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Title: City of the Century: The Epic of Chicago and the Making of America by Donald L. Miller ISBN: 0-684-83138-4 Publisher: Touchstone Books Pub. Date: 03 April, 1997 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.7 (10 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Now I Know Why Chicago is Chicago!
Comment: Donald L. Miller's "City of the Century" is one of the best books of its genre. The book has the sweep of a novel with the detail of an exegesis. Miller's forte is the taking of several historical characters and weaving the truth of their lives into the fabric of the history he would have us read. And in "City", he has excelled at his own methodology.
We are introduced to those who settled the "City" and become close to those who not only grew Chicago but soon after it had reached new heights in the 19th century were faced with the destruction by fire of most of what had been built. And we learn that they were not daunted by this monumental task of re-building the "City". And reading the gripping description of the ruins, we are yet elated by the notion that Chicago is not finished. In less than a decade Chicago rose from the ashes -- to become by the end of the century on of America's greatest cities.
Dr. Miller takes us through the whole of Chicago's century of growth, destruction, and rebirth never losing command of the many threads that made the final fabric. And in the telling of Chicago's story we also learn much about the America that contributed its people and its wealth, along with their hopes and dreams to making the "City of the Century".
Read this book and you will agree that the only thing lacking is a volume two depicting the continuing evolution of Chicago through the 20th century.
Rating: 5
Summary: Miller Makes Chicago His Kind of Town
Comment: Donald Miller has written a convincing history of America's Second City in a bracing narrative style. His use of ancedotal information is remarkably tailored to the points he's trying to make and not simply ostentatious. He spins many good yarns about the "rugged capitalists" who came to make their fortunes out of the Illinois swamps and his chapter on Sullivan and the building of Chicago is one of the most beautifully written pieces of architectual history I've read in a while. His grand theme that Chicago is the place where "geography and personality come to interact" is a bit redundant - any city, great or small, could make a similiar claim. Miller is more adept at showing us the distinctiveness of Chicago through in its relentless accumulative drive and its subsequent desire to become a cultural magnet as a way of cleaning up its act. And he's right, I think, to bring his story to end at the 1893 Columbian Exposition in which these two drives come together. Despite his overstated thesis and his occassional insistence that we keep seeing Chicago as a remarkable experiment instead of letting the facts speak for themselves, this is a first-rate work of history. Indispensable for Mid-Westerners (like me) who want to understand the economic and social growth of their region.
Rating: 5
Summary: Very Interesting
Comment: I thought this book was one of the more interesting pieces on Chicago history. I am lucky enough to work in the Loop and loved the section of the book about the buildings and to my surprise many of them are still around. I even took a walk to the Rookery and Monadnock buildings to see them for my self and now have a renewed respect for these buildings. I see some readers have complained about the apparent lack of organization throughout the book but that is because it is theme based and not a chronological history of the city like a history book would be but rather he covers topics of the city's past that cover years,decades or even generations. Anyone that considers themselves a Chicagoan will understand and like this book.
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Title: Chicago Days : 150 Defining Moments in the Life of a Great City by Chicago Tribune ISBN: 1890093041 Publisher: McGraw-Hill/Contemporary Books Pub. Date: 01 September, 1996 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title:Chicago - City of the Century ASIN: B00008AOWG Publisher: Warner Home Video Pub. Date: 03 June, 2003 List Price(USD): $79.98 Comparison N/A, buy it from Amazon for $71.98 |
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Title: The Devil in the White City : Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America by ERIK LARSON ISBN: 0609608444 Publisher: Crown Pub. Date: 11 February, 2003 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
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Title: Chicago Architecture and Design 1923-1993: Reconfiguration of an American Metropolis by John Zukowsky ISBN: 3791323458 Publisher: Prestel USA Pub. Date: April, 2000 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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Title: The Chicago School of Architecture: A History of Commercial and Public Building in the Chicago Area, 1875-1925 by Carl W. Condit ISBN: 0226114554 Publisher: University of Chicago Press (Trd) Pub. Date: March, 1973 List Price(USD): $30.00 |
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