Thanks to everyone who made the launch of Chicago’s Grand Midway in Chicago June 17-22 a great success. That begins with the University of Illinois Press staff setting up the events. I can’t say enough about the individuals at the various venues, and I apologize I don’t have all the names to thank publicly. The book Stall coordinated my talk and book signing at the venerable downtown University Club and the staff of the club were all a big help.
The Book Stall in Winnetka set up the program at the store with an interview format rather than just me talking for an hour on my own and it went very well.
The Seminary Co-Op Bookstore on the University of Chicago campus did a terrific job, recording my hour+ long talk for their series of podcasts and also recording a brief recommendation of another author’s book; I spent a few minutes discussing a new book, also from the University of Illinois Press, by a friend and colleague, Douglas Wilson. Doug is one of the country’s foremost authorities on Abraham Lincoln and has a new book examining Lincoln through the correspondence of his longtime law partner in illinois, William Herndon.
After the talk at the Seminary Co-op we walked the short distance to the Midway where I led the group along the north side adjacent to the University of Chicago and discussed the various villages and concessions, where they were situated, their size and a bit about them. We were planning on an hour or so, but the walking and talking tour went so well that we didn’t stop until dusk overtook us. We spent two hours and still covered only about one fourth of the Midway and its villages of 1893.
Thanks very much to all the folks who took time to attend the presentations and to ask many insightful questions. I think that all told we had about 85 attendees at the three venues, and it was a great pleasure to speak to many and hear about their interests in the World’s Columbian Exposition.
