The Encyclopedia of Chicago [Hardcover]

James R. Grossman (Editor), Ann Durkin Keating (Editor), Janice L. Reiff (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 15, 2004

One of the great American metropolises, Chicago rises out of the prairie in the heart of the country, buffeted by winds coming off the plains and cooled by the waters of the inland sea of Lake Michigan. Chicago is a city of size and mass, the cradle of modern architecture, the freight hub of the nation, a city built on slaughterhouses and cacophonous financial trading tempered by some of the finest cultural institutions in the world. While many histories have been written of the city, none can claim the scope and breadth of the long-awaited Encyclopedia of Chicago.

Developed by the Newberry Library with the cooperation of the Chicago Historical Society, The Encyclopedia of Chicago is the definitive historical reference on metropolitan Chicago. More than a decade in the making, the Encyclopedia brings together hundreds of historians, journalists, and experts on everything from airlines to Zoroastrians to explore all aspects of the rich world of Chicagoland, from its geological prehistory to the present.

The main alphabetical section of the Encyclopedia, comprising more than 1,400 entries, covers the full range of Chicago's neighborhoods, suburbs, and ethnic groups, as well as the city's cultural institutions, technology and science, architecture, religions, immigration, transportation, business history, labor, music, health and medicine, and hundreds of other topics. The Encyclopedia has the widest geographical reach of any city encyclopedia of its kind, encompassing eight of the region's counties, including suburbs. Nearly 400 thumbnail maps pinpoint Chicago neighborhoods and suburban municipalities; these maps are complemented by hundreds of black-and-white and color photographs and thematic maps that bring the history of metropolitan Chicago to life. Additionally, contributors have provided lengthy interpretive essays—woven into the alphabetical section but set off graphically—that take a long view of such topics as the built environment, literary images of Chicago, and the city's often legendary and passionate sports culture.

The Encyclopedia also offers a comprehensive biographical dictionary of more than 2,000 individuals important to Chicago history and a detailed listing of approximately 250 of the city's historically significant business enterprises. A color insert features a timeline of Chicago history and photo essays exploring nine pivotal years in this history.

The Encyclopedia of Chicago is one of the most significant historical projects undertaken in the last twenty years, and it has everything in it to engage the most curious historian as well as settle the most boisterous barroom dispute. If you think you know how Chicago got its name, if you have always wondered how the Chicago Fire actually started and how it spread, if you have ever marveled at the Sears Tower or the reversal of the Chicago River—if you have affection, admiration, and appreciation for this City of the Big Shoulders, this Wild Onion, this Urbs in Horto, then The Encyclopedia of Chicago is for you.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Developed over the last 10 years by the Newberry Library with the cooperation of the Chicago Historical Society, the monumental Encyclopedia of Chicago will be the definitive historical reference source on Chicago for years to come. Funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the John D and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the City of Chicago, the state of Illinois, and three major Chicago corporations helped ensure a very reasonable price. Some 633 experts from across the U.S. wrote the more than 1,400 entries. The encyclopedia is enhanced with numerous photos, engravings, and maps.

Entries treat such topics as Acting, ensemble; Agrarian movements; Annexation; Chicago Symphony Orchestra; Literary images of Chicago; Machine politics; and much, much more. Besides encompassing Chicago history, ethnic groups, businesses, cultural institutions, sports, crime, architecture, religions, and other topics, the editors wanted to have the broadest geographic coverage. In addition to the 77 recognized Chicago neighborhoods, 298 suburban municipalities in the six surrounding counties in northern Illinois and two in northern Indiana are covered. Biographical entries of prominent Chicagoans are not included since these would duplicate information in such readily available sources as the American National Biography (Oxford, 1999) and Woman Building Chicago, 1790-1990 (Indiana Univ., 2001). Instead there is a "Biographical Dictionary" at the end of the book that lists 2,000 deceased Chicagoans with short entries noting birth, death, and occupation. There is also a separate "Dictionary of Leading Chicago Businesses, 1820-2000" that offers brief historical summaries for 236 for-profit companies. Important companies are also discussed in entries on significant industry sectors such as Clothing and garment manufacturing, Department stores, Iron and steel, and transportation. These entries are very detailed and give a complete history of each industry and its place in Chicago.

