The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America

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Author Erik Larson imbues the incredible events surrounding the 1893 Chicago World's Fair with such drama that readers may find themselves checking the book's categorization to be sure that The Devil in the White City is not, in fact, a highly imaginative novel. Larson tells the stories of two men: Daniel H. Burnham, the architect responsible for the fair's construction, and H.H. Holmes, a serial killer masquerading as a charming doctor. Burnham's challenge was immense. In a short period of time, he was forced to overcome the death of his partner and numerous other obstacles to construct the famous "White City" around which the fair was built. His efforts to complete the project, and the fair's incredible success, are skillfully related along with entertaining appearances by such notables as Buffalo Bill Cody, Susan B. Anthony, and Thomas Edison. The activities of the sinister Dr. Holmes, who is believed to be responsible for scores of murders around the time of the fair, are equally remarkable. He devised and erected the World's Fair Hotel, complete with crematorium and gas chamber, near the fairgrounds and used the event as well as his own charismatic personality to lure victims. Combining the stories of an architect and a killer in one book, mostly in alternating chapters, seems like an odd choice but it works. The magical appeal and horrifying dark side of 19th-century Chicago are both revealed through Larson's skillful writing. --John Moe

Book Description

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 all the wonder of newly discovered history and the thrills of the best fiction.

Download Description

In The Devil in the White City, Erik Larson, author of Isaac's Storm, tells the spellbinding true story of two men, an architect and a serial killer, whose fates were linked by the greatest fair in American history: the Chicago World's Fair of 1893, nicknamed "The White City."

Two men, each handsome and unusually adept at his chosen work, embodied an element of the great dynamic that characterized America's rush toward the twentieth century.

The architect was Daniel Hudson Burnham, the fair's brilliant director of works and the builder of many of the country's most important structures, including the Flatiron Building in New York and Union Station in Washington, D.C.

The murderer was Henry H. Holmes, a young doctor who, in a malign parody of the White City, built his "World's Fair Hotel" just west of the fairgrounds -- a torture palace complete with dissection table, gas chamber, and 3,000-degree crematorium.

Burnham overcame tremendous obstacles and tragedies as he organized the talents of Frederick Law Olmsted, Charles McKim, Louis Sullivan, and others to transform swampy Jackson Park into the White City, while Holmes used the attraction of the great fair and his own satanic charms to lure scores of young women to their deaths. What makes the story all the more chilling is that Holmes really lived, walking the grounds of that dream city by the lake.

The Devil in the White City draws the reader into a time of magic and majesty, made all the more appealing by a supporting cast of real-life characters, including Buffalo Bill, Theodore Dreiser, Susan B. Anthony, Thomas Edison, Archduke Francis Ferdinand, and others. In this book, the smoke, romance and mystery of the Gilded Age come alive as never before.

Erik Larson's gifts as a storyteller are magnificently displayed in this rich narrative of the master builder, the killer, and the great fair that obsessed them both.

"Engrossing... exceedingly well documented... utterly fascinating."
   CHICAGO TRIBUNE

"A dynamic, enveloping book.... Relentlessly fuses history and entertainment to give this nonfiction book the dramtic effect of a novel.... It doesn't hurt that this truth is stranger than fiction."
   THE NEW YORK TIMES

"So good, you find yourself asking how you could not know this already."
   ESQUIRE

"Another successful exploration of American history.... Larson skillfully balances the grisly details with the far-reaching implications of the World's Fair."
   USA TODAY

"As absorbing a piece of popular history as one will ever hope to find."
   SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

"Paints a dazzling picture of the Gilded Age and prefigure the American century to come."
   ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

"A wonderfully unexpected book... Larson is a historian... with a novelist's soul."
   CHICAGO SUN-TIMES

Customer Reviews:

Intriguing but Very Poorly Written.......2007-10-15

I couldn't wait to read this book because it had been recommended by so many people. But until I started reading it myself and talking about it, I didn't realize how many people started it and couldn't finish it.
Yes, I was one of those who finished it - because I like murder mysteries and I wanted to know what happened, but the other parts were so bad that I ended up using the book as my nighttime reading to put me to sleep.
The subject matter is intriguing, not only for the geography of the story, especially since I live in Chicago, but also for the fact that someone so gruesome lived here and murdered untold numbers of people, mostly women and children.
But the writer jumps all over the place - he consistently doesn't finish thoughts before he moves on to the next thing, little "asides" are inserted without any context, and the timeline jumps around in many places.
And there are unanswered questions, not the least of which is whatever happened to Holmes' 2nd wife and his child?
I'm guess I need to go back to all of those people who recommmended it to me to find out if they really liked it as much as they said they did, or were they just interested in the murder mystery. And how many just skipped to those parts to find out what happened.

A method to his madness.......2007-10-12

The title of this review pertains not only to Dr. H.H. Holmes, the notorious serial murderer who is the focus of Eric Larsen's attention, but to the author himself. This is my second Larson book (after the wonderful "Thunderstruck") and it's not hard to see Larsen's M.O.. Take a historical event that by itself might not generate mass interest, and graft onto it a grisly story of murder -- plural murders if possible. Keep the tension constantly at the boiling point, and voila! A blockbuster.

Method writing aside, DWC was terrific to listen to. Larsen illuminates a little-known corner of American history, shining a light on fascinating people and different ways of looking at things. We experience Chicago, built on train traffic and malodorous slaughter yards. We learn about the architects, like Burnham and Root, who gave us the 1893 Columbian Exposition, also know as the Chicago World's Fair, and their dreams to outdo the Parisian fair of a few years earlier. We also meet Frederick Olmsted, in his early seventies, the designer of New York's Central Park, obsessed with and protective of his vision for the landscaped walks and peaceful lagoons that he imagined for the fair. We also learn of the desperation of the America architects and engineers associated with the fair to somehow outdo the French engineering achievement that was the Eiffel Tower. He learn about life in Chicago, loud, dangerous and exhilarating. What can you say about a town in which you can step off a sidewalk and get clobbered by a speeding train?

But there is a devil in the White City, as the fair was known. Dr H.H. Holmes, ever calm and with personality magnetic to young women, is also busy building. But his construction has an entirely different end than that of Burnham and Olmsted. For while the fair's designers want to bring pleasure to their customers and glory to their city and professions, Holmes wants pleasure and glory for himself. And no law or threatening angel will stop him from committing the most dastardly of crimes against the most innocent and unsuspecting of victims.

For those who know a little about American history, Larsen's constant cloaking of details might be maddening. I happen to know how the search for the engineering marvel came out. But for the rest of us, Larsen's unending teasers and cliffhangers propel us from chapter to chapter and disk to disk. Not to mention the promise of more lurid exposes in his Holmes sections. Larsen does a pretty good job of sticking to the facts, and he states that any material in quotes (not readily discernible in the audio book) is factual, and taken from extant sources. But he is not above a fair amount of creative license outside of the boundaries of the quotation marks. His description of the killer's thoughts and movements and of the death throes of his victims may owe more than a little to Larsen's imagination and informed speculation. But no matter. His suppositions are usually plausible and always gripping.

I don't know enough about the Chicago fair to know how close Larsen gets to its essence. He does tend to overemphasize conflicts, frustrations and setbacks. But one can't ignore the fact that the fair made some mad, some fabulously rich, some well-known and some prematurely dead. An age in which a forty-year-old can succumb to pneumonia -- a disease we now respect but hardly fear -- is one in which day-to-day stakes are high indeed. I have to confess to a bit of a thrill as I anticipated Larsen's recounting of tale after juicy tale of seduction, betrayal and destruction. And Larsen pleases from the first paragraph.

