Illinois Lives – serie

Rediscovering Lincoln through the female gazeAbraham Lincoln belongs to everybody. The women he interacted with helped forge the outstanding moral character of America's greatest president. This unique Abraham Lincoln biography features thirty historical and personal essays, and within them, the stories of more than ninety women, each with their own mini biographies in an appendix. Among them are Lincoln’s friends, clients, and extended family, as well as writers, artists, and—blurring the lines between history and memoir—author Stacy Lynn herself.As a professional Lincoln scholar and editor, Lynn was often frustrated that male historians often overlooked Lincoln’s love for and friendship with women. Here, she posits a new paradigm—one that, instead of downplaying women, lifts up their interactions with Lincoln.Lincoln understood the importance of the women in his life, and he put women’s wellbeing at the center of his personal, professional, and political ethos. He was loved by two strong pioneer mothers as well as sisters, friends, nieces, friends’ daughters, and his wife. He served women clients during his long legal career. As president, he met with women, dedicating time to hear their concerns despite the burdens of office. He replied to letters women wrote him. He believed in their capabilities and revolutionized the role of women in the workforce. After Lincoln’s death, women continued to shape his legacy. Mary Lincoln ensured his burial among friends, artist Vinnie Ream sculpted his statue in the US Capitol, and biographer Ida Tarbell provided a nuanced portrayal of his life. Harriet Monroe and Ruth Painter Randall further cemented his place in literature and history.Lynn presents a fresh perspective on Lincoln, connecting his story to the stories of women and showcasing his kindness, sensitivity, and moral center. She explores how women shaped Lincoln’s inspirational legacy and pays homage to all the women who gave Lincoln to the world. Lynn’s unique blending of history, biography, and her own story reveals the ways in which an emotional connection to the historical figures one studies opens the door to richer human and historical understanding. By inviting readers to feel the past as well as read it, Lynn demonstrates that history matters most when it engages our minds and hearts.

Rediscovering Lincoln through the female gazeAbraham Lincoln belongs to everybody. The women he interacted with helped forge the outstanding moral character of America's greatest president. This unique Abraham Lincoln biography features thirty historical and personal essays, and within them, the stories of more than ninety women, each with their own mini biographies in an appendix. Among them are Lincoln’s friends, clients, and extended family, as well as writers, artists, and—blurring the lines between history and memoir—author Stacy Lynn herself.As a professional Lincoln scholar and editor, Lynn was often frustrated that male historians often overlooked Lincoln’s love for and friendship with women. Here, she posits a new paradigm—one that, instead of downplaying women, lifts up their interactions with Lincoln.Lincoln understood the importance of the women in his life, and he put women’s wellbeing at the center of his personal, professional, and political ethos. He was loved by two strong pioneer mothers as well as sisters, friends, nieces, friends’ daughters, and his wife. He served women clients during his long legal career. As president, he met with women, dedicating time to hear their concerns despite the burdens of office. He replied to letters women wrote him. He believed in their capabilities and revolutionized the role of women in the workforce. After Lincoln’s death, women continued to shape his legacy. Mary Lincoln ensured his burial among friends, artist Vinnie Ream sculpted his statue in the US Capitol, and biographer Ida Tarbell provided a nuanced portrayal of his life. Harriet Monroe and Ruth Painter Randall further cemented his place in literature and history.Lynn presents a fresh perspective on Lincoln, connecting his story to the stories of women and showcasing his kindness, sensitivity, and moral center. She explores how women shaped Lincoln’s inspirational legacy and pays homage to all the women who gave Lincoln to the world. Lynn’s unique blending of history, biography, and her own story reveals the ways in which an emotional connection to the historical figures one studies opens the door to richer human and historical understanding. By inviting readers to feel the past as well as read it, Lynn demonstrates that history matters most when it engages our minds and hearts.

A powerful memoir of love, survival, and resilience, told through intimate lettersIn Echoes of Cabrini-Green, Rudolph Elliot Willis tells the story of his journey from Chicago's most notorious public housing project to the halls of academia and medicine. Framed as heartfelt letters written after his mother's death, this deeply personal narrative reflects on a childhood shaped by systemic poverty, racism, and uncertainty, showing how faith, education, and resilience can remake lives.Willis recalls the daily struggles of growing up Black in a family of ten children in Cabrini-Green—hunger, fear, and the constant threat of violence—alongside glimpses of neighborly solidarity, faith, and perseverance. He watched his father, a decorated veteran, retreat into silence and alcoholism while his mother's frustration flared into anger. Throughout it all, she remained a moral compass. Her faith in God, unwavering work ethic, and quiet dignity gave her children a vision of something better.A summer at a Christian camp introduced Willis to serenity and the grounding power of faith. A passion for reading and a gift for learning propelled him to an elite high school, where he wrestled with the dissonance between two worlds. But because of his mother's enduring belief in education as a shield against the harsh realities of the world, he was ultimately able to thrive.Willis went on to graduate from Northwestern University and earn a medical degree, eventually becoming an oncologist and scientific researcher. In these letters, he shares with his mother his successes and setbacks, the triumphs and struggles of his siblings, his grief following their deaths, and the haunting demolition of Cabrini-Green—the place that shaped him and so many others. Past, present, and future collapse: the crisp white coats and hallowed halls of medical school give way to the stained cinderblocks and echoing gunshots of Cabrini-Green. Willis looks into the eyes of patients and finds his siblings staring back at him. He realizes Cabrini-Green is not simply a memory—it is part of his identity, the crucible that formed him into who he is.With lyrical prose and unflinching honesty, Echoes of Cabrini-Green is an invitation to imagine change in communities too often defined only by hardship; a testament to the power of faith, education, and personal resolve to transform lives; and a call to recognize the dignity and potential that endure even in the most neglected places.

