic hand signals, spontaneous fist fights, and drug-using clerks wearing goggles to protect their eyes against paper cuts. As Chicago modernized itself, going from stockyards to towers of steel and glass, so too did the futures industry. The new era is electronic, and global.
That makes it all the more fun, though, to revisit this fast, amusing tale of how the exchanges grew up with the Windy City, and the gritty roots of how it all came about.The Futures: The Rise of the Speculator and the Origins of the World's Biggest Markets Overview

Want to learn more information about The Futures: The Rise of the Speculator and the Origins of the World's Biggest Markets?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

Read More...

Heavenly City: The Architectural Tradition of Catholic Chicago Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy Heavenly City: The Architectural Tradition of Catholic Chicago? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on Heavenly City: The Architectural Tradition of Catholic Chicago. Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

Heavenly City: The Architectural Tradition of Catholic Chicago ReviewIf you don't believe that Chicago has some of the best looking Catholic churches in America, you should take a look at this book. Sixty-eight of the almost 400 churches in the Chicago archdiocese are featured, some in much more detail than others.
The author seems to have a thing for older, more traditional churches over newer ones, which is just fine by me. Most of my favorites are here - Holy Name Cathedral is present, of course, as is St. Michael's in Wicker Park, which was burned in the Chicago Fire, and Holy Family, which wasn't, although it was almost torn down a decade ago. St. Ita and St. Jerome on the North Side are featured, as is Our Lady of Lourdes, which was once moved across the street, spun 90 degrees, and then split in half to double its size. The South Side has its masterpieces as well - St. Rita of Cascia, St. Philip Neri, the darkly lit Queen of Peace, with its incredibly ornate flat ceiling, and the fantastically bright and beautiful St. Columbanus. The great Polish churches are well represented: St. Mary of the Angels, modeled on St. Peter's in Rome, closed and almost torn down once; the St. Michael on the Southeast Side; the sad and tragic St. Hedwig; St. Hyacinth - now a basilica, and an enormous one at that, the largest and arguably most beautiful Catholic church in the city; St. John Cantius, another nearly destroyed masterpiece, now completely renovated and with its own order of Latin-speaking priests. I could go on and on.
Two churches are not even active Catholic churches anymore: St Boniface was closed 15 years ago, and the fantastic old St. Martin's just off the Dan Ryan Expressway is now Protestant. And there is the wild story of St. Gelasius, just south of Hyde Park, vandalized, nearly burned down, closed, and now being rebuilt as the Institute of Christ the King.
I think a few really great ones are missed. Namely, St. Ben's on the North Side, whose bell tower dominates Irving Park for literally miles, and St. Martin de Porres (formerly St. Thomas Aquinas) on the West Side. Perhaps St. Sabina's on the Southwest Side belongs, although the interior is all screwed up -I don't think any other Catholic church has a big neon "Jesus" hanging over the altar. St. Mary of Perpetual Help, in Bridgeport, is an outstanding church and certainly belongs in the book, as does the beautiful and unique Lithuanian Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Marquette Park.
On the other hand Loyola's Madonna Della Strada is an oversized white barn, and St. Gabriel in Canaryville, despite being designed by the famous Burnham & Root team, is too small and too low. And St. Peter, downtown, while a fine church, is not really in the "great" category, either. The chapel of St. Mary of the Lake at Mundelein Seminary is a great example of Congregationalist church, being all white and almost featureless, but a lousy example of a Catholic church.
But this is quibbling. All the photos, by James Morris, are in stunning full color, and the text is mercifully short, yet well footnoted. Perhaps a bit overpriced at $60 for about 160 large pages. Robert Cameron's Above Chicago, for example, has the same number of much larger pages but costs half as much. All in all, a beautiful book, very suitable either as a gift or a bit of self-indulgence.