Lurid but not particularly gory, "Devil in the White City" is perfect for readers like me who love their history basted with real-life mystery, spiced with drama and just a pinch of mayhem.

History and Mystery in a non-fiction page turner.......2007-10-11

Larsen deftly weaves an intriguing tale of the building of the Chicago World's Fair of 1893 with a story about a psychopath who commits several murders without detection during the same period. The book is chock full of information about prominent personages and inventions that changed the way we live today. It is a real page turner.

Fact and Speculation.......2007-10-10

The Devil In the White City raises troublesome questions about what is factual and what is pure authorial speculation. At times the Larson even privaledges his own imagination as being closer to the truth than statements provided by key players in the book. (See the first three paragraphs on page 39 for an example.) Stronger documentation and clear indications of when the text was meandering into the imaginative realm would have helped this book tremendously.

Great book, though leaves a bit to be desired...........2007-10-09

I am not a huge reader (too busy with college) but this book really caught my eye and, let me tell you, I made time for it once I realized how good it was. The book is incredibly informative and it is immediately apparent that the author did an ENORMOUS amount of research. As one of the reviewers says on a page at the front of the book, you will be left wondering how you DIDN'T know these stories already (for example, you learn about the first Ferris wheel.)

All of that said, I was hoping for much more information about the serial killer aspect... the author would devote maybe 4 pages worth of Holmes for every 10 pages worth of the Chicago Fair. I was mistakenly led to believe that the ratio was about equal and throughout the book, kept hoping that the Fair's historical accounts would become less frequent and instead would be replaced with more of the true crime aspect. At the end of the book, I came to find out that there simply wasn't enough information about the crimes to fill the book as most readers might have liked.

In short, this book is excellent and I highly recommend it. Just be forewarned, it is much more about the Chicago World Fair (and in more detail than most people probably prefer) and less about the serial killer and his

Average customer rating:

I'm off to Springfield...
wonderful book
Love This Book!
Thomas Craughwell exhumes a bizarre and long forgotten episode in our nations history.
One of the best!!

Stealing Lincoln's Body
Thomas J. Craughwell
Manufacturer: Belknap Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0674024583

Book Description

On the night of the presidential election in 1876, a gang of counterfeiters out of Chicago attempted to steal the entombed embalmed body of Abraham Lincoln and hold it for ransom. The custodian of the tomb was so shaken by the incident that he willingly dedicated the rest of his life to protecting the president's corpse.

In a lively and dramatic narrative, Thomas J. Craughwell returns to this bizarre, and largely forgotten, event with the first book to place the grave robbery in historical context. He takes us through the planning and execution of the crime and the outcome of the investigation. He describes the reactions of Mary Todd Lincoln and Robert Todd Lincoln to the theft--and the peculiar silence of a nation. He follows the unlikely tale of what happened to Lincoln's remains after the attempted robbery, and details the plan devised by the Lincoln Guard of Honor to prevent a similar abominable recurrence.

Along the way, Craughwell offers entertaining sidelights on the rise of counterfeiting in America and the establishment of the Secret Service to combat it; the prevalence of grave robberies; the art of nineteenth-century embalming; and the emergence among Irish immigrants of an ambitious middle class--and a criminal underclass.

This rousing story of hapless con men, intrepid federal agents, and ordinary Springfield citizens who honored their native son by keeping a valuable, burdensome secret for decades offers a riveting glimpse into late-nineteenth-century America, and underscores that truth really is sometimes stranger than fiction.

Customer Reviews:

I'm off to Springfield..........2007-09-21

A must read before your next tour to Springfield, IL and I apologize to all my grade school teachers for rolling my eyes during those trips. This has got to be one of the most intriguing series of historical data I have ever read. Craughwell will place you squarely in the middle of it all.

wonderful book.......2007-07-22

The box was full of ants. They spilled out when I opened the box. It was really creepy.

Love This Book!.......2007-07-16

I had just finished American Brutus and was hungry for more on the subject when I came across this charming and extremely well told narrative of the plot to steal Lincoln's body. Mr. Craughwell has a pitch perfect ear, capturing both the tragedy of the assassination and the rollicking comedy of a young country where enterprise and illegality often overlapped. Counterfeit wampum, the tricks of the embalming trade, the excesses of tabloid journalism...this is the kind of book that gets you hooked on history for life and delights those of us who got hooked so many years ago.

Thomas Craughwell exhumes a bizarre and long forgotten episode in our nations history........2007-07-16

It was an incident that I had never heard of or read about anywhere. Indeed, when I asked about a dozen friends and relatives not one of them had ever heard about it either. On Election Night 1876 Terrence Mullen and Jack Hughes attempted to steal the body of Abraham Lincoln from the sarcophagus inside the Lincoln Monument at Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, Il. It was all part of a bizarre plot concocted by a two-bit counterfeiter known as Big Jim Kennally. "Stealing Lincoln's Body" recalls this somewhat obscure tidbit of history. This is a fascinating tale that will go a long way to help the reader understand just what was going on in these United States back in 1876 and in the years that followed.
Perhaps the most important fact that you will come across in "Stealing Lincoln's Body" is that in 1876 nearly half of the money in circulation was counterfeit. I found this to be absolutely incredible! This was a serious problem that was wreaking havoc with the nation's economy as we attempted to bounce back from the Civil War. One of the most accomplished counterfeiters of that era was a man named Benjamin Boyd who hailed from Cincinnati, OH which at that time was recognized as the counterfeit capitol of the nation. It was his arrest and incarceration in October, 1875 that would eventually lead to the plot to steal the body of President Lincoln.
"Stealing Lincoln's Body" reveals the intimate details of how the plot to steal the President's body and hold it for ransom was hatched. You will be introduced to Elmer Washburn, chief of the Secret Service and to detective Patrick Tyrrell who were both instrumental in foiling the plot to steal Lincoln's body. And you will meet John Carroll Power, the custodian of the Lincoln Monument and the group of men who were part of a secret society that would come to be known as "The Lincoln Guard of Honor". In addition, you will discover the fascinating secret about the actual whereabouts of President Lincoln's body in the years following the attempt to steal it. You will also learn a bit about what was going on in the very sad life of Abraham Lincoln's widow Mary. She would never get over the assasination of her husband. In addition, you will gain some new insights into the life of the Lincoln's only surviving son Robert Todd Lincoln. Robert would have to be classified as somewhat of an enigma and his life certainly would take any number of strange twists and turns along the way.
I found "Stealing Lincoln's Body" to be an extremely engrossing read. I also would be remiss if I failed to mention the 20 pages of photographs included here that really seemed to bring these events to life for me. Thomas Craughwell has done a fine job of bringing to light an important piece of American history. Recommended!

One of the best!!.......2007-07-09

One of the best history books I've read in a long time! Some fascinating and little known facts. Couldn't put it down!

Average customer rating:

My Students Always End Up LOVING This Book!!
didn't like it at all
Fabulous Civil War historical fiction for 5th - 6th graders!!
Was this secretly a "get to sleep" medication?
187 pages of total blah

Across Five Aprils
Irene Hunt
Manufacturer: Berkley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0425182789

Customer Reviews:

My Students Always End Up LOVING This Book!!.......2007-09-14

I teach 8th grade and my students and I LOVE this novel. There are several good twists,turns, and nice surprises along the way. It may require some thinking on their part to "get into it", but I have never had one student tell me that they didn't like the book when they were finished. In fact, students would get angry if we had to skip a day! This is a great historical fiction that really sparks a great deal of discussion about he Civil War. When I read other kids complaining about this book I thought of something Eleanor Roosevelt once said. "It takes curiosity to gain intellegence." So, if you're curious about the Civil War, this is a good read!

didn't like it at all.......2007-03-17

I feel bad rating this book so low but I also don't want to rate it higher because I hate this book. The only reason why I read this book was because I had to read it for my english class at school. If it wasn't for the class there is absolutely no way I would have read this book. the teachers thought that we should read a civil war novel for english because were doing a civil war unit in social studies. Before we even started the novel I thought we were doing plenty of civil war, but no we have to do even more civil war. I probably wouldn't have such a hard time with this book if I didn't have to do school work with. I had such a hard time understanding some parts of this book because the family had so many people in it. I struggled to read this book every night not only because it was boring, but because I had to try to understand it so I could do the work that went with it. The only thing that happens in this book is in the begging the civil war is about to start and then some people from this family fight in the war and then they write letters to the family. Thats litteraly the only thing that happens in this book. In my opinion this book was boring and I would not recomend reading it, unless you really want to because you have nothing else to do.

