No other city in the world has a park system as great as Chicago's, which includes over 550 parks totaling more than 7,000 acres. Each park has its own story, as well as unique characteristics and history, and yet the majority of Chicagoans are not aware of the wealth, variety, and sheer number of parks that exist, to say nothing of the ideas they
project, the history they commemorate, and the origins of their names. Chicago's Parks: A Photographic History seeks to remedy this oversight. From Chicago's first park, Dearborn Park, to its more famous parks of Grant and Lincoln, this book provides a wealth of information concerning the origins of the names and plans of these Chicago landmarks. A formal plan for the creation of a park system was developed in 1869, and soon Chicago had some of the greatest parks to be found anywhere in the world. When Chicago was founded in 1837, the city's fathers adopted the motto urbs in horto, or "the city set in a garden." Despite the numerous changes that have taken place over the past 160 years, Chicago is still a city set in a garden. Chicago's Parks: A Photographic History captures the growth of that "garden" with its nearly 200 historic photographs.

The Sin of Obedience is one of the few works of fiction or non-fiction that looks profoundly and with deep personal reflection into the training of a Catholic priest. The novel, rich and accurate in detail, is the story of a young prodigy torn with between the rigid religious traditions and convictions of his mother and the more-humanity-oriented respect for freedom of his father. Building on his own experiences, including being the subject of sexual abuse by a seminary teacher, the author unfolds a picture of religious life in which the cornerstones of celibacy and a vow of obedience have forced seminarians and priests to make difficult and often impossible decisions in their own personal lives. This well-crafted story enables the reader to go along with a young boy, seminarian and priest on his idealistic pursuit and mission and the consequences he has to face as a result.

The Sin of Obedience is one of the few works of fiction or non-fiction that looks profoundly and with deep personal reflection into the training of a Catholic priest. The novel, rich and accurate in detail, is the story of a young prodigy torn with between the rigid religious traditions and convictions of his mother and the more-humanity-oriented respect for freedom of his father. Building on his own experiences, including being the subject of sexual abuse by a seminary teacher, the author unfolds a picture of religious life in which the cornerstones of celibacy and a vow of obedience have forced seminarians and priests to make difficult and often impossible decisions in their own personal lives. This well-crafted story enables the reader to go along with a young boy, seminarian and priest on his idealistic pursuit and mission and the consequences he has to face as a result.