A powerful memoir of love, survival, and resilience, told through intimate lettersIn Echoes of Cabrini-Green, Rudolph Elliot Willis tells the story of his journey from Chicago's most notorious public housing project to the halls of academia and medicine. Framed as heartfelt letters written after his mother's death, this deeply personal narrative reflects on a childhood shaped by systemic poverty, racism, and uncertainty, showing how faith, education, and resilience can remake lives.Willis recalls the daily struggles of growing up Black in a family of ten children in Cabrini-Green—hunger, fear, and the constant threat of violence—alongside glimpses of neighborly solidarity, faith, and perseverance. He watched his father, a decorated veteran, retreat into silence and alcoholism while his mother's frustration flared into anger. Throughout it all, she remained a moral compass. Her faith in God, unwavering work ethic, and quiet dignity gave her children a vision of something better.A summer at a Christian camp introduced Willis to serenity and the grounding power of faith. A passion for reading and a gift for learning propelled him to an elite high school, where he wrestled with the dissonance between two worlds. But because of his mother's enduring belief in education as a shield against the harsh realities of the world, he was ultimately able to thrive.Willis went on to graduate from Northwestern University and earn a medical degree, eventually becoming an oncologist and scientific researcher. In these letters, he shares with his mother his successes and setbacks, the triumphs and struggles of his siblings, his grief following their deaths, and the haunting demolition of Cabrini-Green—the place that shaped him and so many others. Past, present, and future collapse: the crisp white coats and hallowed halls of medical school give way to the stained cinderblocks and echoing gunshots of Cabrini-Green. Willis looks into the eyes of patients and finds his siblings staring back at him. He realizes Cabrini-Green is not simply a memory—it is part of his identity, the crucible that formed him into who he is.With lyrical prose and unflinching honesty, Echoes of Cabrini-Green is an invitation to imagine change in communities too often defined only by hardship; a testament to the power of faith, education, and personal resolve to transform lives; and a call to recognize the dignity and potential that endure even in the most neglected places.

A bold firsthand account of the circumstances surrounding the notorious Bali "Suitcase Murder" and the human cost of overlooking child-to-parent violence and abuseOn August 12, 2014, the body of 62-year-old Sheila von Wiese-Mack—the wealthy Oak Park, Illinois, widow of famed composer James L. Mack—was found stuffed inside a suitcase in the trunk of a taxi in Bali. Back in the Midwest, listening to the radio, Sgt. Rasul Freelain of the Oak Park Police Department pulled his car over to absorb the unthinkable news. Amid his shock, one coherent thought surfaced: "Heather did this."Freelain had met the Macks more than three years earlier, when Sheila first reached out to the police for help with her increasingly volatile daughter. Although Heather Mack was just a teenager, she had already displayed a disturbing pattern of escalating violence. Freelain did everything he could to intervene. But as the abuse worsened, he found himself sidelined by a justice system unprepared to deal with child-to-parent violence and abuse (CPVA).In this gripping and empathetic memoir, Freelain traces the Mack family's descent from privilege to tragedy, bringing overdue attention to CPVA as a critical yet overlooked public health crisis. He recounts the glamorous but troubled world of the Macks—the parties, the talent, the dysfunction—and his efforts to support both mother and daughter. With rare insight into the web of trauma, race, wealth, and grief that surrounded them, he shows how the system failed them both—and how, even after Sheila's death, he remained committed to seeking justice and change.When Lambs Become Wolves moves beyond sensational headlines to examine the roots of one of America's most hidden forms of domestic violence. While media coverage fixated on the exotic setting and shocking brutality of the crime, along with the growing notoriety of the teenage killer, Freelain urges readers—and institutions in law enforcement, child welfare, and mental health—to focus instead on those harmed. Sheila was more than a victim; she was a sharp, compassionate, creative woman who loved her daughter to the very end. Through meticulous research and raw personal reflection, Freelain explores how abuse cycles form, how institutions look away, and what it means to try—and fail—to protect someone in crisis.This memoir, with a foreword by Sheila's brother William Wiese, is a call to action, offering a rare blend of true crime, compassion, and advocacy. This deeply human account of a police officer caught in an impossible situation shows the price of ignoring the violence that starts at home.