Fabulous Civil War historical fiction for 5th - 6th graders!!.......2007-01-02

I can't say enough good things about this book!!

I was an insatiable reader as a child and this was one of my favorite books! I read this with 5th graders as a teacher and fell in love with it all over again! Many of my students had NEVER read a chapter book on their own, let alone read for pleasure, but they became captivated with reading as a result of this book and went on to read non-fiction books about the Civil War, biographies about Abraham Lincoln, Rifles for Watie, etc., on their own. This is significant since I taught in a low socio-economic area (95% free or reduced lunch). If kids find this boring, it is because it is over their heads - I read this WITH my students. They each had a copy and we read it aloud together in unison, stopping to clarify and discuss. Using historical fiction to introduce history makes it interesting and "digestible" for young people. It also sparks a desire to know more. A teacher can't tell a student everything, s/he must inspire them to investigate further. When students endeavor to learn more on their own, they are on the road to becoming educated. Abraham Lincoln himself only had one year of schooling - he educated himself with BOOKS!

Specifically, this book is about a farming family in Civil War times torn apart by the war. It helps students understand the realities of the war that pitted "brother against brother" when the oldest son goes to fight for the "other" side. When he discovers that his brother was killed in battle, this big, hulk of a man sends word to his "mama" that he did not fire the shot that killed his brother. The book makes real the pain each family member must have felt. It helps students understand that the war was not just about slavery, it was also about states' rights and whether or not the people of the US wanted the federal government to be able to tell them what to do. The future of our government depended on the outcome of the war. It also helps them understand human rights and the fact that there are many gray areas in the complex world of politics and that issues rarely have an easy black or white answer.

PARENTS, this book is worth reading with your child line by line if necessary! It can be tough, but it helps young people grow up a little and see the world more clearly, giving them a glimpse of a world outside of themselves.

Books can change you and this one will for the better, without the shocking slap in the face that sometimes accompanies life lessons. You will notice deeper understanding, more maturity, a sense of accomplishment when your child masters this book. THAT is how you develop genuine self-esteem.

For other character developing books, try The Secret Garden, The Diary of Anne Frank, and Anne of Green Gables. I can't explain why, but my 6th grade boys liked these as much as the girls, although they would never have picked them up on their own. Sounds crazy - I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't experienced it myself!

Was this secretly a "get to sleep" medication?.......2006-12-10

I had to read this book for school. My favorite part was when I got to the end and the torture was over. I'm a HUGE reader and I absolutely love books, but I think this is the only story I can say that I didn't like it AT ALL.

I did find one good thing about it. I'm a person who has problems falling asleep. I started reading the assigned chapter right before bed, and it was a very good sleep medication; it was that boring.

It had no story line whatsoever besides a detailed account of Civil War battles (and letters home that had such bad grammar and spelling it was painful to read them). All the characters were flat and unrealistic. It was the worst book I ever had to read.

Please don't waste your time on it.

187 pages of total blah.......2006-12-09

Sometimes when I read a review by someone who's just raging about the book, I think, "Well, why didn't they just quit?"

I'll dispel that notion. I had to struggle through this book for a literature class, so I had no choice to quit. Now, here's my idea of what this book would look like if it had chapter titles.

Chapter 1: Talking on the farm
Chapter 2: A war starts
Chapter 3: Battle junk and some letters and some boring stuff happens
Chapter 4: Battle junk and some letters and some boring stuff happens
Chapter 5: Battle junk and some letters and some boring stuff happens
Chapter 6: Battle junk and some letters and some boring stuff happens
Chapter 7: Battle junk and some letters and some boring stuff happens
Chapter 8: Battle junk and some letters and some boring stuff happens
Chapter 9: Battle junk and some letters and some boring stuff happens
Chapter 10: Battle junk and some letters and some boring stuff happens
Chapter 11: Battle junk and some letters and some boring stuff happens
Chapter 12: The war ends and a president gets shot, happily ever after (NOT), the end.

Making a New Deal: Industrial Workers in Chicago, 1919-1939

Average customer rating:

Great insights on the labor movement during the depression
In-depth Analysis of Chicago and Chicagoans
Outstanding view of workers in Chicago between the wars
A superior book on labor, ethnicity, and politics
Making Sense of the Great Depression

Making a New Deal: Industrial Workers in Chicago, 1919-1939
Lizabeth Cohen
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0521428386

Book Description

This book examines how it was possible and what it meant for ordinary factory workers to become effective unionists and national political participants by the mid-1930s. We follow Chicago workers as they make choices about whether to attend ethnic benefit society meetings or to go to the movies, whether to shop in local neighborhood stores or patronize the new A & P. Although workers may not have been political in traditional terms during the '20s, as they made daily decisions like these, they declared their loyalty in ways that would ultimately have political significance. As the depression worsened in the 1930s, not only did workers find their pay and working hours cut or eliminated, but the survival strategies they had developed during the 1920s were undermined. Looking elsewhere for help, workers adopted new ideological perspectives and overcame longstanding divisions among themselves to mount new kinds of collective action. Chicago workers' experiences as citizens, ethnics and blacks, wage earners and consumers all converged to make them into New Deal Democrats and CIO unionists.

Customer Reviews:

Great insights on the labor movement during the depression.......2005-01-20

Cohen presents a seemingly broad and well-supported thesis to explain the success of unionism in the 1930s. However, while all persuasive, some of her major arguments seem only tangentially relevant to either each other or her main thesis. While she provides a strong, coherent explanation as to why Chicago workers' political loyalties and attitudes shifted so dramatically during the depression, it is frankly nothing new. Yes, workers felt entitled to aid and came to favor a strong, interventionist federal government, but the connections she draws between this and the unionization of Chicago factories remain tenuous. Correlation, as they say, is not causation; but Cohen argues, both implicitly and explicitly, that workers' preference for government intervention was a major factor in the labor struggles of the 1930s. If Cohen had acknowledged that labor solidarity and preference for big-government welfare programs were but two symptoms of worker's frustration, and accordingly broadened and adjusted her thesis, her chapter about Chicagoans attitudes vis-à-vis big government could have provided excellent support for her final argument. In the context of her overarching thesis, however, the chapter seems almost like a square peg in a round hole. Instead of letting her explanations-albeit insightful-of the working class's political consciousness reflect back on the people who hold them, she advances the somewhat further-fetched notion that worker's political experiences led directly to the later growth of unionization. None of this, however, detracts from her excellent account of the organizations and institutions that were shared between the too. Cohen primarily fails by not supporting her argument that these interrelations were anything more than marriages of political expediency forged in desperate times. That the Communists dabbled in both the labor movement and various forms of political activism does not mean that both were one and the same. Cohen rejects the simple explanation that they were both separate outlets for the collective rage of the underemployed.

