Extra! Cow Vindicated
Think you know everything about the Great Chicago Fire? Think again: In a new book, historian Carl Smith rekindles the untold stories of our city’s most famous disaster.
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Sam Prekop Hits a Mid-career Zenith
On his new album, the artist and musician constructs an entrancing masterpiece out of electronic abstraction.
No Expo, No Problem
The annual art behemoth may be shelved, but September brings plenty of smaller shows, from an exhibit by a soon-to-be-famous painter to a one-stop roundup of the city’s DIY scene.
Hebru Brantley
The artist, 40, on his deep obsessions and crippling anxiety and how the protests are informing his work
Craig Golden’s Guitar Fixer
The co-owner of Thalia Hall, the Promontory, and SPACE on who maintains his axes
When the Government Paid Writers to Travel Illinois
On the enduring appeal of The WPA Guide to Illinois, and why we might be due for a second edition
When the Precedented Becomes Unprecedented
Reaganland author Rick Perlstein on reassessing the past to put 2020 into context
The Reckoning of Natasha Trethewey
In the three and a half decades since her mother’s murder, the two-time U.S. poet laureate has been stalked by the ghosts of her past. Now she might just be able to lay them to rest.
How Will History Museums Remember This Moment?
What local institutions and archivists are doing to immortalize a disorienting time in Chicago
Court of Chaos
A new memoir by Lee Weiner — the member of the Chicago Seven that was actually from the city — gives fresh insight into how the 1968 Democratic National Convention protests and trial really went down.