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Chicago by the Book

101 Publications That Shaped the City and Its Image

With an Introduction by Neil Harris
Despite its rough-and-tumble image, Chicago has long been identified as a city where books take center stage. In fact, a volume by A. J. Liebling gave the Second City its nickname. Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle arose from the midwestern capital’s most infamous industry. The great Chicago Fire led to the founding of the Chicago Public Library. The city has fostered writers such as Nelson Algren, Saul Bellow, and Gwendolyn Brooks. Chicago’s literary magazines The Little Review and Poetry introduced the world to Eliot, Hemingway, Joyce, and Pound. The city’s robust commercial printing industry supported a flourishing culture of the book. With this beautifully produced collection, Chicago’s rich literary tradition finally gets its due.

Chicago by the Book profiles 101 landmark publications about Chicago from the past 170 years that have helped define the city and its image. Each title—carefully selected by the Caxton Club, a venerable Chicago bibliophilic organization—is the focus of an illustrated essay by a leading scholar, writer, or bibliophile.

Arranged chronologically to show the history of both the city and its books, the essays can be read in order from Mrs. John H. Kinzie’s 1844 Narrative of the Massacre of Chicago to Sara Paretsky’s 2015 crime novel Brush Back. Or one can dip in and out, savoring reflections on the arts, sports, crime, race relations, urban planning, politics, and even Mrs. O’Leary’s legendary cow. The selections do not shy from the underside of the city, recognizing that its grit and graft have as much a place in the written imagination as soaring odes and boosterism. As Neil Harris observes in his introduction, “Even when Chicagoans celebrate their hearth and home, they do so while acknowledging deep-seated flaws.” At the same time, this collection heartily reminds us all of what makes Chicago, as Norman Mailer called it, the “great American city.”

With essays from, among others, Ira Berkow, Thomas Dyja, Ann Durkin Keating, Alex Kotlowitz, Toni Preckwinkle, Frank Rich, Don Share, Carl Smith, Regina Taylor, Garry Wills, and William Julius Wilson; and featuring works by Saul Bellow, Gwendolyn Brooks, Sandra Cisneros, Clarence Darrow, Erik Larson, David Mamet, Studs Terkel, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Frank Lloyd Wright, and many more.

Read an excerpt from the book.


336 pages | 145 color plates | 8 1/2 x 9 1/2 | © 2018

Biography and Letters

Chicago and Illinois

History: Urban History

Library Science and Publishing: Publishing

Reviews

“The perfect study of the perfect library of the perfect Chicago provincial. . . Absorbing.”

Chicago Tribune

“As one would expect from the Caxtonians, the production value is high—the book is brimming with images of first editions and related illustrations, ephemera, and photography—and the content is a delightful miscellany.”

Fine Books & Collections

"Perusing this book, delving into the entries, appreciating the expanse and variety of entries included, you come away with an understanding of the city of Chicago. More important, you come away understanding the impact this city has had on the nation and the world."