Ask many American historians for a short answer why the CIO was so successful in the 30s, and they may answer: because of the NLRA, hesitance of local, state, and federal governments to take the politically inexpedient step of supporting industry, and, most importantly, a mass of desperate workers imbued with a newfound distrust for the system that had betrayed them. This is essentially the answer Lizabeth Cohen arrives at; she simply takes a circuitous-if enjoyable-path to reach it. She provides a complex, nuanced answer in a place where a simple answer might do. Perhaps she's asking a different question than it appears she is. The title of her book, Making a New Deal: Industrial Workers in Chicago, 1919-1939, implies that she's looking at a topic broader than the unionization of Chicago factories, but by bookending her many salient and though-provoking claims with the tales of 1919's failed strike and the CIO's ascendancy in the 1930s, she is limiting the scope of her book far too narrowly. Nonetheless, nothing is intrinsically wrong with any of Cohen's arguments and she provides a fascinating window into the mind of America's urban, industrial workforce during the depression.

In-depth Analysis of Chicago and Chicagoans.......2004-02-15

Cohen's work based on her Ph.D. Dissertation at UC-Berkeley proves to be a comprehensive, engaging, and insightful look into popular culture in 1920s and 1930s Chicago. She moves seamlessly from labor history to cultural history to ethnic history without losing the reader by including helpful charts, figures, and photographs. Her section on the nature of mass media and mass consumption undoubtedly provides evidence of her writing style in The American Pageant.

Cohen does not create a delineation between immigrants that came to the area and natives of the Chicago area, which goes a long way in terms of bias. She covers African-Americans, Polish, Italians, and Jews without being critical one way or the other. Each chapter seems to be able to live by itself, which gives the book a flavor of being a compendium of papers instead of a conjoined work. All in all, Cohen does a wonderful job examining Chicago and Chicagoans whatever their ethnicity may be.

Outstanding view of workers in Chicago between the wars.......2003-02-17

Making a New Deal is an absolutely incredible look at workers during the Interwar period in Chicago. Cohen has crafted a monumental work that not only covers workers political and union organization but also covers the changes in their lives resulting from societal changes such as the advent of radio and the chain store.
What's particularly appealing and interesting about this book is also what it says about modern times. Cohen discusses that due to the advent of radio and national networks, fewer workers got their local and world news from ethnic newspapers or other papers in Chicago. As can be seen from this, the current lement concerning the consolidation of newspapers, TV and radio stations isn't new, it began even in the 1930s. Also interesting is how many immigrant parents worried about their children becoming influenced by American culture that they did not understand, particularly clubs, dance halls and radio music.
Cohen's work is profoundly important and most of the book is a great read.

A superior book on labor, ethnicity, and politics.......2003-02-01

A well-researched and original book describing the shifting allegiances of Chicago workers from ethnic help societies to their welfare capitalist employers to finally the US government. In addition to the subject of the growing labor movement, the book is also a great survey of the various ethnic/racial groups of 1920s Chicago and their differing experiences with Americanization.

There is a book I would like to recommend as a virtual "sequel" to this one. The Origins of the Urban Crisis by Thomas Sugrue. While Cohen's book is about the creation of the New Deal coalition in the factory neighborhoods and towns of Chicago, Sugrue's book is about the disappearance of the factories and the departure from the Democratic coalition in the 1960s of the same groups who joined it in the 30s. Sugrue's book also won a Bancroft prize and if you like one you will surely like the other.

Making Sense of the Great Depression.......2001-04-21

Cohen's synopsis of Chicago through the 1920's and into the tough times of the 1930's is truly a remarkable account that makes sense of the Great Depression in a way that truly brings it to life for the reader. Though focused on Chicago, the story she tells really holds true for the whole US and delves deeply into the real world reality of the depression experience. Carefully outlining the change in America from an industrial capitalism to a welfare state society, the important changes in America are clearly explained and brought to life through understandable and vivid human stories. The fourth chapter discussing the actual alteration in the worker's mindset that created an atmosphere for not only the New Deal, but for the federal government activity we are used to today, is truly the highlight of the book. Just chapter alone earns this book my highest recommendation, as overall it is one of the better books of this era and topic with which I am familiar.

Supermob: How Sidney Korshak and His Criminal Associates Became America's Hidden Powerbrokers

Average customer rating:

Enigmatic, yet charismatic!
mob, and crime following the Chicago to LA route
Revealing look into a long career as ultimate fixer for the mob.
Onvestigating a Jewish Mob in LA/Hollywood
Defaming the dead for profit

Supermob: How Sidney Korshak and His Criminal Associates Became America's Hidden Powerbrokers
Gus Russo
Manufacturer: Bloomsbury USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1582343896
Release Date: 2006-09-05

Book Description

Investigative reporter Gus Russo returns with his most explosive book yet, the remarkable story of the “Supermob”—a cadre of men who, over the course of decades, secretly influenced nearly every aspect of American society. Presenting startling, never-before-seen revelations about such famous members as Jules Stein, Joe Glaser, Ronald Reagan, Lew Wasserman, David Bazelon, and John Jacob Factor—as well as infamous, scrupulously low-profile members—Russo pulls the lid off of a half-century of criminal infiltration into American business, politics, and society. At the heart of it all is Sidney “The Fixer” Korshak, who from the 1940’s until his death in the 1990s, was not only the most powerful lawyer in the world, according to the FBI, but the enigmatic player behind countless 20th century power mergers, political deals, and organized crime chicaneries. As the underworld’s primary link to the corporate upperworld, Korshak’s backroom dominance and talent for anonymity will likely never be equaled. And as Supermob proves, neither will his story…

Customer Reviews:

Enigmatic, yet charismatic!.......2007-09-14

Sidney Korshak was one of the most secretive of powerbrokers in the 20th century, and this wonderful book finally unveils the secrets.
Dr Peter Teiman
Switzerland

mob, and crime following the Chicago to LA route .......2007-05-09

I loved this book - maybe because I knew half the people in it! It is a wonderful (true) yarn of Jewish immigrants settling in Chicago and how the succeeding generation made their way up the financial/political/power ladder, alas on the wrong side of the law. It reads like a novel and I always looked forward to getting to read more, and was sorry when it was over.

Revealing look into a long career as ultimate fixer for the mob........2007-02-17

Reading the life of Sid Korshack also covers an interesting saga of mob history, involving the creation of Las vegas, the entertainment industry and politics all comingled together, which the mob's hand reached into and used to great advantage for the purpose infuencing their criminal interests. There is a great amount of detail documented in this book, which at times begs belief, at the extent of the connections weaving through this mans life, blurring the line between criminal enterprise and the supposed gatekeepers sworn to uphold the law, who have no trouble acting in concert. Put together in a strong compelling narrative, a great read which flows nicely and has a definite ring of truth to it.

Onvestigating a Jewish Mob in LA/Hollywood.......2007-02-01

Mr. Russo has written a book that seems to say that a mob of Russian-American Jews really ran the mob activities during the last century. In this book, he mainly discusses the life of Sidney Korshak, a lawyer working Los Angeles that was called 'The Fixer.'

This was at a time when most of us thought that the Italians, especially those from Sicily, controlled the mob activities in most of the United States. And I don't see any references in this book to various centers of mob related activities such as New Orleans.

Mr. Russo presents an interesting survey of mob related activities, but essentially concentrates on the LA/Hollywood scene. And this could indeed have been the case. It's a ways to go however, from there to considering this to be the SuperMob over the rest of the country, the rest of the crime. Mr. Russo certainly seems to see a major conspiracy running the country. It makes interesting reading.

It is important to remember as you read the book that Sid Korshak was never arrested, never even got a parking ticket (unless of course the were all fixed).

Defaming the dead for profit.......2007-01-23

I'd never heard of Gus Russo before spotting this book. Now that I've read the book, I know why I'd never heard of Gus Russo and why I will never again lower myself to reading anything he writes.

