Dubuque Newspapers in Google News Archive

Here's a list of some Dubuque, Iowa newspapers, approximately in reverse chronological order, which can still be accessed via Google News Archive.

Coverage is not complete, and many issues do not appear to be searchable by keyword, but if you have a specific date you might be able to find articles by browsing to those issues.

To find obituary dates, try the THonline.com Obituary Archive Search.

For tips and tricks, see How to Find Dubuque Obituaries Online and Who Can Use the Telegraph Herald Digital Archive.


The Telegraph-Herald
22,552 issues
Aug 17, 1903 - Dec 31, 2004

The Telegraph-Herald and Times-Journal
1,500 issues
Aug 1, 1919 - May 19, 1935

Dubuque Telegraph-Herald
1,207 issues
Oct 27, 1901 - Dec 20, 1931

Dubuque Daily Telegraph
293 issues
Jan 1, 1901 - Oct 27, 1901

Dubuque Daily Herald
4,897 issues
Sep 28, 1866 - Dec 31, 1900

Dubuque Sunday Herald
1,024 issues
Feb 15, 1885 - Apr 17, 1898

Dubuque Herald
4,973 issues
Jan 1, 1860 - Feb 14, 1885

Daily Dubuque Herald
222 issues
Oct 21, 1868 - Jul 12, 1869

Dubuque Democratic Herald
489 issues
Sep 10, 1863 - Sep 10, 1865

Daily Express and Herald
576 issues
Nov 17, 1855 - Jun 30, 1859

Weekly Express and Herald
61 issues
Oct 22, 1856 - Dec 30, 1857

Dubuque Weekly Observer
18 issues
Jul 1, 1854 - Nov 3, 1854

Iowa News
48 issues
Jun 3, 1837 - Jun 16, 1838

Bestseller Read-Alikes for the Week of May 7th

Can’t wait to get your hands on the latest best-seller, but the hold list is too long? To tide you over, every week we’ll offer similar titles and authors to the week’s fiction and nonfiction best sellers.

Fiction

This week's #1 book on the fiction bestsellers list is The Wind Through the Keyhole by Stephen King. Part of the epic Dark Tower series that King began writing in 1974, The Wind Through the Keyhole takes place between books four (Wizard and Glass) and five (Wolves of the Calla) in the series. The story begins as Roland and his ka-tet (loosely defined as the people he is questing with) take shelter from a violent storm. As they wait for the storm to pass, Roland tells them stories from his early days as a gunslinger, when he was sent out by his father to investigate vicious murders, purportedly committed by a shape-shifter.

Peter David, Robin Furth and Jae Lee have created an on-going Dark Tower graphic novel series that also explores Roland's life before the events in the series' first book The Gunslinger. Start with The Gunslinger Born.

Other books with similar writing styles to King include:

Sandman: Preludes and Nocturnes by Neil Gaiman: The first in the Sandman graphic novel series begins as an occultist, attempting to capture Death to bargain for eternal life, traps her younger brother Dream instead. After his 70 year imprisonment and eventual escape, Dream, also known as Morpheus, goes on a quest for his lost objects of power. Like King's Dark Tower series, the Sandman series features an enigmatic loner on a quest across worlds.

The Talisman, by Peter Straub & Stephen King: The first in the Jack Sawyer series, follows twelve-year-old Jack Sawyer as he embarks on a quest to save his mother's life and journeys back in time across America--and into another realm. Or, try one of Straub's stand-alone novels, Mr. X.

Click here for more fiction bestsellers...

Nonfiction

This week's #1 nonfiction book is again Rachel Maddow's Drift: The Unmooring of American Military Power and you can find read-alikes for that title here. At #2 is Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake: A Memoir by Anna Quindlen In a series of essays,  the Pulitzer-prize winning author reflects on growing older, raising children, feminism and body image. An honest and often humorous memoir, Quindlen uses her own life to shed light on our own.

Other books similar to Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake: A Memoir include:

I Feel Bad About My Neck, by Nora Ephron: With her disarming, intimate, completely accessible voice, and dry sense of humor, Nora Ephron shares with us her ups and downs in I Feel Bad About My Neck, a candid, hilarious look at women who are getting older and dealing with the tribulations of maintenance, menopause, empty nests, and life itself.