Publishing Research Quarterly

Table of Contents

Preface and Acknowledgments

Listing Chicago by Neil Harris

Entries

1
Juliette A. Kinzie,
Narrative of the Massacre at Chicago, 1844
Ann Durkin Keating

2
A. J. Vaas,
“Zouave Cadets Quickstep,” 1860
Alison Hinderliter

3
James W. Sheahan,
Chicago Illustrated 1830–1866,1866–67
David Buisseret

4
John M. Wing,
The Great Chicago Lake Tunnel, 1867
Carl Smith

5
John S. Wright,
Chicago: Past, Present, Future, 1868
Eric Slauter

6
Olmsted, Vaux & Co.,
Report Accompanying the Plan for Laying Out the South Park, 1871
Victoria Post Ranney

7
Edward P. Roe,
Barriers Burned Away, 1872
Neil Harris 

8
Montgomery Ward and Sears, Roebuck,
Catalogues, 1872–1985, 1894–2003
Russell Lewis

9
The Lakeside Annual Directory of the City of Chicago, 1875–1917
Rick Fizdale

10
Fergus’ Historical Series Relating to Chicago and Illinois, 1876–1903
Russell Lewis

11
Alfred T. Andreas,
History of Chicago from the Earliest Period to the Present Time, 1884–86
Kathleen Neils Conzen

12
John P. A ltgeld,
Reasons for Pardoning Fielden, Neebe and Schwab, 1893
Ron Grossman

13
Henry B. Fuller,
The Cliff-Dwellers: A Novel, 1893
Alice Schreyer

14
Rand, McNally & Co.’s Bird’s-Eye Views and Guide to Chicago, 1893
Kenneth Nebenzahl

15
Ida B. Wells,
The Reason Why the Colored American Is Not in the World’s Columbian Exposition, 1893
Toni Preckwinkle

16
William H. Carwardine,
The Pullman Strike, 1894
Leon Fink

17
William T. Stead,
If Christ Came to Chicago!, 1894
Martin E . Marty

18
Herbert S. Stone,
The Chap-Book, 1894–98
Paul F. Gehl

19
Rossiter Johnson,
A History of the World’s Columbian Exposition, 1897–98
Neil Harris

20
Finley Peter Dunne,
Mr. Dooley in Peace and War, 1898
Charles Fanning

21
John Dewey,
The School and Society, 1899
Michael P.  Wakeford

22
Theodore Dreiser,
Sister Carrie, 1900
Elliott J. Gorn

23
Frank Norris,
The Epic of the Wheat: The Pit,1903
Timothy Spears

24
The Lakeside Classics,
1903–present
Kim Coventry

25
Marshall Everett,
The Great Chicago Theater Disaster, 1904
Neil Harris

26
Dwight Heald Perkins,
Report of the Special Park Commission on the Subject of a Metropolitan Park System, 1905
Julia Bachrach

27
Upton Sinclair,
The Jungle, 1906
Dominic A . Pacyga

28
George P. Upton,
Musical Memories: My Recollections of Celebrities of the Half Century 1850–1900, 1908
Celia Hilliard

29
Daniel H. Burnham and Edward H. Bennett,
Plan of Chicago, 1909
Carl Smith

30
Jane Addams,
Twenty Years at Hull-House, with Autobiographical Notes, 1910
Rima Lunin Schultz

31
Frank Lloyd Wright,
Ausgeführte Bauten und Entwürfe, 1910–11
David Van Zanten

32
Ada and Minna Everleigh,
The Everleigh Club Illustrated, 1911
Edward C. Hirschland

33
Walter D. Moody,
Wacker’s Manual of the Plan of Chicago, 1911
Edward C. Hirschland

34
Poetry, A Magazine of Verse, 1912–present
Don Share

35
The Art Institute of Chicago,
Catalogue of the International Exhibition of Modern Art, 1913
Paul Kruty

36
Ring W. Lardner,
You Know Me Al, 1916
Lester Munson

37
Carl Sandburg,
Chicago Poems, 1916
Rosanna Warren

38
Alfred B. Yeomans,
City Residential Land Development, 1916
Daniel Bluestone

39
Chicago Commission on Race Relations,
The Negro in Chicago: A Study of Race Relations and a Race Riot, 1922
Adam Green

40
Fred Fisher,
“Chicago: That Todd’ling Town,” 1922
D. W . Krummel

41
Ben Hecht,
A Thousand and One Afternoons in Chicago, 1922
Celia Hilliard

42
The International Competition for a New Administration Building for the Chicago Tribune, 1923
Katherine Solomonson

43
Weird Tales, 1923–54
Carlo Rotella

44
Clarence Darrow,
The Plea of Clarence Darrow in Defense of Richard Loeb and Nathan Leopold Jr. on Trial for Murder, 1924
Gary T . Johnson

