City of Scoundrels
January 24th, 2013Filed under: Stories
Gary Krist. City of Scoundrels: The 12 Days of Disaster that Gave Birth to Modern Chicago. New York: Crown Publishers (2012).
This is the story of a year as much as tells the story of twelve days. The return of troops from World War I to a shaky economy, the Spanish flu pandemic—these factors alone made 1919 a difficult year for any American city. In Chicago on July 21, the downtown crash of a blimp, the Wingfoot Express, inaugurated a cataclysmic series of events during an unthinkable twelve-day period. That story is remarkable enough, but there is another reason for aficionados of Chicago to read this book: the flesh-and-blood portrayal of the colorful Mayor Big Bill Thompson.
A recent issue of the Museum’s magazine featured an excerpt from City of Scoundrels.
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Tags: Author! Author!, blimp, Chicago history, City of Scoundrels, Gary Krist, Gary T. Johnson, Magazine, Mayor Big Bill Thompson, Wingfoot Express, World War I