This book is simply bad. Russo apparently believes that every person of Jewish origins who came out of a certain Chicago neighborhood during a certain time and acheived any kind of financial success was somehow connected with organized crime. Russo's "Supermob," in fact, is almost entirely Jewish, although Russo defames many other people as well. Being Jewish myself, I find Russo's painting with such a broad brush to be offensive. Russo centers his story on the late Sidney Korshak, who was more than likely well connected with various criminal and political elements. Korshak, who died at age 88, was never indicted for any criminal activity of any kind, much less convicted of any crime. Thus, the noted lawyer/hotelier/industrialist Abe Pritzker, according to Russo, was connected with oranized crime because he borrowed money from sources that may have been controlled by possibly criminal elements. Talk about guilt by association to the 9th degree.

Russo is, charitably, sloppy when it comes to facts. Less charitably, there are so many clear and obvious misstatements, distortions and omissions of fact in this book that nothing Russo says can be taken at face value.

For example, one simple and egregious example appears on page 206. In one sentence, Russo refers to a Las Vegas hotel as having three-hundred rooms. Four sentences later, the same hotel at the same moment being described has five-hundred rooms. These kinds of inconsistencies and contradictions are found on almost every page - and, no, I am not exaggerating.

Russo is a political partisan of the worst kind, the kind with only a desire to destroy someone he doesn't like, without regard for facts. Ronald Reagan is a particular target for Russo's blind zealotry. Russo prints a claim by woman named Selene Walters that she was raped by Reagan, an allegation she did not make for 39 years after the alleged event. Russo accepts the unsupported claim as fact . . . along with many other allegations, all in an effort to blacken Reagan's name. It's really strange stuff.

On page 400 Russo talks about people in the entertainment industry - all Jewish, of course - who entered into "an unethical masterstroke that allowed the companies to avoid both U.S. antitrust laws and U.S. taxes." Russo doesn't explain how the arrangement, which was perfectly legal, was "unethical". But the participants were Jews, so in Russo's eyes, something must have been wrong. Russo further displays his ignorance by demonstrating that he doesn't understand the difference between tax avoidance, which is legal, and tax evasion, which is not. Russo, frankly, strikes me as just plain ignorant about a lot of things - but not the law of defamation.

Russo specializes in the scurillous, which explains why all of his subjects are dead. The living, defamed in this manner by Russo, would surely sue.

Russo ends his tub of nonsense by asserting his rectitude: "Their apologists assert that no proof can be found of Supermob lawbreaking. Pointedly, Sid Korshak was never convicted of so much as a parking violation. But the truth is Korshak and company constantly bent, folded, mutilated, and - yes - broke the law"

Well, if you had to depend on the "evidence" presented here by Russo, the countless libels against so many people, you'd have to conclude that indeed, many of Russo's dead and defenseless targets were much suspected, but never indicted or tried or convicted, of breaking any law. They were successful and they became rich - things Russo will probably never be able to claim for himself. And perhaps that's why he seems to hate these Jews so much.

Finally, Russo is a truly mediocre writer. His material is jumbled together, his words trip over themselves. He boasts of voluminous research and, like a child, put everything in this book. At 623 pages, a good editor could have cut at least a third, if not half, the pages with no loss. An honest editor, I think, wouldn't have touched the project.

Russo himself has quite a history. A Kennedy assination theory conspiracist, he is reviled in some quarters of that cult for changing his mind often. This book is on a par with much of the trash produced by such conspiracists. At one time, Russo also claimed to be a Pulitzer Price nominee. The Pulitzer Prize committee, however, had no record of such a nomination. Russo has since stopped making the claim.

Don't waste your money or your time on this dreadful nonsense.

Jerry

Chicago Apartments: A Century of Lakefront Luxury (Urban Domestic Architecture Series)

Average customer rating:

A Surprise
Gold Coast Chicago
For the lake front dreamers
The Rise of Chicago

Chicago Apartments: A Century of Lakefront Luxury (Urban Domestic Architecture Series)
Neil Harris
Manufacturer: Acanthus Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Architecture | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0926494252
Release Date: 2004-09-01

Product Description

CHICAGO APARTMENTS is a unique examination of nearly100 elevator structures whose luxurious amenities, generous or unusual interior spaces, architectural features, locations or innovations have made them significant in the history of Chicago apartment life. An introductory essay traces larger themes in the development of the city and the stories behind the creation of these fabled structures.

Customer Reviews:

A Surprise.......2006-06-22

This book was a gift from a friend, since I live in a lakefront high-rise and have an interest in Chicago architecture, I walk past dozens of these building throughout my daily travels in the city with a new appreciation now. The amazing vintage photographs plus the many detailed floor plans, along with splendid elevation drawings make this book both a joy and a valuable addition to any library.

Gold Coast Chicago.......2005-09-21

This is a gorgeous book, I really can't say enough about the quality of books Acanthus Press puts out, they are amazing. The black and white photos are beautiful, they are crisp and vivid. The book is quite thorough, and I found the text to be scholarly and highly informative. I was pleased that exterior as well as interior photos where used, the reader really gets a feel for the buildings and you get an excellent cross section of the top apartment buildings. Chicago is second only to New York in luxurious apartment buildings and this book does an amazing job of cataloging the best examples, I loved this book. The book even includes a silk book mark. If you are the least bit interested in this subject, buy this book, you will not be disappointed, it is first rate. A book for those who love books.

For the lake front dreamers.......2004-11-26

This is a first-rate survey of the great apartment buildings of Chicago. The title is misleading since Professor Harris covers over 120 years of architecture with his nearly 100 buildings. The interior decoration shots are fantastic: there are modernist interiors alongside misplaced historical interiors, there are Elkins and Adler designs too. Harris'introduction is a wealth of sociological information. This is a must buy for anybody interested in apartment buildings in Chicago.

The Rise of Chicago.......2004-11-16

Having been born in the windy city it was with great relish that I bought Mr. Harris' book. I was not disappointed. It is fascinating and full of details about the people who designed these dwellings and the people who populated them. Overlooking Lake Michigan these buildings were the envy of many cities. The natural shoreline provided a perfect setting for the imagination of the architects and builders who created these edifices for their wealthy inhabitants. The changes that took place as the city became more vertical and more populace is a truly exciting look into the growth of the United States. Mr. Harris has done a superb job.

Murder City: The Bloody History of Chicago in the Twenties

Average customer rating:

Murder City - Good Book
Lament for a former Chicago Newspaper
Dad's stories were true!
Good If Flawed
Welcome to reality

Murder City: The Bloody History of Chicago in the Twenties
Michael Lesy
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

20th Century | World | History | Subjects | Books

General | World | History | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0393060306

Book Description

Michael Lesy's portrait of a gruesome era could be fiction—but it's not.

"Things began as they usually did: Someone shot someone else." So begins a chapter of Michael Lesy's disturbingly satisfying account of Chicago in the 1920s, the epicenter of murder in America. A city where daily newspapers fell over each other to cover the latest mayhem. A city where professionals and amateurs alike snuffed one another out, and often for the most banal of reasons, such as wanting a Packard twin-six. Men killing men, men killing women, women killing men—crimes of loot and love. Just as Lesy's first book, Wisconsin Death Trip, subverted the accepted notion of the Gay Nineties, so Murder City gives us the dark side of the Jazz Age. Lesy's sharp, fearless storytelling makes a compelling case that this collection of criminals may be the progenitors of our modern age. 60 illustrations.