45
Louis H. Sullivan,
A System of Architectural Ornament, 1924
David Van Zanten

46
Robert Herrick ,
Chimes, 1926
Hanna Holborn Gray

47
Amos Alonzo Stagg and Wesley Winans Stout,
Touchdown!, 1927
Robin Lester

48
Frederic Thrasher,
The Gang, 1927
Andrew V . Papachristos

49
Baird & Warner, Inc.,
A Portfolio of Fine Apartment Homes, 1928
Teri J. Edelstein

50
Harvey Warren Zorbaugh,
The Gold Coast and the Slum, 1929
Andrew Abbott

51
Margaret Anderson,
My 30 Years’ War: An Autobiography, 1930
Liesl Olson

52
Hal Andrews,
Chicago Gang Wars in Pictures: X Marks the Spot, 1930
William Mullen

53
Dana, Melville, Poe, and Thoreau,
Four American Books Campaign, 1930
Kim Coventry

54
James T. Farrell,
Studs Lonigan: A Trilogy, 1932–35
Bruce Hatton Boyer

55
Esquire: The Magazine for Men, 1933–present
Teri J. Edelstein

56
Kauf mann & Fabry,
A Century of Progress International Exposition Chicago, 1933–1934, 1933–34
Edward C. Hirschland

57
Down Beat, 1934–present
Steve Tomashefsky

58
Edith Abbott,
The Tenements of Chicago, 1908– 1935, 1936
Henry C. Binford

59
Robert Maynard Hutchins,
The Higher Learning in America, 1936
John W . Boyer

60
Bessie Louise Pierce,
A History of Chicago, 1937–57
Perry R . Duis

61
Illinois: A Descriptive and Historical Guide, 1939
John Blew

62
Richard Wright,
Native Son, 1940
Davarian L . Baldwin

63
Chicago Plan Commission,
Forty-Four Cities in the City of Chicago, 1942
Michael P. Conzen

64
Gwendolyn Brooks,
A Street in Bronzeville, 1945
Sara Paretsky

65
St. Clair Drake and Horace R. Cayton,
Black Metropolis: A Study of Negro Life in a Northern City, 1945
William Julius Wilson

66
Ebony, 1945–present
Robert H. Jordan Jr.

67
László Moholy-­Nagy,
Vision in Motion, 1947
Lynn Martin Windsor

68
Chicago Railroad Fair Official Guide Book and Program for the Pageant ‘Wheels a-Rolling,’ 1948
Will Hansen

69
Ralph H. Burke,
Master Plan of Chicago Orchard (Douglas) Airport, 1948
Charles Waldheim

70
Frank A. Ran dall,
History of the Development of Building Construction in Chicago, 1949
Daniel Bluestone

71
Nelson Algren,
Chicago: City on the Make, 1951
Alex Kotlowitz

72
860–880 Lake Shore Drive, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe Architect, ca. 1951
John Ronan

73
Robert Maynard Hutchins and Mortimer J. Adler,
Great Books of the Western World, 1952
Tim Lacy

74
A. J. Liebling,
Chicago: The Second City, 1952
Thomas Dyja

75
Lloyd Wendt and Her man Kogan,
Give the Lady What She Wants! The Story of Marshall Field & Company, 1952
Leslie Goddard

76
Saul Bellow,
The Adventures of Augie March: A Novel, 1953
David Auburn

77
Playboy, 1953–present
Timothy J. Gilfoyle

78
Laura Fermi,
Atoms in the Family: My Life with Enrico Fermi, 1954
Daniel Meyer

79
Meyer Levin,
Compulsion, 1956
Nina Barrett

80
Lorraine Hansberry,
A Raisin in the Sun: A Drama in Three Acts, 1959
Regina Taylor

81
Eliot Asinof,
Eight Men Out: The Black Sox and the 1919 World Series, 1963
Ira Berkow

82
Carl W. Condit,
The Chicago School of Architecture, 1964
Robert Bruegmann

83
The Prairie School Review, 1964–81
John Blew

84
Studs Terkel,
Division Street: America, 1967
Garry Wills

85
Norman Mailer,
Miami and the Siege of Chicago, 1968
Frank Rich

86
Ira J. Bach,
Chicago on Foot, 1969
Jay Pridmore

87
Yasuhiro Ishimoto,
Chicago, Chicago, 1969
Stephen Daiter

88
Harold M. Mayer and RichardC. Wade,
Chicago: Growth of a Metropolis, 1969
Pauline Saliga

89
Saul D. Alinsky,
Rules for Radicals, 1971
Don Rose

90
Mike Royko,
Boss: Richard J. Daley of Chicago, 1971
Paul M . Green

91
Lois Wille,
Forever Open, Clear and Free: The Struggle for Chicago’s Lakefront, 1972
Julia Bachrach

92
Mike Rowe,
Chicago Breakdown, 1973
Paul Garon

93
David Mamet,
Sexual Perversity in Chicago and The Duck Variations, 1978
Chris Jones

94
Sandra Cisneros,
The House on Mango Street, 1984
Carlos Tortolero

95
William Cronon,
Nature’s Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West, 1991
Kathleen Neils Conzen

96
Alex Kotlowitz,
There Are No Children Here: The Story of Two Boys Growing Up in the Other America, 1991
D. Bradford Hunt

97
Chris Ware,
Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth, 2000
Hillary Chute

98
Bernard Sahlins,
Days and Nights at the Second City: A Memoir, 2001
Kelly Leonard

99
Richard F. Bales,
The Great Chicago Fire and the Myth of Mrs. O’Leary’s Cow, 2002
Glenn Humphreys

100
Erik Larson,
The Devil in the White City, 2003
Victoria Lautman

101
Sara Paretsky,
Brush Back, 2015
Gini Hartzmark

Note to the Reader
Notes
Contributors’ Biographies
Donors
Photo Credits
Index
About The Caxton Club
Colophon

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