Chicago on the Make

"Effectively details the long history of racial conflict and abuse that has led to Chicago becoming one of America's most segregated cities. . . . A wealth of material."New York Times Winner of the 2017 Jon Gjerde Prize, Midwestern History Association Winner of the 2017 Award of Superior Achievement, Illinois State Historical Society Heralded as Americas quintessentially modern city, Chicago has attracted the gaze of journalists, novelists, essayists, and scholars. Yet few historians have attempted big-picture narratives of the citys transformation over the twentieth century. Chicago on the Make traces the evolution of the citys politics, culture, and economy as it grew from an unruly tangle of rail yards, slaughterhouses, factories, tenement houses, and fiercely defended ethnic neighborhoods into a global urban center. Reinterpreting the narrative that Chicagos autocratic machine politics shaped its institutions and public life, Andrew J. Diamond demonstrates how the grassroots politics of race crippled progressive forces and enabled an alliance of downtown business interests to promote a neoliberal agenda that created stark inequalities. Chicago on the Make takes the story into the twenty-first century, chronicling Chicagos deeply entrenched social and urban problems as the city ascended to the national stage during the Obama years.