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News
Jim
Benes has his own blog
where he posted his Christmas of 2005. Leave your comments.
Let Jim know what you think of the book. Offer your own memories.
2007
Author Events
December
15 from 1-3pm
Book Signing
Museum of Science &
Industry
Christmas Around the World &
Holidays of Light
December
20th at 1PM
Christmas History Presentation
Elmhurst
Historical Society
120 E. Park Ave.
Elmhurst, IL 60126
630
941-9310
Call
to schedule a book signing or author event. (773) 989-4920
NEW
BOOK BY CHICAGO NEWSMAN GIVES YEAR BY YEAR ACCOUNT OF CHICAGO
CHRISTMASES.
CHICAGO, IL. For five years the book Chicago Christmas:
One Hundred Years of Christmas Memories has connected
Chicagoans, natives and transplants, with memories of the
faces and places of their youth. In that time author Jim Benes
has met many of his readers in yearly book signings. The question
they often ask is: “Why isn’t the year I was born
in the book? What happened that year?” With his new book
Season of Joy: Chicago Celebrates the Holidays, Jim
brings the answers to those questions and new opportunities
to belong to the Season in fresh and meaningful ways.
Season
of Joy is packed with stories, songs, plays, pictures
and news headlines covering every year of the Twentieth Century
on through 2004. More than a book of remembrances, it offers
accounts which help us understand the collective personality
of Chicagoans today through a look at our history. The book
contains 12 chapters of yearly Christmas accounts with period
photographs provided by such local institutions as the Chicago
Tribune, the Chicago Sun-Times, the Catholic Archdiocese,
the Chicago Historical Society, and the Jane Addams Memorial
Collection. There are also many individual personal photos
in the mix that reflect the intimate nature of the season.
The
book includes Christmas traditions that make the Chicago experience
uniquely memorable. The Apollo Chorus performances of Handel’s
Messiah, Christmas Around the World and Holidays of Light,
The Do-It-Yourself Messiah, A Christmas Carol at the Goodman
Theatre, and the Christmas Schooner at the Bailiwick are featured
in the years they started with introductions and special interviews
with members and staff. These groups all provided beautiful
quality black and white photos of their events to add to this
wonderful tome of Chicago’s Christmas experience.
 ABOUT
THE AUTHOR: Jim Benes has worked in radio for over thirty
years and since 1980 has been the researcher, writer, producer,
and voice for the radio series Christmas Past. Currently,
Jim is the morning news editor at WBBM News radio in Chicago.
Jim and his wife Andrea have one son, and live in the western
suburbs of Chicago.
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