Here is a list of all the churches, copied from the publisher's website:
Downtown Chicago
Holy Name Cathedral (Near North Side/Gold Coast)
Assumption (Near North Side/Gold Coast)
St. James Chapel at Quigley Preparatory Seminary (Near North Side/Gold Coast)
St. Peter (Loop)
Old St. Patrick's (Near West Side/West Loop)North Chicago
Our Lady of Mount Carmel (Lakeview)
St. Ignatius (East Rogers Park)
St. Alphonsus (Lakeview)
St. Vincent de Paul (Lincoln Park)
St. Josaphat (Lincoln Park)
St. Clement (Lincoln Park)
St. Jerome (East Rogers Park)
Our Lady of Lourdes (Uptown)
Madonna della Strada Chapel (Loyola University/East Rogers Park)
St. Michael (Old Town)
St. Ita (Edgewater)
Queen of All Saints Basilica (Sauganash)Northwest Chicago
St. Hyacinth Basilica (Avondale)
St. John Berchmans (Logan Square/Bucktown)
St. John Cantius (Wicker Park/Ukrainian Village)
Holy Trinity (Wicker Park/Ukrainian Village)
St. Stanislaus Kostka (Wicker Park/Ukrainian Village)
St. Viator (Irving Park)
St. Mary of the Angels (Bucktown)
St. Boniface (Wicker Park/Ukrainian Village)
St. Hedwig (Logan Square/Bucktown)
Holy Innocents (Wicker Park/Ukrainian Village)South Chicago
St. Michael (South Shore/South Chicago)
St. Martin (Englewood)
Nativity of Our Lord (Bridgeport)
Holy Cross-Immaculate Heart of Mary (Back of the Yards/Canaryville)
Institute of Christ the King (formerly St. Clara⁄St. Gelasius) (Woodlawn)
St. Anthony (Pullman)
St. Gabriel (Back of the Yards/Canaryville)
St. Basil/Visitation (New City/Back of the Yards)
St. John of God (Sherman Park)
St. Thomas the Apostle (Hyde Park)
St. Ambrose (Kenwood)
Holy Cross Monastery (formerly Immaculate Conception) (Bridgeport)
St. Rita of Cascia (West Englewood)
Corpus Christi (Oakland/Grand Boulevard)
St. Anselm (Washington Park)
St. Columbanus (Greater Grand Crossing)
Our Lady of Guadalupe, Shrine of St. Jude (South Chicago)
St. Philip Neri (South Shore)
Our Lady of Peace (South Shore)West Chicago
Holy Family (Near West Side/University Village)
St. Pius V (Pilsen)
Our Lady of Sorrows Basilica (Near West Side)
Holy Rosary (Wicker Park/Ukrainian Village)
Notre Dame de Chicago (Near West Side)
St. Adalbert (Pilsen)
St. Paul (Pilsen)
St. Nicholas Cathedral, Ukrainian Catholic Church (Wicker Park/Ukrainian Village)Chicago Suburbs
St. Thomas Aquinas Priory Chapel, Dominican University (River Forest)
Chapel of the Immaculate Conception, University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary (Mundelein)
St. Athanasius (Evanston)
Chapel at the Convent of the Sacred Heart, Barat College (Lake Forest)
Marytown, Shrine of St. Maximilian Kolbe (Libertyville)*
St. Peter (Skokie)
St. Edmund (Oak Park)
Ascension (Oak Park)
St. Giles (Oak Park)
Immaculate Conception (Waukegan)
Chapel of the Holy Spirit, Divine Word Monastery (Techny)
St. Francis Xavier (Wilmette)
St. Joseph (Wilmette)
Saints Faith, Hope, and Charity (Winnetka)
Heavenly City: The Architectural Tradition of Catholic Chicago OverviewThis visually stunning and carefully researched book encompasses many of the most significant churches of the Archdiocese of Chicago, addressing both their architectural and theological significance. The insightful and readable text is lavishly illustrated throughout with full-color photographs, creating a book suitable for those interested in local history, architectural achievement, theological insight, or who simply desire to glory in the visual beauty of ChicagoÂ's churches. • Features 68 churches and chapels, in many of ChicagoÂ's principal city neighborhoods and suburbs • Over 250 striking color photographs • The scholarly yet accessible text addresses church buildings as both examples of architectural movements and sacramental images of the heavenly city of Jerusalem (Revelation 21:1) • Broad appeal for pilgrims, architects, and historians, both casual visitors and serious scholars Hardcover, 9 1/2 x 13, 160 pages.

Want to learn more information about Heavenly City: The Architectural Tradition of Catholic Chicago?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

Read More...

