The Wicked City: Chicago from Kenna to Capone

This book gives readers a sense of Chicago's past by examining notorious villains and others that inhabited our city during its period of great expansion from 1880-1930. During that time Chicago grew on the strength of industry and immigration from 503,000 persons in 1880 to well over 3 million by 1930. These pages contain vignettes about gangsters like Johnny Torrio and Al Capone (both were originally from New York), crooked yet caring politicians like Bathhouse John Coughlin and Hinky Dink Kenna, and arrogant tycoons like George Pullman and Charles Yerkes. There's also some discussion of good guy artists like Louis Armstrong, Theodore Dreiser, Carl Sandburg, etc., but the book is mostly devoted to the non-angelic. The vignettes are never too long, and always interesting, but the narrative seems a bit unorganized, and it helps if one is acquainted with the city's general history. Still, this is an interesting book. Our city probably deserves its reputation for corruption, but one wonders why the like sins of other cities are so often ignored. Whatever the reasons, this narrative makes an interesting read.