Customer Reviews:

Murder City - Good Book.......2007-05-08

If you have any interest in the history of Chicago, the twenties, or just true crime, this is a really interesting book. The author chose several stories of Chicago murders that took place in the early twentieth century - including the tale of the women who inspired the musical "Chicago". There is a good assortment of stories - not just "mob murders' fow which Chicago in the twenties is known.

Lament for a former Chicago Newspaper.......2007-03-30

The real stars of this book are the photographs from the defunct "Chicago Daily News." This newspaper was a casualty of declining circulation in the Seventies. It was arguably one of the finer journals in the city, but it was a victim of the television evening news broadcasts that helped eliminate reader interest in newspapers published in the afternoon. "The Chicago Today," the rechristened "Chicago American," succumbed at the same approximate time. "The Daily News" was unique in that it did not print a separate Sunday issue. Saturday's edition was filled with all of the weekend supplements.

These photographs were culled from an exhibit at the Chicago Historical Society and available online from the Library of Congress. One great challenge that Michael Lesy faced was choosing from the thousands of stills in the museum collection and deciding which would be included in the book. Some of the glass plates are damaged while others are as clear as if the photos were developed yesterday.

I do wish that Lesy would have elected to quote from "The Daily News" more often in the text. References to "The Chicago Tribune" predominate. One would think that having relied upon the shutterbugs at "The Daily News" the author would have checked out the articles that accompanied the pictures.

There are also a number of factual errors and omissions in the text. For example, absolutely no mention is made of the disputed allegations that Ben Hecht discovered several incriminating letters of a homoerotic nature that were written by Carl Wanderer and which helped expose his role in plotting his pregnant wife's murder. According to this controversial account, Wanderer confessed his crime after being confronted with the letters. Lesy is not a Chicago native and his lack of familiarity with local history sometimes shows: He repeatedly refers to Municipal Court Judge Edgar Jonas as "Jones;" Lesy marvels that various juries were composed entirely of men, as if this occurred as a result of the selection process, but archaic Illinois jury laws were not revised to permit females to serve as jurors until the late Thirties. Nonetheless, the book is still interesting to read.

How unfortunate it is that Chicagoans do not have the wealth of newspaper choices that their parents and grandparents enjoyed. The monolithic media monopoly does not serve Illinoisians well, but it is an all too familiar complaint that has driven many to the Internet.

Dad's stories were true!.......2007-03-27

I am really enjoying reading "Murder City"...some of the stories are familiar, as I heard of them from my dad and various aunts & uncles who grew up in Chicago in the 1920s. And some are new to me, but no less interesting, especially the one about the Northwestern University student who died during a hazing incident. If anything, reading this book has led me to believe that human beings never really change, that anger, lust, jealousy and more banal things, such as drunkenness, will lead inevitably to "crimes of passion."

Good If Flawed.......2007-03-18

This is an intresting look at the troubled history of Chicago in the 1920s. Lesy steers clear of "five star" murders like Leopold & Lobe and gives us stories of ordinary people who committed murder. He has a knack for giving timelines on the cases that intersected each other, enabling his reader to feel, as the Chicago public felt, the terrible innundation of killings in the city in the 20s, as well as the undeniable fascination about seeing who would get away with murder. He provides insight into the city's way of working (which hasn't changed that much), as well as some truly interesting facts, such as how the musical Chicago evolved from the cases of two women who murdered their lovers and walked.

Lesy's writing does have flaws. Sometimes he seems to contradict himself. In one case out of Wisconsin he writes that the murder victim burned all the letters of her killer; he then writes that the coroner conducting her autopsy found a letter from the killer stuck in her clothes. Upon review I realized that Lesy should have said that the girl burned all the letters except the one she was "wearing" when he killed her. Lesy's writing sometimes suffers from a lack of clarity that requires the reader to reread passages to get the intended meaning.

Far more serious, though, is the fact that Lesy gets some criminal history wrong. In a chapter that touches on a murder committed by Frank and Peter Gusenberg, he states that the brothers were responsible for the death of Machine Gun Jack McGurn "in a phone booth". Which would be pretty difficult to do since (A) McGurn died on Valentine's Day 1936 in a bowling alley, and (B)McGurn was the chief hitman on the St. Valentine's Day Massacre in which Frank and Pete Gusenberg died. This lapse is due to plain carelessness and should never have made it into the published manuscript. There are other errors but this is the most glaring.

That being said, Lesy writes well and uses irony and a wry sense of humor that works in a book about Chicago murders, especially when it discusses the city's gangsters and politcians. Flaws and all, I recommend Murder City for any student of Chicago history.

Welcome to reality.......2007-03-15

With reality TV being such a phenomenon these days, I was expecting a book like "Murder City" to come along. A book that takes literary snapshots of moments in the bloodier side of Chicago history. I'm not talking about the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, the Dean O'Banion murder, or the killing of Assistant State's Attorney McSwiggin. I'm referring to the average Joes and Janes who lived, killed each other, and died without the same fanfare and media frenzy that accompanied the gangster assassinations of the same period. There are some underworld murders examined here, such as the Hymie Weiss hit, but they don't dominate the book. Each chapter is accompanied by photos of victims, crime scenes, or key players in the drama.

Themes that concern us today are found in these pages: abused women killing their attackers, fraternity hazing gone too far, men murdering the women they love as the ultimate act of control. As I read, I kept thinking, "The clothes change, but basic human nature does not."

Abraham Lincoln : Speeches and Writings 1832-1858 (Library of America)

Average customer rating:

Early writings of the great Lincoln
Lincoln Source Documents in a Gorgeous Printing
Great volume culminates in the Lincoln-Douglas debates
#3 in my list of Libary of America books...(of 4)

Abraham Lincoln : Speeches and Writings 1832-1858 (Library of America)
Abraham Lincoln , and Don E. Fehrenbacher
Manufacturer: Library of America
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0940450437

Customer Reviews:

Early writings of the great Lincoln.......2007-10-18

The writings of Lincoln are pervaded not only by an enormous intelligence and great power and feeling for the language, but by a wisdom and humility. Reading just a small part of the speeches and letters collected here gives the feeling nonetheless that the political leaders and the American public of that time were far more demanding, disciplined and intelligent than the public is today. Can you imagine anyone today having the patience to listen to six three- hour debates as was the case with the Lincoln-Douglas debates?
Another aspect of reading this work is simply learning and knowing more being more in the presence of America's greatest President and perhaps most exemplary moral figure. In this sense the feeling is that this volume is for those who truly admire Lincoln and wish to know his thought in greater depth.
Lincoln was not simply America's greatest President he was also the President whose writing and thought were unsurpassed. This volume gives further evidence of the greatness which most will know of from his even more famous works, the Gettysburg Address, and 'The Second Inaugural '.

Lincoln Source Documents in a Gorgeous Printing.......2007-08-03

The Library of America's collection of original Lincoln source documents in two volumes is a wonderful addition to the library of any person interested in this portion of American history. The two volumes represent the best scholarship available today in terms of organizing and duplicating Lincoln's own words as they are found in personal letters, speech transcriptions, notes, memos, and other forms of written communication. This is a collection that is a fascinating look at the inner thoughts of Lincoln as he progresses from a congressional candidate in the 1850's, then as a candidate for President in 1860, and then as he prosecutes the war of the states until the time of his assassination.

The Library of America represents a rare and welcome to the world of print publishing. Funded from a continuous trust that is structured to keep every single volume perpetually in print, the Library prints only on the finest paper, using only the best inks, and implementing the best binding technology available. These books are true library quality, with ultra-high quality paper from Germany and bindings from the Netherlands, and truly represent the finest book quality typically seen in today's book world. The perpetual trust of the Library nevertheless keeps the price of these volumes at a reasonable level, with most volumes available between $20 and $40 dollars. Once you handle one, you'll undoubtedly see what a real value this series represents.

