Beneath the famous monuments of Chicago's most storied cemetery lie thousands of untold stories - and Adam Selzer, longtime Graceland tour guide and Chicago historian, has spent years ucovering them.This second volume ventures deeper into the stories and secrets of a city, many of which have slipped through the cracks of history: William Bradshaw Egan, the Falstaffian Irish gardener who helped give Chicago its motto and its trees; Celia Wallace, the "Diamond Queen" whose scandals k...

When the police caught up with Johann Hoch, he'd already proposed to what they believed would have been wife number fifty-five. For a decade, he traveled the country, marrying and deserting desperate women—and five of his wives were lying in their graves. He married Marie Walcker in Chicago in 1904, and when Marie died five weeks later, he proposed to her sister while the corpse lay on the bed. The sister agreed, only to be swindled out of her savings. Adam Selzer trails jovial, big-talkin...

Discover the fascinating history of Chicago—home to Barack Obama, Al Capone, the Chicago Cubs, politicians, mobsters, and more—told through 24 dramatic true stories. Known as an expert on Chicago's folklore and crime stories, Adam Selzer takes readers through Chicago's history from the 1800s to the present with tales of the politicians, eccentrics, and the famous and infamous who shaped the city. Essays explore historic events from the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 to the beginnings of the fi...

Shares with readers America’s first and most infamous serial killer and his diabolical killing spree during the 1893 World’s Fair in ChicagoThe first comprehensive book following the life and career of H. H. HolmesA fascinating true story about a dark moment in Chicago’s historyH. H. Holmes: The True History of the White City Devil uncovers not only the true story of Holmes but also how the legend evolved. It uses hundreds of primary source...

America's first and most notorious serial killer and his diabolical killing spree during the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago, now updated with a new afterword discussing Holmes' exhumation on American Ripper.H. H. Holmes: The True History of the White City Devil is the first truly comprehensive book examining the life and career of a murderer who has become one of America’s great supervillains. It reveals not only the true story but how the legend ev...

Algonquin “Ali” Rhodes, the high school newspaper’s music critic, meets an intriguing singer, Doug, while reviewing a gig. He’s a weird-looking guy—goth, but he seems sincere about it, like maybe he was into it back before it was cool. She introduces herself after the set, asking if he lives in Cornersville, and he replies, in his slow, quiet murmur, “Well, I don’t really live there, exactly. . . .”When Ali and Doug start dating, Ali is falling so hard she doesn’t notice a few odd ...

Do you know America? No, I mean, do you REALLY know America? Would you recognize John Adams in a lineup? Can you identify any presidents between Lincoln and Roosevelt?Hmmm. I thought so.Well, you really need this book.Not only will it improve your sorry historical knowledge, it will crack you up, and give you material to throw your teachers off-balance for entire class periods. Identify their lies! Point out their half-truths! And possibly, just possibly, g...

A dynamic and hilarious new hero for early middle-grade.Andrew "Danger" North is no ordinary third-grader. He, his brother, Jack, and his father are spies. That is what Jack has always told him, and everything Andrew has learned from his dad’s favorite spy movies tells him it must be true. When Andrew comes across his brother’s graphing calculator, he’s sure it’s a communication device that will put him in touch with the secret spy headquarters. But instead of punching in ...

COME SPELLING BEE season, the tiny town of Preston erupts in excitement: the bee is televised, and the hottest ticket in town. This year, an assortment of sixth-grade miscreants is going for the top prize: Jennifer, an overscheduled free spirit whose parents are obsessed with her college applications; Mutual, a previously home-schooled outsider who's enrolled in public school for the first time in order to participate in the bee; Harlan, the class clown who has spectacular plans for making...

A committed slacker enlists the help of his best friend (who may or may not be the devil) to get his act together in this “timelessly true to life” (Booklist) novel filled with humor, awkwardness, and honesty, ideal for fans of The Perks of Being a Wallflower.Leon Harris isn’t exceptional and he isn’t popular. He’s the kind of guy that peaked in middle school, when once upon a time he was in the “gifted” program and on the fast track to Ivy League...

Chosen for the 2024 Illinois Reads Program by the Illinois Reading CouncilOne of Chicago’s landmark attractions, Graceland Cemetery chronicles the city’s sprawling history through the stories of its people. Local historian and Graceland tour guide Adam Selzer presents ten walking tours covering almost the entirety of the cemetery grounds. While nodding to famous Graceland figures from Marshall Field to Ernie Banks to Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Selzer also l...

Flickering Empire tells the fascinating yet little-known story of how Chicago served as the unlikely capital of American film production in the years before the rise of Hollywood (1907–1913). As entertaining as it is informative, Flickering Empire straddles the worlds of academic and popular nonfiction in its vivid illustration of the rise and fall of the major Chicago movie studios in the mid-silent era (principally Essanay and Selig Polyscope). Colorful, larger-than-lif...