“Western Kankakee County” covers the history of the towns in the western half of Kankakee County – Herscher, Bonfield, Buckingham, Cabery, Essex, Goodrich, Irwin, Lehigh, Limestone, Reddick, Union Hill, and even the now-gone coal mining town of Clarke City.

This book is absolutely essential for the story of these towns. There is a lot of new material here, but much of it comes from the author’s two books, “County West” and “County West Companion.” Those totaled almost 1,000 pages, in large, hardcover coffee table-style books. The new book is a smaller size and follows the guidelines of Arcadia, the publisher – each chapter opens with a page of text, followed by photographs and captions.

The book is 160 pages and contains the essential information of the history of each town, and the essential photographs. The photographs are especially sharp and clear. The book should be used as a textbook for local history in the Herscher school district.