Lincoln's writings and recorded speeches are incredibly interesting to read. These works provide remarkable insight into this most unusual of people, and posterity is pleased that so much of these items were saved and eventually collated for later review. Can we make ourselves belief that this is largely a self-educated man who writes English prose at a level rarely seen even in the most educated of individuals? Following the logic posed in many of these letters, coupled with the piecing insights into human nature that Lincoln seemed to exude, can give us an experience that extends our thinking and challenges our views. Because Lincoln is canonized in history, we really don't understand the real man all that well. These personal writings of Lincoln help de-mystify the true person behind the persona, and make us see the man, not just the legend.

Great volume culminates in the Lincoln-Douglas debates.......2005-05-11

Abraham Lincoln was a great President. Where he falls on your list is a private judgment, but most put him at or near the top. It is true that there is a more vocal element of detractors nowadays, but those voices tend to also advocate versions of America that most of us would not recognize nor care to legitimate. This volume begins with Lincoln as a young man of twenty-three beginning political career.

The letters are quite interesting and cover a range of topics. It is interesting to note his private correspondence on various topics such as the Mexican War and compare those notes to his public speeches. While he is clearly a politician and aware of the need to garner votes, he uses his powerful intellect to find the line that will hold to his principles and still be convincing to the electorate.

This volume culminates with the seven famed Lincoln - Douglas debates when those two candidates contended for a seat in the Senate representing Illinois. Remember, this was before Senators were directly elected. These were debates to win popular support, but also to show political viability so when the public selected the legislature, the legislature would choose the preferred candidate for the Senate. These debates received national attention, which pleased both candidates. The format was this: first speaker for one hour, response by the second speaker for an hour and a half, the first speaker responds for a half hour. They alternated who spoke first with each debate. They went after each other directly with challenges, personal attacks, interruptions, and appeals to the crowd. Can you imagine any of our candidates even attempting such a risky format nowadays?

As I read the debates, Douglas seems to be a panderer and clearly supporting slavery in a way that seems odd for someone seeking office in Illinois. However, he was really positioning himself for the Presidency. Stephen Douglas did become Senator while Lincoln did not. However, two years later, Douglas did not get nominated as a candidate for President and Lincoln won the Presidency.

This great volume has a chronology of Lincoln's life and notes on the texts and an index.

#3 in my list of Libary of America books...(of 4).......1999-12-14

I bought both volumns of this over the summer. I first bought Libary of America's publication of Jefferson which is a must have. Then Franklin. Those two are extremely good and I highly recommend them to anyone interested in raw historical material.

Now as for the volumes on Lincoln, don't get me wrong; they are also extremely good. As with all of these books, it is a rewarding reading experience to peruse collections of un-edited letters and speeches in their chronological order.

These volumes have every conceivable bit of correspondence imaginable. Lincoln apparently preferred the short letter, as there are several single paragraph letters to generals on the field and the like. He also wrote with simplicity and suprising bluntness. Volume 1 has a number of early speeches and famous debates which give you a sense of the lawyer turned politician. These of course are very lengthy. But also in volumes 1 and 2 there are numerous short letters which include urgent notes to General McClellan and others that would have made me quit the post had I been the receiver! In contrast there are letters revealing Lincolns more sensitive personal side.

I'm rating Lincoln's volumes just behind those of Jefferson and Franklin because there are no references detailing the circumstances for each writing. I felt a little lost not knowing what the impetus was behind the letters and correspondence. This is a departure from the Jefferson and Franklin books, which provide very detailed notes.

Finally I should say that Library of America's books are of very high quality for more than their authorship and reading content. All are bound nicely and printed on bible paper-like acid free paper. They are of exceptional quality just as books. I would say they are the best quality available.

Customer Reviews:

History? If you are kind!.......2003-02-14

I don't mean to be unkind, but this book is really pretty worthless as much more than something you leave on your coffee table to impress your less perseptive guests. All the other reviews must have been written by the author or his friends, because their descriptions have little to do with my own perception of this book. In the first place, it is written in a style that does not inspire confidence; the tone is somewhere between that of a rookie newspaper reporter and that of a game show host. In the second place, the content of the book, which proports to be "social history", is of the caliber of a weak television documentary, barely organized and calculated to entertain. Too be sure, the accouterments of a real historical work are here (notes etc.), but the "You Are There" approach is more appropriate for an eighth grade social studies text than a serious work of history. I suppose that if you are seeking a mildly amusing read that requires little thought or contemplation, this would do. But surely the author, who is a professor of history, is capable of approaching this promising subject with some professionalism. If so, it is not evident here. Don't waste your time.

The Development of a City Culture.......1999-11-24

This book really touched me very deeply. My family came to the city during the late 1800's. The struggles of the people and the mass of challenges they faced seems daunting to those of us who are ancestors.

This book truly gave me a new perspective on the struggles that my family went through when they settled in Chicago. It gives me a new view of life as we now have it compared to those days.

One would never really understand what the people of Chicago faced during the growth of the city during the era discussed in this book. Duiz captured the essence of the struggles quite well.

To the author, I say, "Thanks for the wonderful insights you gave me! "

The Development of a City Culture.......1999-11-24

This book truly gave me a new perspective on the struggles that my family went through when they settled in Chicago. It gives me a new view of life as we now have it compared to those days.

One would never really understand what the people of Chicago faced during the growth of the city during the era discussed in this book. Duiz capyured the essence of the struggles quite well.

To the author, I say Thanks for the wonderful insights you gave me!

stories of our city's infrastructures-told like a novel........1999-04-19

Fascinating prose on subjects I would rarely consider interesting. Yet this author makes the stories of the city's infrustructure read like a novel. Truly impressed by his referenced work and his knowledge of the city. Made me wish I could step back in time.

A must read for every reader of Chicago history........1999-01-29

For anyone who knows the challenges of "coping with every day life" in Chicago, in this book lies many surprises. Modern day dwellers of Chicago will appreciate all those who came before them. Modern day historians of Chicago will wish they wrote this book. I, admittedly a representative of both groups, look at Chicago and it's history with a greater understanding of the people who "coped" before me. People are the key. From the first page the reader begins to identify with the needs and dreams of people just trying to make ends meet. The origins of our neighborhoods and the history of the people who built them give meaning and surprising insight how Chicago is the sum of all it's parts. Challenging Chicago also offers a treasure of old photographs that add to the story of everyday life in Chicago. If you're buying a book on Chicago this year-buy this one. Your next walk down the streets of Chicago will come alive with the stories of people who walked there first.

Average customer rating:

I hate to spoil the party, but...
perfection on the page
I laughed so hard, I nearly died!
Gods and monsters
A wonderful read

On The Wings of Heroes
Richard Peck
Manufacturer: Dial
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Humorous | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

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General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0803730810

Book Description

Davy BowmanÂ's brother and their dad hung the moon. Dad looks forward to Halloween more than a kid, and DavyÂ's brother, Bill, flies B-17s. Davy adores these two heroes and tries his best to follow their lead, especially now.

World War II has invaded DavyÂ's homefront boyhood. ThereÂ's an air raid drill in the classroom, and being a kid is an endless scrap drive. Bill has joined up, breaking their dadÂ's heart. ItÂ's an intense, confusing time, and one that will invite Davy to grow up in a hurry.

Still, Richard Peck is a master of comedy, and even in this novel of wartime uncertainty, he infuses his tale with humor: oddballs and rascals and boyhood misadventures alongside the poignant moments. This is one of Richard PeckÂ's very finest novelsÂ—a tender, unforgettable portrait of the World War II homefront and a familyÂ's love.