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America. Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America ReviewErik Larson does a bang-up job of conveying what life must have been like in the "Second City" as the 19th century drew to its fitful conclusion. Bristling at the constant reminder of New York City's superiority in so many areas, Chicago's city fathers rallied the troops and went all out in proving to New Yorkers, to the nation and to the world that Chicago was equal to the great challenge of mounting a World Exposition of truly monumental stature. Larson's descriptions of the Herculean effort put forth by numerous architects, builders, politicians, etc. lead the reader to a true appreciation of these "can do," spirited individuals.
Yet beneath the teeming activity and a short distance away from the gleaming white Pleasure Palaces of the Fair, there stood a building of a different sort entirely, inhabited by one of the most vicious, truly evil creatures the young nation ever produced. Larson does an adequate, but not great job of telling the darker story surrounding H H Holmes, the mesmeric Svengali whose brilliant blue eyes and engaging charm seduced at least a score (one estimate was up to 200, which the author disputes) unfortunate women. Unlike Jack the Ripper, to whom he was later likened, he didn't limit himself to female victims. Business partners who had outworn their usefulness and several children were amongst his prey, as well. He just had a penchant for murder.
The sections on the construction of the Columbia Exposition are filled with fascinating anecdotes, ranging from the origins of the sobriquet "windy city (derisively coined by Charles Anderson Dana, Editor of The New York Sun)" to the dramatic entrance of Annie Oakley, barreling in on horseback and blazing away with her two six-shooters in Buffalo Bill Cody's Western Show adjacent to the Fair Grounds. Larson also provides an interesting side story surrounding Patrick Predergast, a delusional political aspirant who turns assassin. He paints a compelling portrait of Fredrick Law Olmstead, American History's premier landscape architect who took up the almost impossible task of designing and overseeing the Exposition's parks and lagoons. The hero of the book, however, is Daniel Hudson Burnham, who was ultimately responsible for the lion's share of the planning, construction and smooth running of the entire enterprise. He had a little over two years from the time Congress selected Chicago from a list of candidate cities that included Saint Louis and New York, to the day of the Expo's official opening. That he got the job done within the alloted time is one of the great marvels in an age of marvels, especially given the myriad difficulties which he and his crew had to overcome.
The Holmes narractive appears a bit lackluster in comparison to the story of the Fair's construction. Larson acknowledges the difficulty he faced in recreating Holmes' vicious crimes via imaginary vignettes. He states in an afterword that he went back and read Capote's IN COLD BLOOD for the technique in which Capote so brilliantly engaged in his imaginative reconstruction of events. The only problem with this approach is that Capote had access to and the confidence of the two killers that are at the center of IN COLD BLOOD. Larson had only newspaper accounts from the period as well as a very unreliable journal that Holmes wrote after he was tried and sentenced to death (he was hanged several months after the trial). It would appear that Larson goes a bit too far out of his way to avoid the lurid and sensationalitic aspects of Holmes' killing spree. One has only to visit some of the numerous web sites devoted to Holmes to see that Larson is particularly reticent to discuss Holmes' sexual deviance. This is understandable, as Larson wants to be taken seriously as an historian, yet the facts are out there (most of them well documented) so it wouldn't have hurt to have included a bit more of the darker details. The book could also have used more illustrations. The Chicago Tribune, at the time the story first broke in 1894, included a detailed floor plan of the "Chamber of Horrors" Holmes built on the corner of Sixty-Third and Wallace in the Englewood section of Chicago. That illustration would have given the reader a better sense of the bizarre layout of the structure. More pictures of the Exposition would have also been helpful. Here again, there are several sites on the web devoted to the Columbia Exposition that have many pages of great photographs.
The books virtues far outweigh its shortcomings and I have no problem in recommending THE DEVIL IN THE WHITE CITY to anyone interested in US History, Chicago Architecture, or just a well told story.
BEKThe Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America Overview

Want to learn more information about The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

Read More...

Spectacle in the White City: The Chicago 1893 World's Fair Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy Spectacle in the White City: The Chicago 1893 World's Fair? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on Spectacle in the White City: The Chicago 1893 World's Fair. Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

Spectacle in the White City: The Chicago 1893 World's Fair ReviewThis is the perfect companion piece to Devil In The White City. Thank goodness there was photography in 1893.Spectacle in the White City: The Chicago 1893 World's Fair OverviewThe World's Columbian Exposition, held in Chicago in 1893, combined nostalgia for the United States' European roots with a celebration of the nation's emergence as a world power. A splendid tribute to the exposition's "White City" of shining Beaux-Arts buildings, this volume offers a grand photographic record, printed in duotone in a sweeping landscape format. Essays and captions by a noted historian offer a guided tour of this prelude to 20th-century America's artistic and industrial might. 128 photographs.

Want to learn more information about Spectacle in the White City: The Chicago 1893 World's Fair?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

Read More...