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The 12 Days of Disaster That Gave Birth to Modern Chicago
Crown
April 2012
On Sale: April 17, 2012
368 pages ISBN: 0307454290 EAN: 9780307454294 Kindle: B005EM8O7A Hardcover / e-Book
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Non-Fiction History
The masterfully told story of 12 volatile days in the life
of Chicago, when an aviation disaster, a race riot, a
crippling transit strike, and a sensational child murder
roiled a city already on the brink of collapse. When 1919 began, the city of Chicago seemed on the verge of
transformation. Modernizers had an audacious, expensive plan
to turn the city from a brawling, unglamorous place into
"the Metropolis of the World." But just as the dream seemed
within reach, pandemonium broke loose--the city's highest
ambitions suddenly under attack by the same unbridled
energies that had given birth to them in the first place. It began on a balmy Monday afternoon when a blimp in flames
crashed through the roof of a busy downtown bank,
incinerating those inside. Within days,a racial incident at
a hot, crowded South Side beach spiraled into one of the
worst urban riots in American history, followed by a transit
strike that paralyzed the city. Then, when it seemed as if
things could get no worse, police searching for a
six-year-old girl discovered her body in a dark, North Side
basement. Meticulously researched yet expertly paced, City of
Scoundrels captures the tumultuous birth of the modern
American city, with all of its light and dark aspects in
vivid relief.
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