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Forty dramatic fictions each told in the persona of famous Chicagoan from Barack Obama to Oprah Winfrey.
In the gripping first-person accounts of High Rise Stories, former residents of Chicago’s iconic public housing projects describe life in the now-demolished high-rises. These stories of community, displacement, and poverty in the wake of gentrification give voice to those who have long been ignored, but whose hopes and struggles exist firmly at the heart of our national identity.
Martin Preib is an officer in the Chicago Police Department—a beat cop whose first assignment as a rookie policeman was working on the wagon that picks up the dead. Inspired by Preib’s daily life on the job, The Wagon and Other Stories from the City chronicles the outer and inner lives of both a Chicago cop and the city itself. The book follows Preib as he transports body bags, forges an unlikely connection with his female partner, trains a younger officer, and finds himself among people long forgotten—or rendered invisible—by the rest of society. Preib recounts how he navigates the tenuous labyrinths of race and class in the urban metropolis, such as a domestic disturbance call involving a gang member and his abused girlfriend or a run-in with a group of drunk yuppies. As he encounters the real and imagined geographies of Chicago, the city reveals itself to be not just a backdrop, but a central force in his narrative of life and death. Preib’s accounts, all told in his breathtaking prose, come alive in ways that readers will long remember.
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 tell—of farcical local politics, of colorful passengers, of changing neighborhoods and clandestine shortcuts. No one knows a city’s streets—and thus its heart—better 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 he’s 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 O’Hare, 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 white—and tell him so. Throughout, Samarov’s own drawings—of his fares, of the taxi garage, and of a variety of Chicago street scenes—accompany 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.
"The story of 999 is the story of Chicago at one of the most pivotal and explosive moments in its history. Set along the city's storied lakefront, 999 details the wealth, greed, power, corruption and even murder that accompanied the rise of arguably the most beautiful and historical residential building in Chicago. Lavishly illustrated and well researched, Fizdale's vivid account of a land grab so extensive that it was contested for more than five decades, sets the stage for the war for what would become Streeterville. He includes fascinating and largely unknown details of the lives of the boldfaced names of Chicago's past -- from the period just after the Chicago fire to the present."--Amazon.com.
In this striking debut collection, characters find unexpected moments of profound insight while navigating daily life. "Clouther’s first collection of stories shows an 'old' talent—meaning, his sophistication in treatment and technique and his wise observations of the human condition have the feel of an author who has the experience of several story collections behind him."—Booklist, starred review "Sharply observed."—Toronto Star "The 10 entries in Clouther’s debut collection all display a sure–handed grasp of craft."—Publishers Weekly In this striking debut collection, characters find unexpected moments of profound insight while navigating the monotony of daily life. Here we find a man who drives to the wrong mountain, a hubcap cleaner who moonlights as a karaoke star, and a deliveryman whose urgent letters have no willing recipient. While lulled by the deceptively simple rhythm of the ordinary, Kevin Clouther offers the instant before momentous change—the view over the cliff, the intake of breath before a decision, a glimpse of stark vulnerability, of faith and hope.
Hometown and host to talents as diverse as Richard Wright, David Mamet, Maya Angelou, Saul Bellow, and Mike Royko, Chicago boasts a rich tradition of writers who have helped shape our sense of the city even as the city informs their best work. It's "a writer's town...a fighter's town," according to Nelson Algren, and this anthology proves it. With a striking new cover, Chicago Stories collects the most evocative writing on the city, its gritty realism, and indomitable spirit.
America's Second City abounds in literary talent, and this anthology spotlights writers associated with Chicago as well as tales that take the Midwestern metropolis as their setting. Contributors include Richard Wright, Saul Bellow, James T. Farrell, Edna Ferber, Zane Grey, and many others. George Ade's "The Judge's Son" offers a brief character sketch in which two down-and-outers find solace in their shared suffering; "From A to Z," by Susan Glaspell, recounts an idealistic young woman's pursuit of a glamorous publishing job on Michigan Avenue; Will J. Cuppy's "The Extra Major" profiles a struggling freshman at the University of Chicago; and "Reform in the First" presents Brand Whitlock's study of Chicago politics. Additional stories include Nelson Algren's "A Bottle of Milk for Mother"; "The Fall of Edward Barnard" by W. Somerset Maugham; Stuart Dybek's "Chopin in Winter"; and other moving and thought-provoking tales.
The stolid landscape of Chicago suddenly turns dreamlike and otherworldly in Stuart Dybek's classic story collection. A child's collection of bottle caps becomes the tombstones of a graveyard. A lowly rightfielder's inexplicable death turns him into a martyr to baseball. Strains of Chopin floating down the tenement airshaft are transformed into a mysterious anthem of loss. Combining homely detail and heartbreakingly familiar voices with grand leaps of imagination, The Coast of Chicago is a masterpiece from one of America's most highly regarded writers.