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Chicago Review Press

@chireviewpress

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A socially-responsible independent publisher that gives voice to new ideas that reach beyond the trends. Founded in 1973.

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Looking for your next unmissable real-crime read?

As the nights draw in, Flipping Capo by Séamus McElearney is the ultimate gripping book to settle down with on these chilly October evenings.

Step inside the high-stakes world of the FBI as McElearney goes from transcribing secret mob wiretaps to leading the arrest of DeCavalcante soldier Anthony Capo. Barely a week later, he accomplished what no agent had done in the family's century-long history: he flipped a made man.

If you love compelling true crime, extraordinary real-life thrillers, and a story to lose yourself in as autumn sets in, this book is an absolute must for your bookshelf.

Link in Bio
@chireviewpress

#GazelleBooks #TrueCrime #MafiaHistory #RealSopranos #FBIFiles #BookRecommendation #MustRead #OctoberReads

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Brunch, live music, and books! Scroll through our Brunch Fest pics, and you'll be rewarded with more of these pups in Malört bandanas at the end

So many people came out for Brunch Fest! We're more spread out than Apple Fest, so it never got scary crowded. Thanks to everyone who stopped by the store or one of our author tables! 🫶

Sarah Becan signed books from her Let's Make...! graphic cookbook series and taught us how to draw brunch foods. We've been fans of Sarah's work since she published The Adventures of Fat Rice!

Jessica Milinaric signed Secret Chicago, Secret Illinois, and Chicago Scavenger. Wouldn't it be fun to do a neighborhood scavenger hunt?

We're obsessed with the cover art for @galaxiebot's How to Juggle Ballads & Blades! You can find signed copied in our sapphic romance and bi romance sections.

Beermiscuous was serving up Beermosas all day!

Their door is boarded up because they were broken into earlier this week. Head to Beermiscuous next Saturday (10/17) for a fundraiser party to help them recover

Austin Harvey's discussion with Josh Noel covered beer, Malort, and little-known Chicago lore

We're grateful to Jeppson's for sending us Malört swag and to Beermiscuous for hosting Josh Noel. After the talk, Josh stuck around to sign Malört: The Redemption of a Revered and Reviled Spirit.

Sorry to interrupt your scroll for an ad. Our ad budget only covers social media, paper, and tape

We're having a book fair at Beermiscuous on Saturday, October 25 from noon to 5pm. Come by for Halloween reads and cozy Autumnal books.

Our besties at Three Avenues had author signings and storytimes throughout the day as well. Wouldn't it be cute if it was Lincoln Ave Brunch & Books Fest next year? 🤔

The Bookclub stage was rocking live music all day

The Bookclub stage was rocking live music all day

The Bookclub stage was rocking live music all day

Did you know a tailor shop specializing in cosplay just opened on Lincoln Ave? Follow @illusionsofangels and welcome them to the neighborhood!

Brunch Fest had local vendors this year! 😍 We loved seeing so much handmade art, and it was a great way for us to meet local artists. You'll see some of @inkwildf

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In 1898, Bridgeport, Connecticut, schoolboys made a horrifying discovery: dismembered human remains beneath a bridge. The discovery sparked a series of unsettling questions. Who was she? Who caused her death? Who dismembered her? And who threw her remains into the water below?

The Disquieting Death of Emma Gill: Abortion, Death, and Concealment in Victorian New England by Marcia Biederman investigates the shocking case of Emma Gill, while exploring the secretive world of illegal abortions, unqualified practitioners and the social attitudes that shaped women’s lives in nineteenth-century New England.

I read this book a few years ago after being gifted a copy by @chireviewpress , and it has remained one of the best-researched true crime books I have read about nineteenth-century crime.

Marcia Biederman does an exceptional job of taking readers inside a world where people could reinvent themselves time and time again, often leaving little paper trail. It was an era when unqualified individuals could practise medicine, women risked their lives seeking illegal abortions, and society’s expectations often dictated their choices.

It was a man’s world!

At the centre of this book are Henry and Nancy Guilford, a married couple who practised medicine without formal medical qualifications and became notorious for providing abortions across New England.

Abortions women seek to save themselves from the fall from grace. Risking Uterine Perforation, Cervical Laceration, Infection, Haemorrhage, Future Pregnancy Complications and in some cases death!

This is more than a murder investigation. It’s a deeply researched account of a time when women’s lives were shaped by the society they lived in, often with devastating consequences.

If you enjoy historical true crime that examines the social circumstances surrounding a case, I highly recommend this one!

QOTD: What’s your reading goal for 2026, and how far ahead or behind are you?

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Bookstack for Dolly

Tomorrow's the last day to enter my fundraiser & giveaway for Dolly! Please play along and post your own stack - it raises money for Dolly's Imagination Library, and you could win a book! Like and comment on the original post and share your books! 🙂

Decided to spell out DOLLY with books that in some way encompass her and her life - living in a small, rural place, dreaming of a better life, wanting to uplift those around you, musicians and artists, motherhood and a right to the future you want, and fierce women ❤️🦋

Highly recommend all of these books.

D: Demon Copperhead - Barbara Kingsolver
O: On the Savage Side - Tiffany McDaniel
L: Life and Other Love Songs - Anissa Gray
L: The Lotus Shoes - Jane Yang
Y: You're the Only One I've Told - Dr. Meera Shah

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Three books I’ll carry to the grave:

1. Bride of Frankenstein (2023) by @pspublishinguk. Includes my biographical essay about Elsa Lanchester, the actress who played the Bride — this iconic role was just one moment in a strange and star-crossed life, including her marriage to world-renowned actor (and closeted homosexual) Charles Laughton, whose secrets she kept until long after his death. The book’s other contributors explore the Bride’s legacy from every possible angle, including an introduction by Sara Karloff, Boris’s daughter. You can order it anywhere!

