The Gangs of Chicago: An Informal History of the Chicago Underworld (Illinois) by Herbert Asbury  (4)
|
Guns and Roses: The Untold Story of Dean O'Banion, Chicago's Big Shot before Al Capone by Rose Keefe  (22)
$11.53
|
Lords of the Levee: The Story of Bathhouse John and Hinky Dink by Lloyd Wendt
$19.95
|
Mr. Capone: The Real - and complete - story of Al Capone by Robert J. Schoenberg (9)
$11.56
|
The Chicago Outfit (IL) (Images of America) by John Binder  (19)
$19.99
|
This item is not eligible for Amazon Prime, but millions of other items are. Join Amazon Prime today. Already a member? Sign in.
|
|||||||||
Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Chicago has experienced more in the past 100 years than most cities do in 500. To tell this complicated, yet engrossing, story without overlooking important characters or events is nearly impossible--unless you are the authors of The Wicked City. This breezy narrative tells the story of Chicago between 1880 and 1930, including underworld mobsters, the origins of organized crime, and the men who laid down its foundations. An amalgam of amazing characters--from bootleggers of 1880 to influential gangsters like Al Capone, Johnny Torrio, and Roger Touhy--are vividly bought to life, without ever being dramatized or romanticized. But gangsters wielding a Tommy gun weren't the only villains of the day. There were also megalomaniacal tycoons, such as "King Mike" Mcdonald--who was a proponent of the phrase, "There's a sucker born every minute," and who had the clout to manipulate professional athletes to throw their pride aside for the lure of the dirty dollar as witnessed by the shame of the 1919 Chicago "Black" Sox. Delving into the shadier side of Chicago, Johnson and Sautter plausibly separate fact from fiction and escape the trappings of sensationalism often associated with this period. Their book will fascinate anyone who has an interest in American cultural history. --Jeremy Storey --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
From Publishers Weekly
What could be discounted as another Chicago gangster book, separates itself from the pack by the vivid detail with which it resurrects the flamboyant underworld characters, high-society capitalists and crooked politicians who ran The Windy City from 1880-1931 and established its notorious persona. Insightful parallels are drawn here between corrupt politicians, such as Michael "Hinky Dink" Kenna, gangsters like Al Capone, and great dynasts like Marshall Field and meatpacker Philip Armour, whose credo for success was " . . . buy out or destroy any competitor whose products are better than your own." And while Johnson ( Nobody's Perfect ) and Sautter ( Expresslanes Through the Inevitable City ) sometimes bombard the reader with extraneous details, they make up for it in convincing reenactments of shoot-outs: "Plaster and glass and splinters of paneling went flying, neat rows of bullet holes stitched themselves at waist level into walls." Portrayed here is a city in which politicians assisted bootleggers during prohibition and racketeers determined election results; a city that couldn't even keep its baseball team clean--witness the infamous 1919 White Sox. With cameo appearances by Babe Ruth, Al Jolson, Gloria Swanson and Mickey Mouse, this book has an all-star cast that may be cumbersome, but is never boring. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
See all Editorial Reviews
Chicago has experienced more in the past 100 years than most cities do in 500. To tell this complicated, yet engrossing, story without overlooking important characters or events is nearly impossible--unless you are the authors of The Wicked City. This breezy narrative tells the story of Chicago between 1880 and 1930, including underworld mobsters, the origins of organized crime, and the men who laid down its foundations. An amalgam of amazing characters--from bootleggers of 1880 to influential gangsters like Al Capone, Johnny Torrio, and Roger Touhy--are vividly bought to life, without ever being dramatized or romanticized. But gangsters wielding a Tommy gun weren't the only villains of the day. There were also megalomaniacal tycoons, such as "King Mike" Mcdonald--who was a proponent of the phrase, "There's a sucker born every minute," and who had the clout to manipulate professional athletes to throw their pride aside for the lure of the dirty dollar as witnessed by the shame of the 1919 Chicago "Black" Sox. Delving into the shadier side of Chicago, Johnson and Sautter plausibly separate fact from fiction and escape the trappings of sensationalism often associated with this period. Their book will fascinate anyone who has an interest in American cultural history. --Jeremy Storey --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
From Publishers Weekly
What could be discounted as another Chicago gangster book, separates itself from the pack by the vivid detail with which it resurrects the flamboyant underworld characters, high-society capitalists and crooked politicians who ran The Windy City from 1880-1931 and established its notorious persona. Insightful parallels are drawn here between corrupt politicians, such as Michael "Hinky Dink" Kenna, gangsters like Al Capone, and great dynasts like Marshall Field and meatpacker Philip Armour, whose credo for success was " . . . buy out or destroy any competitor whose products are better than your own." And while Johnson ( Nobody's Perfect ) and Sautter ( Expresslanes Through the Inevitable City ) sometimes bombard the reader with extraneous details, they make up for it in convincing reenactments of shoot-outs: "Plaster and glass and splinters of paneling went flying, neat rows of bullet holes stitched themselves at waist level into walls." Portrayed here is a city in which politicians assisted bootleggers during prohibition and racketeers determined election results; a city that couldn't even keep its baseball team clean--witness the infamous 1919 White Sox. With cameo appearances by Babe Ruth, Al Jolson, Gloria Swanson and Mickey Mouse, this book has an all-star cast that may be cumbersome, but is never boring. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
See all Editorial Reviews
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
