{"product_id":"chicago-by-the-book-caxton-club-9780226468501","title":"Chicago by the Book: 101 Publications That Shaped the City and Its Image","description":"Despite its rough-and-tumble image, Chicago has long been identified as a city where books take center stage. In fact, a volume by A. J. Liebling gave the Second City its nickname. Upton Sinclair's \u003ci\u003eThe Jungle\u003c\/i\u003e arose from the midwestern capital's most infamous industry. The great Chicago Fire led to the founding of the Chicago Public Library. The city has fostered writers such as Nelson Algren, Saul Bellow, and Gwendolyn Brooks. Chicago's literary magazines \u003ci\u003eThe Little Review\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003ePoetry \u003c\/i\u003eintroduced the world to Eliot, Hemingway, Joyce, and Pound. The city's robust commercial printing industry supported a flourishing culture of the book. With this beautifully produced collection, Chicago's rich literary tradition finally gets its due. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eChicago by the Book\u003c\/i\u003e profiles 101 landmark publications about Chicago from the past 170 years that have helped define the city and its image. Each title--carefully selected by the Caxton Club, a venerable Chicago bibliophilic organization--is the focus of an illustrated essay by a leading scholar, writer, or bibliophile. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Arranged chronologically to show the history of both the city and its books, the essays can be read in order from Mrs. John H. Kinzie's 1844 \u003ci\u003eNarrative of the Massacre of Chicago\u003c\/i\u003e to Sara Paretsky's 2015 crime novel \u003ci\u003eBrush Back\u003c\/i\u003e. Or one can dip in and out, savoring reflections on the arts, sports, crime, race relations, urban planning, politics, and even Mrs. O'Leary's legendary cow. The selections do not shy from the underside of the city, recognizing that its grit and graft have as much a place in the written imagination as soaring odes and boosterism. As Neil Harris observes in his introduction, \"Even when Chicagoans celebrate their hearth and home, they do so while acknowledging deep-seated flaws.\" At the same time, this collection heartily reminds us all of what makes Chicago, as Norman Mailer called it, the \"great American city.\" \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e With essays from, among others, Ira Berkow, Thomas Dyja, Ann Durkin Keating, Alex Kotlowitz, Toni Preckwinkle, Frank Rich, Don Share, Carl Smith, Regina Taylor, Garry Wills, and William Julius Wilson; and featuring works by Saul Bellow, Gwendolyn Brooks, Sandra Cisneros, Clarence Darrow, Erik Larson, David Mamet, Studs Terkel, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Frank Lloyd Wright, and many more.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Caxton Club\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 022646850X\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780226468501\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of Chicago Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 11\/20\/2018\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 336\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 2.85lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.80h x 8.80w x 1.00d","brand":"Caxton Club","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":43981509263615,"sku":"9780226468501","price":38.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_19ed324a-2ee6-4e5d-bce2-3fe43abd8ff4.jpg?v=1683256000","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/chicago-by-the-book-caxton-club-9780226468501","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}