Chicago has been called by many names. Nelson Algren declared it a âCity on the Make.â Carl Sandburg dubbed it the âCity of Big Shoulders.â Upton Sinclair christened it âThe Jungle,â while New Yorkers, naturally, pronounced it âthe Second City.â At last there is a book for all of us, whatever we choose to call Chicago. In this magisterial biography, historian Dominic Pacygatraces the storied past of his hometown, from the explorations of Joliet and Marquette in 1673 to the new wave of urban pioneers today. The cityâs great industrialists, reformers, and politiciansâand, indeed, the many not-so-great and downright notoriousâanimate this book, from Al Capone and Jane Addams to Mayor Richard J. Daley and President Barack Obama. But what distinguishes this book from the many others on the subject is its authorâs uncommon ability to illuminate the lives of Chicagoâs ordinary people. Raised on the cityâs South Side and employed for a time in the stockyards, Pacyga gives voice to the cityâs steelyard workers and kill floor operators, and maps the neighborhoods distinguished not by Louis Sullivan masterworks, but by bungalows and corner taverns. Filled with the cityâs one-of-a-kind characters and all of its defining moments, Chicago: A Biography is as big and boisterous as its namesakeâand as ambitious as the men and women who built it.
Price history
Jun 13, 2022
€20.29