Forgotten Tales of Illinois

Book excerpt: Dig up the men who tried to dig up Lincoln. Mull over the Mad Gasser of Mattoon and the 1977 thunderbird infestation, from a safe distance. Watch in horror as one of the greatest maritime disasters in U.S. history occurs twenty feet from the banks of the Chicago River or follow the course of the blimp crash that convinced a downtown bank employee that it was raining hell. Try not to blink as towns washed away by floods and shrines covered over by condominiums are dragged back from the margins of history into the center of the page, where they belong. After all, reasons author Bryan Alaspa, if the pope was eager to stop by the House of Crosses during his visit to Chicago, surely it is worth a look. Just beware: a quick glance into this book and you might not look up until you've read the whole gripping and grin-inspiring collection.