Customer Reviews

Wicked City Chicago: From Kenna to Capone

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4 star:		(1)
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I'm the sure that the main draw to this book concerns the seedy, gangster underworld of Chicago. I don't know if I have enough patience to get there; the narrative so far relates sound-bite stories of the founders, urban planners, and architects who first erected this city. It's extremely interesting material, but Johnson's flits over it all in barely readable, fragmented prose. Furthermore, as one unfamiliar with the city (especially as it was in the 1800s), his descriptions of the landscape (and the design of the buildings) leaves me still with a black box imagination of what the city looks like. Pictures or illustrations would well suit the understanding of this book, which would lead to the (hopeful point of the story) understanding of the city.

I have read a number of books on Chicago during the time of Al Capone including three of his biographies, but this book is an overlooked gem. I accidentally came across it here at Amazon and decided to give it a try. All the colorful characters are here including those Lords of the Levee (Bathhouse John and Hinky Dink) and a number of gangsters during that time period you may have heard of and others that will likely be new to you. Yes, there are chapters of the McCormicks of Chicago, Jack Dempsey, the boxing champion of the time period, Louis Armstrong, and buffoon mayor, Big Bill Thompson. Some readers may feel they are being told more than they care to know about Chicago prior to and during the Capone era. I did not feel this way. I have often wondered what happened to a number of the lesser lights who were not as well known. The author provides us with this information. Also pointed out is that just saying a gangster was shot a number of times and killed doesn't do justice to the horror of what takes place. In addition to the tears of loved ones there is "no romance in mob warfare, only life's red blood, torn flesh, and death." Many of these mobsters died in their twenties or thirties. Sooner or later, usually sooner, most of them found their way to Mt. Carmel Cemetery. This book rates a solid five stars. I wish it was in hard cover. If you are interested in this time period I would suggest you get a copy and read it. You will not be disappointed.

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.

This book is fun to read, but it is not especially accurate.

The main author, Curt Johnson, admitted as much in the introduction. His verb of choice was "embroidered" when referring to those stories which were embellished or exaggerated to achieve greater effect. If an oft repeated saloon anecdote proved to be more amusing than a well documented account of a past event, the authors were perfectly happy to ditch the sworn testimony of eye witnesses and to repeat the punchlines of barroom comics who shaded the truth to better entertain their circle of listeners.

Not surprisingly, the text contains more than a few mistakes as a result of this approach. A few examples will suffice: Joe Aiello did reside in West Rogers Park and he was killed on Kolmar Avenue, but these were and are two entirely different addresses, some miles apart, not the same place. Similarly, Tim Murphy, the union racketeer, was a neighbor of Aiello's, but he was not murdered at his home on Kolmar. Many names are misspelled and dates and addresses are incorrect. From the field of sports, it should be noted that Clark Griffith managed the White Sox in 1901, not the team owner, Charles Comiskey. Comiskey formerly played for the St. Louis Browns of the American Association, not the National Federation, whatever that is.

This book reminded me of several earlier tomes by authors such as Herbert Asbury that repeated many of the same tall tales and yarns. "The Wicked City" contains a lengthy bibliography, but no footnotes whatsoever. This is never a good sign in a book that borrows so heavily from previously published works. Nevertheless, I was surprised to see that some other books have cited to "The Wicked City" as a serious reference despite its questionable status. If hearsay is repeated often enough it becomes compounded or double hearsay, not historical truth, no matter how popularly accepted the gossip is.

The photographs that accompanied the text looked as if they had been made on a photocopier that needed to have its toner cartridge replaced. That is a shame because the photos selected were otherwise quite interesting. Portions of the book are written in a choppy prose style, but it may have been the intention of the authors to emulate pulp fiction writers. Craig Sautter contributed two chapters on the rise of Theodore Dreiser and the origins of jazz music that differ significantly from Johnson's writing.

If I had the option of adding a half star to my rating, I would do so, but that is not permitted by the web site. I would have rated this book 3.5 rather than 3 if it were possible. One word of friendly warning: the concluding chapter is nothing more than an anticapitalist, antirepublican rant. The real villains in "The Wicked City" were Ronald W. Reagan and George H. W. Bush, not Al Capone and his gangsters.

Some readers will find "The Wicked City" somewhat enjoyable, provided that they take it with a dose of salts and dismiss its dubious historical accuracy. Many different topics treated in the book and some of the essentials are nonetheless correct. It is a paperback that could be enjoyed while riding a bus or relaxing at the beach.