The year in Chicago history via the pages of the Reader
Tag: Chicago Reader at 40
Posted inNews & Politics
‘The conscience of Chicago journalism’
Michael Miner, the Reader‘s rock, has been in these pages since day one
Posted inNews & Politics
Revisiting John Conroy’s journalistic odyssey into police torture
Twenty-one years ago, ‘House of Screams’ launched a decade of stories that ended with the imprisonment of police lieutenant Jon Burge
Posted inArts & Culture
Reminiscence from a reviled theater critic
‘If there are still some bad feelings out there after all these years then, damn, you’ve got to learn to let go’
Posted inNews & Politics
Nancy Banks, managing editor and writer, 1971-1977, on the Reader’s early days
‘Rodney Wanker didn’t exist. I’d been replaced by a rude-sounding pseudonym.’
Posted inNews & Politics
Mark Homstad, theater critic in the 70s, on the Reader’s early days
‘I didn’t intend to create a publicity-seeking controversy, though it may have helped provide an initial marker of the paper’s critical independence’
Posted inNews & Politics
Dave Jones, ‘production czar,’ 1976-2006, on the Reader’s early days
‘It was easy to feel at home. So I stayed for 30 years.’
Posted inArts & Culture
Chris Ware reflects on his most nerve-racking Reader cartoon
‘I’d assumed by its pretension and ridiculous complexity that it would be rejected’
Posted inMusic
America’s real artists are hiding out at Betty Lou’s
The 1973 article that ‘discovered’ jazz master Von Freeman
Posted inMusic
Remembering my 1973 introduction to Von Freeman
By coincidence or luck, I published the very first interview with the south-side saxophonist
Posted inNews & Politics
Tom Yoder, co-owner, 1973-2007, on the Reader’s early days
‘The office was the dining room of the apartment where most of us lived’
Posted inNews & Politics
Robert McCamant, co-owner, 1971-2007, on the Reader’s early days
‘Magazine-style design on newsprint was a signal that we were something new—neither fish nor fowl’
Posted inNews & Politics
The Reader’s 40th Anniversary Issue
Celebrating four decades of muckraking and mischief
Posted inNews & Politics
Bob Roth, co-owner, 1971-2007, on the Reader’s early days
‘All but one of our investors were unemployed friends from college’
Posted inFilm
Jonathan Rosenbaum ruminates on his 1998 ‘List-o-Mania’
The article that helped implement my long-standing desire to deconstruct the movie industry’s received wisdom