Sleeping with Cats, by Marge Piercy: Poet and novelist Marge Piercy presents a memoir that delves into the people, events, and actions that have had a profound impact on both her life and her work, from her turbulent childhood to her two painful early marriages, sharing her insights on aging, love, and creativity.

Click here for more nonfiction bestselllers ...

If you'd like more recommendations, stop by the Recommendations Desk on the first floor, check out NoveList Plus on the library's website, or visit W. 11th & Bluff next week for more reading suggestions. Or submit a Personal Recommendations request, and we'll create a reading list just for you!

Keeping Chickens with Ashley English: All You Need to Know to Care for a Happy, Healthy Flock by Ashley English

Okay.  I confess.  I chose this book by the cover.  Well, by the cover and by the title.  Chickens, chicks, hens, poultry, eggs, roosters . . .  these words or pictures on a book jacket will capture my interest as quickly as a gray tie on a dark background or a shadowy Scot wearing a kilt.  Call me a sucker for do-it-yourself books on farm life and sustainable living with a sizzling romance title thrown in now and then for variety. 

Keeping Chickens has lots of color pictures of different breeds of chickens, chicken coops, eggs and chicken accoutrements, making it as appealing as a glossy magazine. 
I flipped back through the book just to make sure I’m not exaggerating when I say there is a photograph, graphic or drawing on almost every set of pages excluding the glossary and index.  It has ten mini “Portrait of a chicken owner” biographies, directions on how to make a chicken tractor, recipes, a chicken anatomy guide plus a resource list complete with addresses, phone numbers and/or websites.  It would be a great gift for a friend who has just researched Title 16, Chapter 8-5-10 of the Dubuque City Code to discover that city residents can keep “a maximum of four (4) chickens and/or ducks (hens only)” for egg production. 

As an experienced chicken wrangler of nine years, I found English’s book accurate and insightful.  She didn’t spend a lot of time talking about raising meat birds and butchering, which was fine with me because I don’t eat my chickens.  She captures the fascination that I and other small time backyard farmers have with chickens.  If we were raising thousands of chickens for a living, we wouldn’t have the time to enjoy the different personalities in our little flocks.

Ashley English has degrees in holistic nutrition and sociology, and she writes in a practical, easy-to-follow voice.  She also writes for the blog Design*Sponge, is a member of Slow Food USA and quotes Michael Pollan, all points in her favor from my point-of-view.  Our Library has three other titles in the Homemade Living series that sound equally inviting as Keeping Chickens.  I want to read English’s book about canning before my tomatoes ripen.  Imagine that!  I’m already thinking of preserving my ‘mater crop that isn’t even planted yet.  Hope springs eternal--along with weeds.


 - Michelle, Adult Services

Spotlight: Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Charles Taylor

Charles Taylor, former President of Liberia, has been in the news recently due to his recent conviction for war crimes committed in Sierra Leone during the '90s. This was a turbulent and violent period for both Sierra Leone and Liberia, fueled by corruption and blood diamonds.

If you're interested in learning more about the trial of Charles Taylor, the website www.charlestaylortrial.org provides a day by day account of the trial itself, along with background information, a glossary, and an acronym cheat sheet.

For the story of how Mr. Taylor was removed from power and Liberians transformed their country into the stable democracy it is today, check out Mighty Be Our Powers: how sisterhood, prayer, and sex changed a nation at war by Leymah Gbowee and Carol Mithers. Ms. Gbowee and current Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (and Tawakkul Karman of Yemen) were awarded the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize for their accomplishments.

For more on blood diamonds and their impact on Liberia and Sierra Leone, try:

In A Long Way Gone (966.404 BEA), the autobiography of Ishmael Beah, today a human rights activist, Mr. Beah tells the compelling and gritty story of his experience as a child soldier in Sierra Leone.

Aminatta Forna, the British daughter of a Sierra Leone physician executed for his political beliefs, has worked as a journalist, a documentarian, and novelist. Her lyrical second novel, The Memory of Love, tackles the impact of civil war on the lives of individuals.

Diamonds of War (DVD 553.82) is a 2002 National Geographic documentary shows the impact of the demand for diamonds on Sierra Leone.

