
Chicago 10, the innovative documentary that revisits the tumult of the 1968 Democratic National Convention and the Chicago 8/7 conspiracy trial of key antiwar activists a year later, opens Friday in select theaters. The film is directed by Brett Morgen and combines archival footage of the chaos of August 1968 with animated reenactments of scenes from the trial. Plus a soundtrack ranging from Black Sabbath and Steppenwolf to the Beastie Boys and Eminem. Morgen has been quoted as saying that he “wanted to do the myth of Chicago rather than the history,” and “if you want to know the history of what happened in Chicago so long ago, then read a book.” Well, we think understanding history is pretty darn important and are happy to oblige. Twenty years ago we published the most complete account of the events surrounding the 1968 DNC, David Farber’s Chicago ’68. That book is innovative itself, creating multiple perspectives reflecting both police and demonstrators. Farber shows the developing plans of the antiwar movement for protesting the war in Vietnam during the convention, as the shocks of 1968 shift the ground—the Tet offensive, President Lyndon Johnson’s withdrawal from the re-election race, the assassination of Martin Luther . . .
Joseph M. Williams, 1933—2008
Joseph M. Williams, Professor Emeritus of English and Linguistics at the University of Chicago, died Friday, February 22 at his home in South Haven, Michigan. Williams will be remembered as the founder of the University’s writing program and for his contributions to the development of some of Chicago’s most influential books on the teaching of writing. These include his Style: Toward Clarity and Grace, as well as the book he co-authored with the Gregory Colomb and the late Wayne Booth, The Craft of Research—the third edition of which is slated for publication this spring. Williams was also a contributor to Kate L. Turabian’s A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations and was at work on the accompanying Students Guide at the time of his passing. William’s contributions to the University and its students, and to writers and scholars everywhere, will most certainly be missed, as will he himself. . . .
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