Bloomington Past and Present - Tapa dura

The works of world-class photographer Will Counts, prize-winning writer Scott Sanders, and renowned historian, Jim Madison comprise this "Gift to the City," a gift not only for today's residents, but for the legions of ex-residents worldwide who love this unique - and mythical - plot of ground. Bloomington is a relatively small city, albeit with an ambience of mythical proportion. Mention Bloomington around former residents and their eyes light up, they go into an almost trance-like state, and they nearly always say they'd like to move back. There are a phenomenal number of residents who came to Bloomington to attend college and just never left. Some have sacrificed lucrative career moves to stay, and some have been born, grown up, married, raised their children, and retired while living in the same house. Some things have stayed the same, although in the past few years urban sprawl has taken its toll.Looking at the city through the eye of a camera, long-time Bloomington resident, Pulitzer-Prize nominee, photojournalist, professor, and father, Will Counts has included photos of Bloomington that will bring you back. Prize-winning local author and professor at Indiana University, Scott Russell Sanders, takes you on an imaginary tour of the city and surrounding areas in his essay titled, "Footloose in Bloomington," while Indiana University Miller History Professor James H. Madison recounts Bloomington's history in his essay titled, "Old and New in Bloomington." These two works perfectly complement the photographs in this book, and the combination will transport you.

Scott Russell Sanders was born in Tennessee and grew up in Ohio. He studied at Brown University before going on, as a Marshall Scholar, to complete a Ph.D. in English literature at Cambridge University. In 1971 he joined the faculty of Indiana University, where he is Distinguished Professor of English and where he directs the Wells Scholars Program. Writing from the Center, a personal account of the quest for a meaningful and moral life, won the 1996 Great Lakes Book Award. His most recent books are Hunting for Hope (1998), The Country of Language (1999), and The Force of Spirit. James H. Madison is the Thomas and Kathryn Miller Professor of History and former chair of the Department of History at Indiana University. Among his books are: The Indiana Way: A State History and Eli Lilly: A Life. His most recent book is A Lynching in the Heartland: Race and Memory in America. Will Counts has lived in Bloomington, Indiana since 1960. For thirty-two of those years he taught photojournalism at the IU School of Journalism. Before he began teaching, he worked as a photographer-editor for the Arkansas Democrat in Little Rock and for The Associated Press in Chicago. He and his wife, Vivian, have four grown children. He is photographer-author for A Photographic Legacy...Arkansas Photographs from the FSA Collection, Monroe County in Focus, The Magnificent 92: Indiana Courthouses, and A Life is More Than a Moment.