Gary DeNeal
Born:
Pen Name: None Connection to Illinois: DeNeal is a lifelong resident of southern Illinois near Herod. Biography: Gary DeNeal is a poet, fiction writer, essayist, historian and, with his wife, has been the publisher of the bimonthly ''Springhouse'' magazine since 1983. Also known for his history of Charlie Birger, his book about Birger, ''A Knight of Another Sort'', was the source for an 80 minute documentary video and DVD created by WSIU.
Awards:
- ''A Knight of Another Sort'',
- -- Delta Award, Friends of Morris Library, Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, 1990
Gary DeNeal on WorldCat : http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=gary+deneal
Selected Titles
A knight of another sort : ISBN: 080932217X OCLC: 43476258 Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale : 1998. "Charlie Birger's legacy is that of the most popular and, arguably, the most violent gangster in southern Illinois during the 1920s. A Russian immigrant who first proved his grit on the streets of St. Louis as a newsboy, Birger later excelled in boxing and breaking horses in the West. But the coming of Prohibition to the coal fields of southern Illinois provided the opportunity for Birger to become a key figure in a maelstrom of violence that would shock the country. Bolstered by years of research and interviews, Gary DeNeal tenders an insightful biography of this controversial character. Enhanced by newly discovered photographs and a new chapter, the second edition of A Knight of Another Sort brings Birger and his bloody era vividly to life." "Drawing from the colorful cast of the living, the dead, and the soon-to-be-dead - a state shared by many associated with Charlie and his enemies, the Shelton gang - DeNeal re-creates Prohibition-era southern Illinois. He depicts the fatal shootout between S. Glenn Young and Ora Thomas, the battle on the Herrin Masonic Temple lawn in which six were slain and the Ku Klux Klan crushed, and the wounding of Williamson County state's attorney Arlie O. Boswell." "The gang wars ended with massive arrests, trials, and convictions of gangsters who once had seemed invincible. Charlie Birger was convicted of the murder of West City mayor Joe Adams and sentenced to death. On April 19, 1928, Birger stood on the gallows looking down on the large crowd that had come to see him die. "It's a beautiful world," Birger said softly as he prepared to leave it."--Jacket. |
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Shades of gray / ISBN: 0585319138 OCLC: 48794396 Love Spell Books, New York : 1998. Dormant for one hundred years, vampire Grigori is awakened by the seductive scent of the blood of Marisa, and he vows to show her that not all of the undead are monsters. |