The encyclopedia is set up in an A-Z format with three types of entries--broad essays of 1,000 to 4,000 words, midlevel entries of 200 to 1,000 words, and basic entries of 200 words. The broad essays give an overview and synthesize scholarship on a subject, while the basic entries focus on a specific event or institution and give brief information to identify what it is and why it is important. The midlevel entries are meant to fill in the gaps left by the broad essays and give more analysis than is found in the basic entries. All entries are signed and cross-referenced and list a bibliography of related books and articles for further reading. The work also features 21 long interpretative essays that reflect recent scholarship in urban history (for example, Racism, ethnicity, and white identity; Street life); numerous sidebars that offer varying viewpoints on different topics; a time line of Chicago history; a list of Chicago mayors; historical population statistics for all municipalities; several inserts with color photos and maps; and a comprehensive 60-page index. Fifty-six maps cover topics such as blues clubs in Chicago, Chicago's Deep Tunnel system, Indian settlement patterns in 1830, street railways in 1890, and movie theaters in Chicago in 1926, 1937, and 2002. A notable feature of the volume is the 400 thumbnail maps that show where each municipality and neighborhood is located in the Chicagoland region.

The scope of entries and their readability make the encyclopedia outstanding. All ideas, facts, people, and places are explained fully and in terms high-school and general readers can understand. This is a superb ready-reference work on Chicago, a good starting point for students doing research, and just a wonderful book to browse through. There is no other source that contains the breadth and depth of information found here. The Encyclopedia of Chicago is a must purchase for every academic, public, and school library in Illinois. Academic and large public libraries across the U.S. will want it as well. Merle Jacob
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"The Encyclopedia of Chicago is no mere collection of fun facts. It is a work of stunning scholarly achievement. . . . [It] is easily the most comprehensive reference book on the Chicago region ever published. To find a work that even remotely rivals it in daring and scope, one must return to 1886 when A.T. Andreas produced his hodgepodge and highly eccentric three-volume History of Chicago. Developed by the distinguished Newberry Library in cooperation with the Chicago Historical Society, the 1,117-page Encyclopedia of Chicago features more than 1,400 entries by more than 600 historians, journalists and other experts, in addition to hundreds of maps and illustrations, a dictionary of Chicago-area businesses, a biographical dictionary and a 21-page timeline. . . . This is a work of depth and gravity, written largely by scholars but aimed at the intelligent regular Joe, an approach that becomes self-evident in the first ten pages."

(Tom McNamee Chicago Sun-Times )

"The motto of any worthy encyclopedia ought to be that byword of Sgt. Joe Friday, 'Just the facts, ma'am,' and in as lucid a manner as you can deliver them. This The Encyclopedia of Chicago does indeed deliver, and consummately well. It also delivers excellent maps and carefully chosen, unobtrusively placed photographs. . . . I hope this doesn't get around, but Chicago is just now one of the best cities in the world, lively and beautiful and happily youthful in spirit."

(Joseph Epstein Wall Street Journal 20041008)

"I also love that you can open this book to pretty much any page and find something incredibly interesting. This is a great coffee-table book--and I don't mean that in a disparaging way at all. I just think it's a book you leave within reach for a long time. It sits on my reading desk, and every so often I open it randomly and read. I love that I never know what I'm going to find. There is a charmingly eccentric pattern, or, more accurately, lack of pattern, to the topics you encounter. It's not a predictable encyclopedia."