Blood Diamond (Feature DVD), this 2006 thriller starring Leonardo DiCaprio, is loosely based on events of the Sierra Leone Civil War, and the creation of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, which attempts to curtail the trade in illegal diamonds.

Kanye West's Grammy award winning second album, Late Registration, includes the track, "Diamonds from Sierra Leone," which addresses the trade in blood diamonds.

Other books and DVDs that might be of interest:

What is the What (Fiction Eggers), Sudan

War Child  (962.404 JAL), Sudan

Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight (Biography Fuller), Zimbabwe

Beasts of No Nation (Fiction Iweala), West Africa

One Day the Soldiers Came (302.2309 LON), Various

Little Bee (Fiction Cleave), Nigeria

Hotel Rwanda (Feature DVD), Rwanda

An Ordinary Man (967.57104 RUS), Rwanda

Running the Rift (Fiction Benaron), Rwanda

The Last King of Scotland (Feature DVD), Uganda

The Last King of Scotland (Fiction Foden), Uganda

Unbowed (Biography Maathai), Kenya

King Peggy (Biography Bartels), Ghana

Please stop by the Recommendations Desk on the first floor, check out NoveList Plus on the library's website, or visit W. 11th & Bluff next week for more reading suggestions. Or submit a Personal Recommendations request, and we'll create a reading list just for you!

The Hunter by Darwyn Cooke

My book review this time around is for The Hunter, which we’ll be discussing at the next meeting of Graphic Content, the library’s graphic novel discussion group. This means we’ve got several copies of the book sitting at the Circulation Desk, so come grab one if my review makes it sound interesting. Love it or hate it, we’d love to hear your opinion when we meet at 7:00 p.m. on June 12.

The Hunter opens with twenty nearly wordless pages in which the main character, Parker, walks into New York City dirty, worn, and broke. Through a quick succession of thefts and scams he gets food, cash, new clothes, a hotel room, and a bottle of vodka. With impressively minimal effort, Parker has secured everything he needs for his immediate comfort. At the same time, and in the same slick fashion, writer/artist Darwyn Cooke has shown us everything we need to know about the character: he’s cold, confident, highly skilled, and angry. It’s a pitch-perfect introduction and you can see the whole thing on the publisher’s website.

As the book progresses, we learn that Parker was a very successful thief until his wife and one of his partners double-crossed him and left him for dead. After some recuperation, Parker has come for his revenge. His goals and simple: he wants to kill his wife and his partner and get his money back. Unfortunately, the partner has become involved with a national crime syndicate and Parker soon finds himself waging a one-man war against overwhelming odds.

Before I go any further, I feel the need to spend a little time unpacking the history of this book, since the plot is bound to sound familiar to a lot of readers. The original novel was written in 1962 by Richard Stark, a pseudonym of prolific and much-celebrated mystery author Donald Westlake. Westlake followed The Hunter with 23 more Parker novels. It’s been adapted into three movies: Point Blank (1967), Full Contact (1993), and Payback (1999).

It’s easy to see why this novel and character have been so popular. Parker is much too cold and calculating to be sympathetic, but there’s something very compelling about his ruthless and efficient pursuit of what his personal code defines as justice. His appeal is like that of a shark; however abhorrent his goals and methods may be, it’s hard not to respect his effortless competency. Parker may not have as much fun as Danny Ocean, but, like Ocean’s Eleven, The Hunter exploits the joy we find in watching a bad guy stick it to a bigger bad guy.

Clearly, Cooke can’t take any credit for the creation of Parker but he shows a very clear understanding of the character’s appeal and how to convey it to the reader. A lot of that comes from the art. Cooke’s known for throwback 60s Modernist style, so this project is right in his wheelhouse. The clothes, cars, and architecture are all straight out of a Mad Men episode. Cooke restricts himself to just two colors, black and gunmetal blue, which plays right into both the cold tone and retro feel of the book.

Cooke followed The Hunter with 2010’s The Outfit, which brought more of a fun caper-movie feel. A third book, The Score, is due out at the end of the month. If you’re crime and mystery reader who’s curious about comics and graphic novels, The Hunter’s a great place to start. Cooke’s art is really clear and easy to follow and the story doesn’t require you to know a bunch of obscure facts about some guy who runs around in long underwear and a mask.

~ Andrew, Adult Services