2. Elsa Lanchester, Herself (2018) by @chireviewpress. Upon discovering that Elsa’s final memoir, which includes unsparing details of her life with Laughton, had been languishing out of print practically since its release, I set out on a quest to track down the rights and attract a publisher to reprint the book. This took years! I will forever be indebted to the Chicago Review Press for coming to my aid and even including me in the editorial process, hence the brilliantly insightful @marawilson being brought on board to write a fantastic new introduction to the book. You can order it anywhere!

3. Elsa Lanchester, Herself (1983). I still have the original hardback copy of this book which I found in a thrift shop near my home in Brooklyn. A fan of actress memoirs, I remember naively thinking, “This book must not be any good, otherwise I surely would’ve heard about it before now!” But even before I’d halfway finished it, I was already pitching a show to the 92nd Street Y called The Elsa Monologues, which we presented in 2013 as a kickoff to the “Reprint Elsa” campaign. I gathered a lovely assortment of actors and performers to read spicy and astonishing passages from the book, interspersed with film clips and even a Bride burlesque performance. This copy of the book is heavily underlined and falling to rags, but you can still find better-preserved copies online. Elsa’s heart, humor, and intelligence seem to belong more to this century than the last.

Photos by @lanky_lizards 💀

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In honor of Filipino American Heritage Month, here’s a recently-released book that taught me all about a chapter of Holocaust refuge in Asia that I’d never even heard of before. From the wonderful @marksy85 and @chireviewpress.

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Staff pick from Vern for A Death Doula's Guide to a Meaningful End by @jane_the_death_doula

"Jane K. Callahan asks the questions: Why not prepare for the inevitable now so that we don't have to stress when we or our loved ones are facing the end of life? What is a good death? How can we become more comfortable with death and grief? Isn't learning all this cool? Part-memoir, part-history, part-guide, A Death Doula's Guide to a Meaningful End is a tender exploration of dying, death, grief, and the death industry as a whole. It covers everything, from seeing a dead body for the first time to knowing when to say when and how to advocate for a better death. I needed this book a few years ago, when I was helpless, confused, and coming to terms with the death of a loved one. But from reading this book, I already feel more prepared for the future and hope I can help pass this knowledge on to other folks."

Get your copy on our shelves or at the link in our bio!

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Fall is prime mushroom spotting time! Here are some of our favorite mushroom books, but there are so many lately!! What are some of yours?

🍄 Mushrooms and Company: How a Marvelously Moldy Network Supports Life on Earth
by Geert-Jan Roebers (Author), Wendy Panders (Illustrator), Michele Hutchison (Translator)
@greystonekidsbooks

🍄‍🟫 Mushroom Rain by Laura K. Zimmermann (Author), Jamie Green (Illustrator)
@sleepingbearpress

🍄 The Mushroom Fan Club by Elise Gravel (Author, Illustrator)
@drawnandquarterly

🍄‍🟫 Humongous Fungus by Lunne Boddy (Author), Wenjia Tang (Illustrator)
@dkbooksus

🍄 Mushroom in the Rain by Mirra Ginsburg (Author), Jose Aruego (Illustrator)
@aladdin.books

🍄‍🟫 Funky Fungi: 30 Activities for Exploring Molds, Mushrooms, Lichens, and More by Alisha Gabriel (Author), Sue Heavenrich (Author)
@chireviewpress

🍄 Mushrooms Know: Wisdom From Our Friends the Fungi by Kallie George (Author), Sara Gillingham (Illustrator)
@kallie.george

🍄‍🟫 Fungi Grow by Maria Gianferrari (Author), Diana Sudyka (Illustrator)
@beachlanebooks

🍄 On a Mushroom Day by Chris Baker (Author), Alexandra Finkeldey (Illustrator)
@tundrabooks

All of these books, descriptions, and links to purchase are on the “Books We Love” section of my site— you know where to find the 🔗!

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When one of your favorite historians finds your book on the shelf of one of your favorite indie bookstores--shelved between "A True History of the US" and "The End of Violence." ❤️

Thank you @kbcarpenter (of @draftingthepast podcast) – and especially @browseaboutbooks!

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Ever wondered what is actually happening in your pans while you cook? Every time you step into the kitchen, you are stepping into a laboratory.

In Culinary Reactions: The Everyday Chemistry of Cooking, Simon Quellen Field turns everyday mixing bowls and stovetop hobs into beakers and Bunsen burners. It is a brilliant, easy-to-follow read that answers all those fascinating kitchen mysteries: why whipped cream uses nitrous oxide instead of carbon dioxide, how shifting your flour-to-butter ratios changes your bread's rise, and why Hollandaise demands clarified butter.

Whether you are looking to master your culinary technique or simply satisfy your curiosity, this classic book is an absolute must-have for your kitchen shelf.

Link in Bio
@chireviewpress

#GazelleBooks #FoodChemistry #ScienceOfCooking #KitchenScience #CookbookRecommendations #Foodies

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Hard to believe it’s been five years since my first book entered the world. Happy birthday to ‘Have a Little Faith: the John Hiatt Story.’

#linkinbio #johnhiatt #chicagoreviewpress #elviscostello

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