On May 4, 1970, Kent State was in chaos, with protesters on one side and the National Guard on the other. Young Chicago Tribune reporter Philip (Rumor of War) Caputo had been sent to cover what looked like just another campus uprising. By the time he arrived, events had erupted in a watershed moment of the antiwar movement, with four students dead and nine wounded by panicked guardsmen. He looks back on that terrible day, and on the place of political discourse and civil disobedience in 13 SECONDS.

Bill Fitzhugh brings back rock dj and private investigator Rick Shannon from Radio Activity, in the second in his new mystery series, HIGHWAY 61 RESURFACED. When a sultry woman asks Rick to find her long lost granddaddy, a legendary blues producer, it isn’t long before some skeletons start rattling in the deep South. If you love great music, good mysteries, or just feel like singing the blues, this is the event for you.

Conceptual artist Paul Miller, also known as Dj Spooky that Subliminal Kid, delivers a manifesto for rhythm science—the creation of art from the flow of patterns in sound and culture, “the changing same.” In RHYTHM SCIENCE he traces a genealogy of his influences, citing sources and influences as varied as Ralph Waldo Emerson (“all minds quote”), Grandmaster Flash, W. E. B Dubois, James Joyce, and Eminem. “The story unfolds while the fragments coalesce,” he writes. Call 708.848.9140 for details.

Barbara's Bookstore and Marshall Field’s are pleased to welcome food stylist and author Donna Hay. Following a cooking demonstration, Donna will sign purchases of her new book, The Instant Cook. Please call 312.781.3033 for more information.

With his trademark dark wit and corrosive dialogue, Eric (Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll) Bogosian tells a powerful and emotionally wrenching tale of two lovers who form a mesmerizing and destructive bond while trying to evade the looming failure of their respective lives. WASTED BEAUTY is Bogosian’s enthralling journey through the high life of drugs and fashion celebrity, middle-class guilt and sexual obsession. Please call 312.413.2665 for further details.

One of Barbara’s favorites of last year is now in paperback, so you have another chance to read a new Chicago classic and meet a fantastic new author. Set in the Jewish neighborhood of West Rogers Park, CROSSING CALIFORNIA is the story of three families--adults and children alike--coming of age during the tumultuous, turbulent days of the Iran hostage crisis. At the close of the 70s, the Rovners, the Wasserstroms, and the Wills-Silvermans will have to shed their pasts to cross into that new, shining decade of hope: the 80s.

Joshilyn Jackson’s GODS IN ALABAMA is a story of how you can’t have a future until you make peace with the past. When Arlene heads for college, she makes three promises to God: She will stop fornicating; never tell another lie; and never go back to the "fourth rack of hell," her hometown, Possett, Alabama. All she wants is one little miracle-make sure the body is never found. Ten years later, God breaks His end of the deal when Alabama lands on Arlene’s Chicago doorstep in the form of her high school archenemy, who wants to find the football hero who disappeared during their senior year.