Exploring Top Books of Shelfari

The Plan of Chicago: Daniel Burnham and the Remaking of the American City (Chicago Visions and Revisions)

The Plan of Chicago: Daniel Burnham and the Remaking of the American City (Chicago Visions and Revisions)

by Carl S. Smith

Arguably the most influential document in the history of urban planning, Daniel Burnham’s 1909 Plan of Chicago , coauthored by Edward Bennett and produced in collaboration with the Commercial Club of Chicago, proposed many of the city’s most distinctive features, including its lakefront parks and roadways, the Magnificent Mile, and Navy Pier. Carl Smith’s fascinating history reveals the Plan ’s central role in... (more)

The Encyclopedia of Chicago

Developed by the Newberry Library with the cooperation of the Chicago Historical Society, and more than a decade in the making, The Encyclopedia of Chicago is the definitive historical reference on metropolitan Chicago. Here, hundreds of historians, journalists, and experts on everything from airlines to Zoroastrians explore all aspects of the rich world of Chicagoland, from its geological prehistory to the... (more)

To Sleep with the Angels: The Story of a Fire

To Sleep with the Angels: The Story of a Fire

by David Cowan

The story of one of the deadliest fires in American history that took the lives of ninety-two children and three nuns at a Catholic elementary school in Chicago.

When Corruption Was King: How I Helped the Mob Rule Chicago, Then Brought the Outfit Down

When Corruption Was King: How I Helped the Mob Rule Chicago, Then Brought the Outfit Down

by Robert Cooley

During the 1970s and ’80s, attorney Bob Cooley bribed judges, juries, and coppers for his Chicago Mob clients. Yet, without a pending conviction, he became the star witness in nine federal trials in the '90s that disabled the Chicago Outfit, the most powerful Mafia family in history. Mob lawyer turned mole with a million-dollar contract on his head, Cooley has clanged back and forth between sin and sainthood like... (more)

A Wild Kind of Boldness: The Chicago History Reader

A Wild Kind of Boldness: The Chicago History Reader

Adams, the editor of Chicago History magazine, has selected 35 of the best articles appearing in the magazine between 1974 and 1996, aimed at compiling a one-volume history of the Windy City and showing the metamorphosis of an 1830s frontier outpost into the great metropolis of today. The objective is to strike a balance between the process of city building and the contributions made by all Chicagoans to the... (more)

Big Bill of Chicago

by Lloyd Wendt

To some he was a humanitarian and builder. Others scorned him as a fake and friend of gangsters with "the carcass of a rhinoceros and the brain of a baboon." This rollicking history traces the rise of William Hale "Big Bill" Thompson, Chicago's famous reform mayor, from his upper class roots to his years as a teenaged cowboy, from his fame as a star athlete to the years as a master politician in a world where... (more)

Great Chicago Fires: Historic Blazes That Shaped a City (Illinois)

Great Chicago Fires: Historic Blazes That Shaped a City (Illinois)

by David Cowan

"the hand of God and the lack of fire escapes" In 1916, poet Carl Sandburg wrote about a young girl who jumps to her death in a Chicago factory fire, attributing her tragic end to "the hand of God and the lack of fire escapes." Sadly, the lesson of Anna Imroth's untimely demise would go unheeded.Instead, thousands of times in Chicago and elsewhere, the circumstances of her loss would be repeated. Perhaps... (more)

Challenging Chicago: Coping with Everyday Life, 1837-1920

Challenging Chicago: Coping with Everyday Life, 1837-1920

by Perry Duis

During an unprecedented period of rapid growth from the mid-19th century to the early 20th century, the burgeoning metropolis of Chicago quickly became a "concentration of risk", far more congested, crowded, dangerous, unpleasant, immoral, and unhealthy than newcomers had anticipated. Against this backdrop emerged innovators and institutions that made the vibrant city of today. 86 photos.

Work and Community in the Jungle: Chicago's Packinghouse Workers, 1894-1922 (Working Class in American History)

Work and Community in the Jungle: Chicago's Packinghouse Workers, 1894-1922 (Working Class in American History)

by James R. Barrett

Tinder Box: The Iroquois Theatre Disaster 1903

Tinder Box: The Iroquois Theatre Disaster 1903

by Anthony P. Hatch

This is the one-hundredth anniversary year of the worst single building fire and the most horrible theater disaster in US history. At a Christmas week matinee December 30, 1903, more than 600 people, mostly women and children, perished in less than 30 minutes in a five-week-old theater that was advertised as being "Absolutely Fireproof" and one of the most luxurious playhouses ever built in America—the... (more)

Chicago under Glass: Early Photographs from the Chicago Daily News

Chicago under Glass: Early Photographs from the Chicago Daily News

by Mark Jacob

When the Chicago Daily News closed its doors in March 1978 after over a century of publication, the city mourned the loss of an American original. The Daily News boasted the inventive, aggressive writing of such luminaries as Carl Sandburg and Ben Hecht. It was also one of the first newspapers in the country to feature black-and-white photography. In 1900, staffers from the paper’s art department began lugging... (more)

