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Hack, October 2011
Hardcover
Stories from a Chicago Cab
University Of Chicago Press
October 2011
On Sale: October 7, 2011
184 pages
ISBN: 0226734730
EAN: 9780226734736
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
Cabdrivers and their yellow taxis are as much a part of the cityscape as the high-rise buildings and the subway. We hail them without thought after a wearying day at the office or an exuberant night on the town. And, undoubtedly, taxi drivers have stories to tellβof farcical local politics, of colorful passengers, of changing neighborhoods and clandestine shortcuts. No one knows a cityβs streetsβand thus its heartβbetter than its cabdrivers. And from behind the wheel of his taxi, Dmitry Samarov has seen more of Chicago than most Chicagoans will hope to experience in a lifetime. An artist and painter trained at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Samarov began driving a cab in 1993 to make ends meet, and heβs been working as a taxi driver ever since. In Hack: Stories from a Chicago Cab, he recounts tales that will delight, surprise, and sometimes shock the most seasoned urbanite. We follow Samarov through the rhythms of a typical week, as he waits hours at the garage to pick up a shift, ferries comically drunken passengers between bars, delivers prostitutes to their johns, and inadvertently observes drug deals. There are long waits with other cabbies at OβHare, vivid portraits of street corners and their regular denizens, amorous Cubs fans celebrating after a game at Wrigley Field, and customers who are pleasantly surprised that Samarov is whiteβand tell him so. Throughout, Samarovβs own drawingsβof his fares, of the taxi garage, and of a variety of Chicago street scenesβaccompany his stories. In the grand tradition of Nelson Algren, Saul Bellow, Mike Royko, and Studs Terkel, Dmitry Samarov has rendered an entertaining, poignant, and unforgettable vision of Chicago and its people.
 Media BuzzTalk of the Nation - September 29, 2011
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