Rick Kogan

Garry Trudeau, the creator of the comic strip “Doonesbury” attends an event at Amazon Studios, on Nov. 7, 2013 in North Hollywood, California (Frank Micelotta/Invision/AP)

Ready to travel into the secret life of Garry Trudeau and ‘Doonesbury’?

May 19, 2026 at 1:48 p.m.

A biography delves into the private life of the "Doonesbury" cartoonist. We spent a day together in New York decades ago.

Cubs catcher Gabby Hartnett visits with Al Capone and son Alphonso “Jiggs” Capone Jr. at a Cubs-Sox charity game at Comiskey Park on Sept. 9, 1931. The Cubs’ is talking to Capone. State Rep. Roland Libonati is seated next to Capone’s son. (Chicago Herald and Examiner)

Column: New book takes us back to the night Geraldo Rivera opened Al Capone’s vault on live TV

May 14, 2026 at 1:17 p.m.

Al Capone has been back in the news recently because April 21 was the 40th anniversary of a live TV special hosted by Geraldo Rivera.

Blues harmonica player Billy Branch poses on stage at Rosa’s Lounge in Logan Square on Feb. 24, 2026. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune)

How Billy Branch bought a harmonica, found the blues and changed his life

March 4, 2026 at 10:30 a.m.

Chicago blues great Billy Branch says a concert in Grant Park got him hooked on the music many decades ago. His latest album is “The Blues is My Biography."

Actor-comedian Mel Brooks expresses his fear of heights during filming of his movie “High Anxiety,” in San Francisco, May 5, 1977. (AP)

Column: Nearing age 100, it’s springtime for Mel Brooks in new Judd Apatow documentary

February 1, 2026 at 10:30 a.m.

Mel Brooks is the centerpiece of a thoughtfully thrilling documentary on HBO Max.

"Coyotes and Stars: Stories from the American Southwest"

Column: His books bring us stories from the quiltwork of America. His latest is ‘Coyotes and Stars’

July 29, 2025 at 9:30 a.m.

Author Robert Wolf aims to create what he calls an 'autobiography of America.'

John Scopes, center, seated next to his father, Thomas Scopes, is on trial for teaching human evolution in violation of Tennessee’s Butler Act in July 1925. (Chicago Herald and Examiner)

Column: Returning again to the Scopes ‘monkey trial,’ and what I learned

July 18, 2025 at 11:41 a.m.

We've reached the 100th anniversary of the court case about teaching evolution in the classroom. Did you know that Scopes passed up offers of riches and instead came to the...

Heavyweight champion Mike Tyson is lifted upon winning his bout with challenger Carl “The Truth” Williams, July 22, 1989 in Atlantic City. (Ron Frehm/AP)

Column: Of fighting and surviving, ‘Baddest Man’ is a soaring biography of Mike Tyson

July 16, 2025 at 9:41 a.m.

“Baddest Man: The Making of Mike Tyson,” moves from the boxer’s birth in 1966 to 1988.

American female aviator Amelia Earhart looking trough the cockpit window of her plane. Amelia Earhart was the first woman to fly the Atlantic as a passenger, in 1928, and followed this by a solo flight in 1932. In 1935 she flew solo from Hawaii to California. In 1937, with Fred Noonan, they set out to fly round the world, but their plane was lost over the Pacific, 02 July. (Staff/AFP/Getty Images/TNS)

Amelia Earhart soars back into the headlines in new book ‘The Aviator and the Showman’

July 14, 2025 at 12:55 p.m.

“The Aviator and the Showman” by Laurie Gwen Shapiro is an exciting new book about Amelia Earhart that has already created buzz.

Filmmaker Maryilene Blondell at her home

Column: ‘Rise Above’ is about the surprisingly upbeat life of a Masters caddie for more than 50 years

March 20, 2025 at 2:02 p.m.

It's the inspiring story of Carl Jackson, who helped golfer Ben Crenshaw win the tournament twice.

Charles Manson is escorted to court for a preliminary hearing on Dec. 3, 1969. (John Malmin/Los Angeles Times/TNS)

Column: Filmmaker Errol Morris returns to the Manson murders in new Netflix documentary

March 13, 2025 at 4:38 p.m.

“Chaos: The Manson Murders” is a new documentary on Netflix.

All Stories