Peoria Stories: Tales from the Illinois Heartland

Ken Zurski is a longtime broadcaster and author of The Wreck of the Columbia. A native of Chicagoland, where he was a radio personality for many years, Ken now works in Peoria and resides in Morton with his wife Connie and two children, Sam and Nora. Peoria Stories is his second book. Connect with Ken online at facebook.com/kenzurskiauthor.

Journal Star: "Ken Zurski's new book takes a storyteller's angle to local history.

"The result is Peoria Stories: Tales from the Illinois Heartland, which seeks not so much to chronicle facts and figures but breathe life into throwback intersections between big names and the river city.

"The likes of Teddy Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln and Carrie Nation appeared in Peoria, just as they do in Peoria Stories. But Zurski, unsatisfied with timeworn acknowledgements of their visits, aims for deeper views. Why did Roosevelt visit Grandview Drive? How did Lincoln's speech change his career? What prevented Nation from swinging her axe?

"Over its 208 pages, Peoria Stories answers those questions and tells more tales. Still, amid personalities of renown and impact, the star is Peoria. Zurski, anchor of local radio's Traffic One and author of the 2012 book The Wreck of the Columbia, sketches the city's and region's roles during national movements and events at various points in time."