Home > Media > Books > Pam Henderson and Jan Mathew - You Know You're In Illinois When...: 101 Quintessential Places, People, Events, Customs, Lingo, And Eats Of The Prairie State
Pam Henderson and Jan Mathew - You Know You're In Illinois When...: 101 Quintessential Places, People, Events, Customs, Lingo, And Eats Of The Prairie State
cmaw63's Full Review: Pam Henderson and Jan Mathew - You Know You're In ...
I have lived most of my life in Illinois. I know there are cornfields (I'm surrounded by them)...there's the Illinois River (it's 8 miles from my home)...well, I thought I knew a lot about my state. This book taught me some surprising things.
101 Quintessential Places, People, Events, Customs, Lingo, And Eats Of The Prairie State
Each of the places, people, events, customs, lingo and eats has it's own page, making this 101 page book fairly fast moving.
One of the brief stints of me living out of state, I landed in California. Whenever I met someone and stated I was from Illinois each and every time the response was "Oh you're from Cook county." Cook county = Chicago. Ummmm...no. I'm from central Illinois...there is more to this state than Chicago. While it's natural to think of Chicago, after all it is one of the largest cities in the United States, Illinois has many facets to it. This book points some of them out.
Southwest Illinois: Frank McWhorter founded New Philadelphia, Illinois in 1836. The first town to be started by a freed slave. It no longer exists, but excavation began in 2002 to see what artifacts still existed.
All throughout Central Illinois you will find tributes to Abraham Lincoln. Included is the "town" of New Salem. A re-created 1830's town that introduces the visitor to that era's way of living. Abe Lincoln (or a look alike) will be found working as the postmaster.
Ice cream sundaes began in Evanston, Illinois. Thanks to an extremely religious leadership, ice cream soda's were banned on Sundays. Loaded with sugar and bubbling like cauldrons, these hedonistic intoxicants were said to bring out the devil in unsuspecting souls. Named "Sunday" originally, in deference to the Sabbath the spelling was changed to sundae.
Many more facts were included in this book. As above some I knew, others I didn't. To my chagrin, even though the authors, Pam Henderson and Jan Mathew, were born in Central Illinois, a lot of the book was about Chicago. Navy Pier, Wrigley Stadium, Sears Tower and many more were mentioned. Yes, they are all part of Illinois. The places mentioned are also well known, places that almost anyone in the United States already knows about.
I wish Pam Henderson and Jan Mathew had asked my opinion. There weren't any wildlife refuges mentioned, even though one here in Central Illinois is a "Globally Important Bird Area". I know of a place in the countryside, near my home, that has original headstones where a family of pioneers heading west perished. A large monument with a brass plate tells about each member, where they were from and where they were going. A known wagon trail and no one but a few Central Illinoisians know about it? That is an important part of history that very few people know about. Oh well...I digress.
Adj. 1. quintessential - representing the perfect example of a class or quality
This is an interesting book that has a few Illinois facts that even this longtime resident didn't know about. If you're from Illinois or plan on visiting us, this is a nice informative book.
I just can't give it more than 3 stars, though. While I have nothing against Chicago, I love visiting, there is more to Illinois than the already well known. Chicago is a rare and wonderful place...if the authors had wanted to include all of the great attractions to be found there, I feel they should have chosen another word besides quintessential. In fact, I think they should have definitely chosen another word, anyway. There are so many different sides to Illinois that no one thing is quintessential to the majority of places.
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