Advanced
Error loading page.
Try refreshing the page. If that doesn't work, there may be a network issue, and you can use our self test page to see what's preventing the page from loading.
Learn more about possible network issues or contact support for more help.
Title details for City of Scoundrels by Gary Krist - Available

City of Scoundrels

The 12 Days of Disaster That Gave Birth to Modern Chicago

by Gary Krist
Rob Shapiro
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
Borrow Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
1 of 1 copy available
When 1919 began, the city of Chicago seemed on the verge of transformation. Modernizers had an audacious, expensive plan to turn the city from a brawling, unglamorous place into “the Metropolis of the World.” But just as the dream seemed within reach, pandemonium broke loose and the city’s highest ambitions were suddenly under attack by the same unbridled energies that had given birth to them in the first place. 
 
It began on a balmy Monday afternoon when a blimp in flames crashed through the roof of a busy downtown bank, incinerating those inside. Within days, a racial incident at a hot, crowded South Side beach spiraled into one of the worst urban riots in American history, followed by a transit strike that paralyzed the city. Then, when it seemed as if things could get no worse, police searching for a six-year-old girl discovered her body in a dark North Side basement.
 
City of Scoundrels captures the tumultuous birth of the modern American city, with all of its light and dark aspects in vivid relief.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    April 17, 2012

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780307917744
      • File size: 275667 KB
      • Duration: 09:34:18

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      What shapes a city? In the case of Chicago, several catastrophic events almost 100 years ago helped form the Midwestern metropolis. In 1919, residents endured a horrific accident, massive riots, and a widening social-class system. Through it all was ÒBig BillÓ Thompson, a political machine in the making. As Krist details the political and social climate of the day, Rob Shapiro's steady narration gives the listener a feel for what Chicagoans had to endure. Shapiro doesn't overdo the drama in this well-researched story about the city's growing pains, Big Bill's larger-than-life persona, and residents' frustrations. Rather, he acts as an objective history teacher, letting the facts speak for themselves. M.B. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      January 23, 2012
      Drawing readers in by focusing on the stories of individual Chicoans affected by a series of tragic events, Krist (The White Cascade) describes a Chicago that was “push… to the edge of civic disintegration” by 12 days of crises in the summer of 1919. On Monday, July 21, an experimental Goodyear blimp flying over the densely populated downtown Loop district to promote an amusement park suddenly burst into flames and crashed into the Illinois Trust and Savings Bank, injuring 27 and killing 13. The next day, the six-year-old daughter of Scottish immigrant grocers was snatched and choked to death by a neighbor who buried her body in the basement of their apartment building. On Saturday, July 26, a highly regarded municipal court judge committed suicide by jumping from his City Hall chambers, and on Sunday, a black youth’s death caused by a white bather at a whites’-only beach sparked a race riot on the South Side. As the rioting continued, a transit strike paralyzed Chicago on Tuesday, July 29, and endangering lives by playing politics, the controversial Mayor Big Bill Thompson dithered about calling in the National Guard to quell the violence. Krist serves up a solid, well-informed, and vibrant slice of urban history. Map.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

Loading