Customer Reviews

Perfect Cities: Chicago's Utopias of 1893

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I have no idea why the author wrote this. It is so disappointing yet well written. It reads as if it were an unwanted assignment given on a hated subject painstakingly and laboriously completed with great bias just to annoy the assignee. The author criticizes every aspect of the Colombian Exposition (specifically the architecture), the town of Pullman, its creator, and Moody the evangelist as if each and their undertakings had no merit what so ever.

The idea that the whole concept of the exposition, city, and crusade was to "rearrange the urban world of the future" is just unsupported. The purpose of the fair was to showcase Chicago, industry, its builders, and make a profit. The purpose of the city of Pullman was to provide exceptional housing and make a profit. The purpose of the Moody institute was to preach the gospel (in at that time an unconventional way) and collect enough offering to support the institute and Moody's other charities. That's it and nothing more.

All three subjects had positive and negative aspects. Concentrating on only the negative aspects to support a philosophical failure as perceived by the author gives us a well written book containing only half the content to make it whole. I can only wish someone would balance this by providing us with the other half.