Journey back Inside The Blanket Fort as we continue our look at the SIU Press series Illinois Lives: Memoirs from the Prairie State.

Memoirs—the personal, evocative, true stories we tell—have the power to educate, enlighten, and entertain. In its continuous and longstanding goal to amplify diverse voices, for more than fifty years, SIU Press has published hundreds of memoirs and autobiographies. We are seeking to build on this strong foundation by publishing up to two new memoirs a year written by people who are from or in Illinois. We will also consider edited historical memoirs by people from Illinois and its surrounding states. New books will feature the voices of people who have traditionally been overlooked. We welcome a diversity of background, thought, style, and expression. You can send queries and book proposals to Executive Editor Sylvia Frank Rodrigue at acqeditor@siu.edu.

The deeply personal story of a historic time in Chicago, Robert B. McKersie’s A Decisive Decade: An Insider's View of the Chicago Civil Rights Movement during the 1960s follows the unfolding action of the Civil Rights Movement as it played out in the Windy City. McKersie’s participation as a white activist for black rights offers a unique, firsthand viewpoint on the debates, boycotts, marches, and negotiations that would forever change the face of race relations in Chicago and the United States at large. The author illumines the tensions experienced by two major institutions in responding to the demands of the civil rights movement: the university and the church. Packed with historical detail and personal anecdotes of these history-making years, A Decisive Decade offers a never-before-seen perspective on one of our nation’s most tumultuous eras.