What Parish Are You From?: A Chicago Irish Community and Race Relations

What Parish Are You From?: A Chicago Irish Community and Race Relations

by Eileen M. McMahon

"An exquisite portrayal of the history of a particular neighborhood over the course of a century.-- Southern Historian " -- Southern Historian "McMahon vividly brings to life an often-neglected chapter of our history: the dynamic, often-colorful, activity of proud people seeking respect, acceptance, and socioeconomic progress....This superb book should be read and studied by many.-- Illinois Historical... (more)

The Chicago River: A Natural and Unnatural History (Illinois)

The Chicago River: A Natural and Unnatural History (Illinois)

by Libby Hill

American Regional History Publishing Award - 1st Place - Midwest Region Midwest Independent Publishers Association Merit Award - 2nd Place - History One of ten "outstanding nominations" for the Abel Wolman Award for the best new book in the field of public works history Used and abused. Straightened and channelized. Reversed and revered. But never ignored... An Intimate Biography of the Heroic Creek... (more)

Eight Men Out : The Black Sox and the 1919 World Series

Eight Men Out : The Black Sox and the 1919 World Series

by Eliot Asinof

The headlines proclaimed the 1919 fix of the World Series and attempted cover-up as "the most gigantic sporting swindle in the history of America!" First published in 1963, Eight Men Out has become a timeless classic. Eliot Asinof has reconstructed the entire scene-by-scene story of the fantastic scandal in which eight Chicago White Sox players arranged with the nation's leading gamblers to throw the Series in... (more)

The Marshall Fields: The Evolution of an American Business Dynasty

The Marshall Fields: The Evolution of an American Business Dynasty

by Axel Madsen

A classic American success story—with a twist Like J. P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, and Andrew Carnegie, Marshall Field was one of the overlords of triumphant capitalism in the Gilded Age of the late nineteenth century. However, his phenomenal wealth and generous philanthropy masked a disastrous personal life. Deserted by his wife and alienated from his children, the founder of the Field dynasty left a... (more)

Windy City Ghosts

by Dale D. Kaczmarek, Troy Taylor

The president of the Ghost Research Society takes readers on a nightmarish journey into the darkest regions of the Windy City. In this stunning book, the reader will discover not only the eerie tales and stories of the city but will be amazed by the little-known incidents and true-life paranormal investigations of Chicago.

Urban Disorder and the Shape of Belief: The Great Chicago Fire, the Haymarket Bomb, and the Model Town of Pullman

Urban Disorder and the Shape of Belief: The Great Chicago Fire, the Haymarket Bomb, and the Model Town of Pullman

by Carl S. Smith

The Great Chicago Fire of 1871, the Haymarket bombing of 1886, and the making and unmaking of the model town of Pullman—these remarkable events in what many considered the quintessential American city forced people across the country to confront the disorder that seemed inevitably to accompany urban growth and social change. In this book, Carl Smith explores the imaginative dimensions of these events as he traces... (more)

The Devil in the White City

Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America

by Erik Larson

Bringing Chicago circa 1893 to vivid life, Erik Larson's spellbinding bestseller intertwines the true tale of two men--the brilliant architect behind the legendary 1893 World's Fair, striving to secure America’s place in the world; and the cunning serial killer who used the fair to lure his victims to their death. Combining meticulous research with nail-biting storytelling, Erik Larson has crafted a narrative with... (more)

Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago (Illinois)

Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago (Illinois)

by Eric Klinenberg

On Thursday, July 13, 1995, Chicagoans awoke to a blistering day in which the temperature would reach 106 degrees. The heat index, which measures how the temperature actually feels on the body, would hit 126 degrees by the time the day was over. Meteorologists had been warning residents about a two-day heat wave, but these temperatures did not end that soon. When the heat wave broke a week later, city streets had... (more)

Chicago Days : 150 Defining Moments in the Life of a Great City

Chicago Days : 150 Defining Moments in the Life of a Great City

by Chicago Tribune

Journey back through time to relive events that shaped the Chicago metropolitan area and contributed to its world-class reputation. Chicago Days is a collection of 150 essays and 500 dramatic photographs compiled from the voluminous files of the Chicago Tribune , the Chicago Historical Society, and other important collections.

Shelfari Book Activity

Tags: chicago history

by Carl S. Smith

by David Cowan

by Robert Cooley

by Lloyd Wendt

by David Cowan

by Perry Duis

by James R. Barrett

by Anthony P. Hatch

by Mark Jacob

by Eileen M. McMahon

by Libby Hill

by Eliot Asinof

by Axel Madsen

by Dale D. Kaczmarek, Troy Taylor

by Carl S. Smith

Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America

by Erik Larson

by Eric Klinenberg

by Chicago Tribune