Gary Krist's City of Scoundrels is an in-depth look at Chicago's summer of 1919. In 12 short days, the city experienced the following: a flaming blimp crashing through one of the city's banks, killing a dozen passengers and bystanders; a violent race riot; a paralyzing transit strike; and the abduction and murder of a six-year-old girl. Just for good measure, the mayor of Chicago, "Big Bill" Thompson, and governor of Illinois, Frank Lowden, are practically sworn enemies.
Using newspaper articles, personal diaries, court records, and any number of other original sources, Krist reconstructs Chicago as it was in 1919, bringing all of these events and personalities alive. The style of this book is highly reminiscent of Erik Larsen's wonderful Devil in the White City. And, in fact, City of Scoundrels in many way is a follow-up to White City, which was set in Chicago during the World's Fair one generation earlier (1893); it is from the World's Fair grounds that the doomed blimp, the Wingfoot, in fact departs on July 21 before crashing through the Illinois Trust & Savings Bank later that day.
As Krist writes in his author's note, more seemed to happen in Chicago in a week than happened in many cities in a year, and that was even before Al Capone - who was reported to keep a photograph of Big Bill in his office - left his mark on the Windy City. Overall, this is a wonderful, informative, and well-written glimpse into some of the formative events of one of America's great cities.
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