Latest Posts Under: The Third Coast: Contemporary Contexts

This season the Chicago Public Library’s One Book, One Chicago (OBOC) program focuses on Thomas Dyja’s The Third Coast: When Chicago Built the American Dream. In this column Ex Libris’s Zach Thriffiley engages in OBOC events to find out what it is that makes Chicago “the city that gives.” Investigating the city’s tumultuous past and its uncertain future, the articles released in the upcoming months will examine what Chicago contributed to the national American identity fifty years ago and what contributions – for better or worse – it makes to this day.

by Ex Libris on May 4, 2016

Contemporary Contexts: Glass Houses, Glass City

Zac Thriffiley looks at what divides us as Chicagoans and what art can do to bridge these divides in the latest installment of his One Book, One Chicago coverage. Glass Houses, Glass City: Slag Glass City and the State of Art in Chicago The plot of Chi Jang Yin’s short film “Glass House” – if it can be called a plot rather than a serene stream of suspended, tranquil moments – follows the construction and inhabitation of a home in the Chicago suburbs. Thomas Roszak, one of the city’s most highly regarded contemporary architects, designed… Read Article →

by Ex Libris on January 26, 2016

Contemporary Contexts: From Emmett Till to Laquan McDonald

Ex Libris’s Zac Thriffiley continues his ongoing column covering this year’s One Book, One Chicago selection, Thomas Dyja’s The Third Coast. This month Thriffiley takes a hard look at issues of race and injustice that haunt Chicago’s history and continue to importantly shape its future – a future reflected in the goals of One Book, One Chicago. From Emmett Till to Laquan McDonald: Chicago as a Catalyst for the Civil Rights Movement Thomas Dyja was only four years old when, in 1966, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. began renting an apartment on Chicago’s West Side as a… Read Article →

by Ex Libris on November 9, 2015

New Column! The Third Coast: Contemporary Contexts with Zac Thriffiley

As the Chicago Public Library’s One Book, One Chicago (OBOC) program kicks off this month with a series of events related to Thomas Dyja’s The Third Coast, this column seeks to find out what it is exactly that makes Chicago “the city that gives.” Using a critical lens of the city’s tumultuous past and its uncertain future, the articles released in the upcoming months will examine what it is that Chicago contributed to the national American identity fifty years ago and what contributions–for better or worse–it makes to this day. “She [Still] Moves Me”: Chicago Blues… Read Article →