The Huffington Post, December 27, 2008 — American Buffalo came and went pretty damn fast on Broadway this fall. The reviews were not exactly glowing for director Robert Falls’s revival of David Mamet’s drama, which is widely regarded as one of the playwright’s best plays. It’s worth remembering, though, that critics did not greet American Buffalo with universal acclaim… Continue reading Some critics enjoy shooting ‘Buffalo’
Category: History
When the world watched Chicago
The Huffington Post, December 6, 2008 — As just about everyone pointed out on Tuesday night, Barack Obama’s election as president was a moment of huge historical significance for the nation. Obama’s eloquent election-night speech in Grant Park is also surely one of the great moments in Chicago history… Read my blog post at the… Continue reading When the world watched Chicago
Another banking crisis: Chicago’s Panic of 1896
The Huffington Post, November 10, 2008 — The news from Wall Street is prompting a lot of comparisons with the Great Depression, but the history books are filled with other similar financial crises. Throughout the 1800s, when the government barely regulated the financial markets at all, speculative bubbles and piles of bad loans caused several… Continue reading Another banking crisis: Chicago’s Panic of 1896
General Dawes’ War
This article by Robert Loerzel was originally published in the September 2008 issue of North Shore Magazine. GAZING AROUND THE NEIGHBORHOOD today, it’s hard to imagine that as many as 50,000 people once gathered on this 19th-century mansion’s lawn and nearby streets, spilling into the park, pulling boats up along the lake shore, just to… Continue reading General Dawes’ War
Was Jane Addams a lesbian?
The smoking gun: Anti-smoking crusader Lucy Page Gaston
Chicago magazine, January 2008 — Year after year, Lucy Page Gaston sat through Chicago City Council meetings and legislative sessions in Springfield. Even as politicians exhaled clouds of tobacco smoke, the prim lady in a somber black dress urged them to pass laws restricting cigarettes. Read my story in Chicago magazine.
The bikini’s 60th birthday
This article by Robert Loerzel originally appeared in The Daily Southtown on July 2, 2006. Sixty years ago, the U.S. military blew up an atomic bomb over Bikini atoll. A week later, on July 5, another sort of bikini made its explosive debut. Grabbing the name “bikini” from the Pacific Ocean nuclear test that was in the… Continue reading The bikini’s 60th birthday