Customer Reviews:

I hate to spoil the party, but..........2007-08-27

I grew tired of this book about halfway through and put it down. The prose is perfect, the imagery vivid, but nothing kept pulling me further into the book. I feel hesitant criticizing the award-winning author, but I can't imagine a middle school boy reading this book unless he had to, because nothing much really happens.

perfection on the page.......2007-08-11

Richard Peck is the best. He makes you want to turn the page for all the right reasons. Add this book to the long list of other great things RP has written. Bravo!

I laughed so hard, I nearly died!.......2007-07-27

(Listened to this book on CD) This book is a real gem. I rented some books on tape from my local library for a trip. This was the first one I popped in. I was rivited!! I laughed so hard....I thought I was gonna die. I even had to stop at a rest stop to use the mens room. While I was in there, the last scene of the story came to my mind and I began to laugh uncontrollably!. The man beside must have thought I was a real nut. This is truly a well written, well read book. I ended up listening to it over again...3 times. In fact I never even touched the other books I rented. I tried to listen to one other and almost immediately had to pop it out and put "Wings Of Heros" back in. I made my kids and wife listen to it. I love this book! I cannot highy reccommend it enough. The Charactors are priceless. It is one of the few books on tape that I would say is perfect! The scene where the boy is in school and they are having a practice air raid will leave you in stitches! The man who read this did such a good job, that I'm not sure I would have loved it as well as I do If I had read it myself. If you need a good laugh and love a good story and want to feel really good all over...do yourself a favor and rent or buy this book...then go for a 4 hour drive and enjoy!

Gods and monsters.......2007-05-14

Richard Peck is such an old-fashioned guy. Go through his books and look what you find. Nasty bullies getting their due. Pranks. Upright citizens. Heroes. Work that makes a boy strong. And wise old people who dole out necessary advice and make the rest of us look weak in comparison. It takes a couple heaping helpfuls of nostalgia to write a Richard Peck book, and as far as I can figure it, nostalgia falls into two distinct categories: Good Nostalgia and Bad Nostalgia. Bad Nostalgia bores the socks off its readers. It wallows too deeply in the idea of how great things used to be and would rather eat its own shoes than allow that there might be some pretty great things going on right now. Good Nostalgia's a different beast entirely. It conjures up the past, transplanting its readers to another time. A time where there was good and there was bad, but most of all there was just a world that wasn't too unlike our own. "On the Wings of Heroes" is rife with Good Nostalgia. It bears the flaws of its genre without apology, but is a pretty good book in the end anyway.

Everyone has to have a hero. For Davy it's his older brother Bill. It's World War II and Bill's off to fight in a handsome B-17, carrying with him his small town's good wishes. Life before and during the war couldn't be more different. Before the war Davy spent a lot of time with his best friend Scooter, trying out their new bikes, enjoying Halloween, and playing in the warm summer nights. During is different. Now the kids are doing regular collections for the war effort. Bill's been sent off to fight and Davy's avoiding the malevolent (not to say violent) Beverly C. while dealing with family worries to boot. With a great cast of kooky characters and superb writing, a book that could have been yet another dull historical novel distinguishes itself. A great slice from the past.

A co-worker of mine is a gigantic Richard Peck fan. She's read his books cover to cover and then back again. As such, she's probably his biggest critic. After going through "Heroes", she found she was not entirely impressed. Richard Peck lite, she called it. She even pointed out certain elements to me. The dirty bully girl in the book? Wasn't she in a couple of his stories before? Ditto the ancient teacher idea, the pranks, and even the Midwestern setting. To her eyes, he's done it all before and he's done it better. Be that as it may, I am not a fan of her caliber. I read A Long Way From Chicago and A Year Down Yonder and enjoyed them just fine. Then I read The Teacher's Funeral and Here Lies the Librarian and was disappointed. So for me, "On the Wings of Heroes" represents a return to form. Sure Peck is reusing some old tropes and techniques. Still, if you take the book in and of itself and don't compare it to his past or future work, I think it stands rather nicely all on its own. It may not garner the biggest awards out there, but there's no doubt in my mind that it'll have its fans.

Peck's writing makes the whole enterprise well worth a peek anyway. First of all, he's funny, which is of vast unrecognized importance. Like any kid assigned this in school, I actually wasn't too keen on reading, "On the Wings of Heroes." Historical fiction is fine and all but I shy away from it when I can. So it's nice to get sucked into novel, especially if it's against your will. The individual sentences get all evocative and suggestions are made of future events. For example, whenever Davy's father hears of an injustice or a wrong, we hear that, "something coiled in him again." That "something" never uncoils in this book, but I suspect that it probably happens long after this particular story is over.

Of course, Peck writes of a white white world. If you're looking for a little diversity, he's not your man. It doesn't usually occur to me when I read him, but this book in particular shows just how pale as newly fallen snow Peck's universe is. He doesn't deal with racism or social injustice much at all. So when the DAR gets a mention, it sticks out more for me than it might if there was a single African-American character living in this Midwestern American town. Those of you who would prefer to read a book with a little more racial complexity would do well to look to another novel.

Will kids read it? Not if you don't sell it to them. Look, if a kid is standing in front of a row of books and one book has the title, Alcatraz Versus The Evil Librarians and the other book reads, "On the Wings of Heroes" which book is the kid going to pick up first? I mean some will read this book and love it, no question. It sounds odd to say, but the book this reminded me the most of was Ray Bradbury's, Dandelion Wine. Know me and know my love of "Dandelion Wine" and you'll see how grand a compliment this really is. It doesn't have Bradbury's dark surreal undercurrents, of course, but there's a lot of joy here and a lot of familiar ideas. Plus, other books crop up in the old memory as well, like the moment when the root beer brewing in the basement explodes like a fourteen gun salute. It reminded me of nothing so much as the brewing that goes on in that great 30s novel, Cheaper by the Dozen]. Though it shouldn't be confused with an accurate representation of the past in all respects, there's a lot in Peck's novel to enjoy. It has the ability to make children nostalgic for a time they will never know. Recommended.

A wonderful read.......2007-04-27

I cannot think of any author who does more to refresh the palate and revive the spirit than Richard Peck. He has such fun telling a story. His uplifting and moving novel, On the 'Wings of Heroes' was exactly what I was in the mood for.

This book is an extension, of sorts, of a short story he contributed to 'Guys Write for Guys Read' by Jon Scieszka about his wonderful father and his love of Halloween.

This story begins on the eve of WWII. Peck perfectly evokes a time when neighbors knew each other and families banded together to support their community and the war effort with scrap metal drives, jalopy parades, black outs and tire rationing.

Davy Bowman's beloved older brother enlists and becomes a B-17 bombardier, flying missions over Germany. Davy worships his brother and his dad. His father loves his boys and fears for the oldest one because, as a WWI veteran, he knows war. The relationship between the boys and their dad is wonderfully written. Peck commented at a book signing, "I'm trying to share my father with boys who don't have them."

Sugar rationing, milkweed collecting and Boy Scout paper drives are part of the lives of Davy and his best friend Scooter. School teachers are called away to work in the war plants leaving bullies free reign in the classroom. News on the radio is all important and loving grandparents arrive to help out when times are tough.

The town is full of Peck's typically quirky characters and life lessons. Is the shotgun wielding Miss Titus crazy or the canniest substitute teacher in the world? What is in the trunk in Mr. Stonecypher's scary attic?

Certainly, Davy's heroes are his father and his brother but after reading this book you understand the heroism of those on the home front too: the long retired teacher who steps into the classroom again; the father whose son did not come home from WWI but supports the war effort; the victory gardens; blue, silver, and gold stars in the windows representing families in waiting or grieving.

The beauty, tenderness and humor in this very American story put it at the top of my favorite books list.

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