Journey back Inside The Blanket Fort as we discuss the SIU Press books recently named finalists for the 2025 Society of Midland Authors Awards.
The winners and honorees will be recognized at an awards dinner on May 13 in Chicago. All three SIU Press books awarded received Honorable Mentions in the History category!
Charles H. Cosgrove’s They Both Reached for the Gun: Beulah Annan, Maurine Watkins, and the Trial That Became Chicago examines the real case that inspired a pop culture phenomenon. In 1924, Beulah Annan was arrested and incarcerated for killing her lover, Harry Kalsted. Six weeks later, a jury acquitted her of murder. Inspired by the sordid event, trial, and acquittal, Maurine Watkins, a reporter at the time, wrote the play Chicago, a Broadway hit that was adapted several times, into films both silent and with sound and into a musical version that saw its own film adaptation.
Sarah E. Lirley’s Sudden Deaths in St. Louis: Coroner Bias in the Gilded Age is a study of 120 coroners’ inquests conducted between 1875 and 1885. She investigates the process in which these outcomes were determined, finding coroners’ rulings were not uniform, but rather varied by who was conducting the inquest. These fascinating case studies explore the lives of the deceased, as well as their families, communities, press coverage of the events, and the coroners themselves.
Cathy Jean Maloney’s Olmsted’s Riverside: Stewardship Meets Innovation in a Landmark Village details the challenge to preserve this unique Chicagoland haven. Just outside the bustling metropolis of Chicago lies the unlikely green oasis of Riverside, Illinois, a small village that has continued to directly influence American landscapes and suburbs since the 1870s.