Springfield: An Intimate Portrait, Volume II

Explores Springfield, Ohio's neighborhoods, notable residents, softball history, Underground Railroad ties, and cultural transformations, including Gus Sun and Dwinell Grant's legacies.

This book follows in the footsteps of Springfield: An Intimate Portrait, which arrived on bookshelves in 2020 and proved to be a popular read, despite its debut during the Covid pandemic. While that first volume focused on some of Springfield, Ohio's most lively and well-known citizens, this book examines in detail several of the Champion City’s neighborhoods, and a few of the relatable folks who called those areas home. This book further delves into Springfield’s longtime association with the sport of softball, the role of the city’s Underground Railroad legacy, and the transformation which occurred over the decades with the South Fountain Historic District. Within the pages of this second volume of stories readers will also learn about one of America’s most famous vaudeville showman, Gus Sun, who brought acts such as the Marx Brothers and Bob Hope to the stages of Springfield’s iconic venues, most notably the Alhambra and Regent theaters, and his legacy within showbusiness history. Readers will also be inspired by famed avant-garde artist Dwinell Grant, whose non-traditional works continue to motivate art lovers on a global level.

Kimberly A. Rinker is an award-winning journalist, with a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Ohio State University, and a master’s in film from Tiffin University. A long-time trainer-driver on the Chicago harness racing circuit, she represented America in the 1995 International Drivers Championship in Moscow, Russia. Rinker’s features have appeared in Hoof Beats, Sports Eye, Chicago Tribune, Midwest Thoroughbred and Daily Racing Form. Her books include Chicago’s Horse Racing Venues, Arlington Park Racetrack, An Adventure Guide to Switzerland, and Immigration from the Dominican Republic. Rinker is the former President of the U.S. Harness Writers and a National Turf Writers member.