(Stuart Dybek Chicago Tribune 20041031)

"After a couple of hours of playing 'stump the encyclopedia'—a game in which you try to prove you know more than the editors—I found myself wholly impressed by this prodigious effort. . . . The contributors' accessible scholarship has its feet planted firmly at State and Madison (see planning of grid system) rather than high in the ivory tower (see University of Chicago). It is also refreshing that the editors acknowledge the interdependence of the city and the greater metropolitan area."

(David Schmittgens Chicago Tribune 20041031)

"The Encyclopedia of Chicago can be approached in a million or so different ways. . . . It is unimaginable that it will not thrill, frustrate, surprise, inspire, amuse, confound, enlighten and entertain anyone who picks it up. It is much like the city it seeks to capture in 1,100 or so pages: . . . There is not, cannot be, the definitive story of Chicago, for it is being written as you are reading this. The Encyclopedia of Chicago will have to do, and it does so in a way that will quietly amuse you."

(Rick Kogan Chicago Tribune 20041031)

"Here is a truly formidable document: 1,152 pages of tragedy, comedy, and farce. Beginning with abolitionism and ending with Zenith Radio Corporation, it's perfect for the history buff with an appreciation for human frailty."

(Leopold Froehlich Playboy 20041201)

"In our ideal reference world, there would be an encyclopedia like this one for every great American city. This is a superb ready-reference work on Chicago, a good starting point for students doing research, and just a wonderful book to browse through."

(Booklist 20050101)

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 1104 pages
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press; 1 edition (October 15, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0226310159
• ISBN-13: 978-0226310152
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 2 x 11.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #527,795 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

58 of 64 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Captures the size, wonder, and complexity of the metropolis September 16, 2004

By Jonathan E. Bruner

Format:Hardcover

This encyclopedia is a joint effort of the Newberry Library and the Chicago Historical Society, two organizations eminently qualified to condense one of the greatest cities in the world into a single volume. Each page holds a plethora of memory-worthy facts. Maps and diagrams both small and large abound that describe everything from racial distributions to abandoned coal-delivery infrastructure. Scattered among the main entries are special-interest boxes with passages from qualified commentators-- see especially the discussion of the meaning of "downstate" written by former governor James Thompson.

Each of the Chicago area's myriad neighborhoods and localities gets its own detailed entry, including a locator map, that discusses history and present disposition. These are joined by longer discussions of the great social changes that have taken place in Chicago over the years as well as case studies of several neighborhoods that include extensive graphic explanations.

Though it is laid out alphabetically like any other encyclopedia, this volume is a pleasure to browse. A wander through its pages is facilitated by a helpful system of references set into the text and cross-listings provided at the end of each article.

If you've ever walked (or driven, or taken the El over) the streets of Chicago and wondered what's under, over, and around you, you'll become absorbed by this book. What's more, the next time you walk through the city, you'll do so with a more thorough understanding of what you're experiencing.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars From a fellow author January 29, 2006

By Karen Kruse

Format:Hardcover

I am very interested in Chicago history (being the author of "A Chicago Firehouse: Stories of Wrigleyville's Engine 78) myself. The "Encyclopedia of Chicago" has some great information, but I found some of the places it was listed as confusing. This is a HUGE undertaking and realize pulling all that information together was not an easy project, however, I felt some entries should have been included under their own headings, such as Biograph Theater or John Dillinger. Even so, I learned a multitude of information and enjoyed reading through the volume. It will be kept on my reference shelf for many years to come.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The absolute best book on Chicago May 9, 2006

By Jeremy C

Format:Hardcover

This book is amazing. It is, by far, the most complete compedium on all things Chicago that there is.

Many of the entries are brief, but some major topics get full essay treatment. The section on architecture is a fantastic introduction to the architectural history of Chicago.

This is an encyclopedia, and therefore it contains information on a huge range of topics, but is not exceptionally detailed. It does provide reference to related topics within the book, and it provides a number of sources for further reading.

The book employees many excellent charts and maps, as well as a very thorough timeline on the history of this city.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves this great city and wants to know more.