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Poetry anthology celebrates work of social critic Aaron Kramer
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Although frequently ignored by the literary establishment during his lifetime, a self-described “peoples’ poet” and outspoken-but-loyal critic of the United States is celebrated posthumously in a new anthology of his work. The new anthology, “Wicked Times: Selected Poems” (University of Illinois Press) brings together for the first time the best poetry of […]
Presidential vote expert gives Democrats ‘distinct electoral advantage’
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – History has some good news for the Democrats on the eve of their convention next week in Boston. In terms of the relative size of their electoral base and its distribution across states, and despite current polling data, which is highly volatile at this juncture in the race, the Democrats begin the […]
Spanish Civil War journalist’s papers featured in new library exhibit
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The Spanish Civil War explodes to life again – in all its heroics and horror – in a new acquisition and exhibit at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The papers of William Forrest, a soft-spoken – and openly leftist – Scottish journalist who covered the Spanish Civil War from beginning to […]
Library at Illinois working to preserve 125 years of agricultural history
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Page by page, America’s rich agricultural history is being ravaged, not by boll weevils, not by locusts, not by critters of any kind, but by time. However, librarians at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign are engaged in a fierce battle to save hundreds of aged publications – the core history and […]
Grant will save pages of railroad journals in U. of I. library
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – As most librarians know, time has a way of destroying history. Age can yellow and stain the paper history is written on; it can dry it out and embrittle it; it can tear it, and ultimately reduce it to powder. But thanks to a new grant from the National Endowment for the […]
Archaeologists unearthing life of early integrated town in Illinois
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Independence Day has taken on new layers of meaning for a team of archaeologists who’ve been digging in western Illinois this summer. In fact, nearly everything about the excavation in the rolling farmland near Barry speaks volumes about freedom and liberty, nearly everything adds a chapter to the American Dream. Sponsored by […]
Hosts sought for Japanese students coming to university in August
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Japanese college students coming to Champaign-Urbana in August to spend a month brushing up on their conversational English are hoping to find friendly local hosts to share their American experience with. Female students from Dokkyo University in Tokyo need hosts who will meet with them two or three times a week while […]
Humanities Research Program at Illinois names fellowship award-winners
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has announced its Fellowship Awards for 2004-2005. Five U. of I. faculty members and six U. of I. graduate students have won awards to spend the next school year engaged in research projects that consider the year’s […]
Anthology traces life of poet who inspired Harlem renaissance writers
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Despite his roving bohemian soul, his penchant for abandoning people and places, and his radical politics, which kept him one step ahead of intelligence agents, Claude McKay could not outrun one thing: fame. Almost in spite of himself, the Jamaican-born grandson of a West African slave would produce a unique and avant-garde […]
Movies elevate, rather than denigrate, journalism and reporters, author says
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Are movies to blame for the public’s low opinion of reporters and journalism? Has the Hollywood portrayal of the news business grown harsher in recent decades? Some in the news media think so, says former reporter Matthew Ehrlich, now a journalism professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the author […]
Bush administration has used 27 rationales for war in Iraq, study says
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – If it seems that there have been quite a few rationales for going to war in Iraq, that’s because there have been quite a few – 27, in fact, all floated between Sept. 12, 2001, and Oct. 11, 2002, according to a new study from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. All […]
New book focuses on ‘remarkable people’ who shaped the University of Illinois
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Perhaps any large public research university could tell the same basic story, but it is unlikely that any other telling would be richer or deeper. The story is in fact 21 stories – historical vignettes drawn from one university over an entire century – which together reveal “how knowledge is produced and […]