5 comments about Never a City So Real: A Walk in Chicago (Crown Journeys).

1. A Walk in Chicago: Never a City So Real
   by Alex Kotlowitz
   Crown Journeys, Crown: New York 2004 159 pp. Hardcover
   
   The "Big Onion" is better than the "Big Apple" in many ways, and Alex Kotlowitz, a former New Yorker who has made Chicago his home for over twenty years, sets out to prove how great and diverse his adopted city really is. As he writes in his introduction, "Chicago is a place of passion and hustle...a place eternally in transition, always finding yet another way to think of itself, a city never satisfied."
   
   But this is not the Chicago of the Art Institute, of Michigan Avenue, of Water Tower Place, or the Magnificent Mile. This is the Chicago of the South Side housing projects, the South East's closed steel mills, of Division Street and the 26th Street Criminal Court. It is the Chicago of the resilient and dedicated people who make their own neighborhoods places that come to life with positive energy and social change.
   
   In Kotlowitz's book you meet "Oil Can Eddie," AKA, Ed Sadlowski, the retired steelworker who climbed the ranks of union leadership and "...who loves his city's opera, its museums, and its baseball teams..." You read about how this steelworker went from the steel furnace to the cover of Time Magazine, and how the union that he organized created a better life for its workers, and how that working life is now in peril. The 64-year old Sadlowski takes Kotlowitz on a city tour in his beat-up "Crown Vic" to places off the tourist map, places like Pinkerton's gravesite and the Calumet Riverfront where the strikers once clashed with police.
   
   You get to lunch at Manny's Jewish Deli just south of the Loop, the hangout for political bosses and pit stop for every major politician who swings through Chicago. Then it's off to Edna's soul food restaurant with his two social worker friends, Millie and Brenda. As they sit down to eat, we get to overhear their conversation as if we were sitting in the next booth. This lets the reader eavesdrop on some of the problems that plague this city, from gangs in public housing to unwed teenage mothers. But in Kotlowitz's hands, the city is brought to life through the eyes of Millie and Brenda. And we get to meet Edna, sixty-six years old, who in the middle of taking lunch orders hears gunshots and runs out onto the street to shoo away the gang kids with her apron.
   
   We meet Milton Reed, the lanky street artist who paints provocative murals for the residents of the projects, and we tag along while Milton sets up his sketch pad on the street corner so that he can sketch portraits of parade watchers as the Bud Billiken Parade winds its way through the city's South Side, a still racially divided part of Chicago.
   
   Next we meet the embodiment of Sandburg's "City of Big Shoulders" in the form of a sturdily built six-foot female attorney, Andrea Lyon, who once while being attacked for her bag, punched her mugger so hard she broke his jaw. This imposing former public defender now works as a De Paul law professor and takes on some of the city's toughest criminal cases. It's a riveting account of the goings-on in this huge criminal beehive of a courthouse, and how Andrea heats up the proceedings.
   
   And we also meet a painter who paints the derelicts and prostitutes on Division Street near Wicker Park, and who has sold his work for many thousands of dollars in Paris, but who remains unknown in his own city. Robert Guinan paints the side of the city that is fast becoming gentrified out of existence and we hear him lament that the city is trying to homogenize itself. Guinan takes us into his studio and down to the jazz clubs like the HotHouse and the Velvet Lounge where he has painted the famous Blues musicians that have made Chicago legendary.
   
   We even go outside the city limits to Cicero, a suburb made infamous by Al Capone, to meet Dave Boyle, political gadfly and social activist, who runs a legal clinic for Cicero's disenfranchised. In Boyle's account, we learn how he foiled the town's corrupt politicians by exposing them to the truth of their actions when he tried to have illegal liquor licenses revoked.
   
   And finally, near the end of our tour in the city's northwest side at GT's Diner, a diner taken over by an Albanian immigrant who hands out free coffee and food to the Mexican day laborers who congregate in the parking lot outside his business, we read how he grumbles about the ones who don't pay and who sit all day in his booths, but we also learn why he sympathizes because as a child in Albania he learned from his parents that you have to help others.
   
   We read about how the city keeps changing in Kotlowitz's book as new immigrants arrive and change old neighborhoods, but we learn how much they add to the life of this great city. Wherever Kotlowitz takes us, we learn to love "his Chicago" and the very real people he introduces us to. These are the people that you would love to meet and sit down with in a bar to talk to for hours. Fortunately, Kotlowitz has done the sitting for us, taking it all down in this brilliant book.



2. Sometimes a book is "fine". This is one such book. I'd recommend it, but not very very strongly.



3. This waste of ink, paper, and time isn't even useful as a doorstop. This book is not about Chicago, it is about the author's politics (which is communism disguised as liberalism.)
   
   Early in the book, the author claims that the owners of Chicago steel companies got complacent and forgot how to compete. The fact of the matter is that meeting the demands of the unions priced the steel much higher than the units arriving from East Europe and Asia. This is the first of so many instances that the author proves he is uninformed. He is also inaccurate in geography, history, and one funny instance of a math goof.
   
   Don't waste your time.



4. Alex Kotlowicz mostly succeeds with this slice-of-life look at Chicago's grittier side. He begins by interviewing Ed Sadlowski, former steelworker and union official living on the southeast side where most of the mills have shuttered. Equally interesting was the view from Edna's restaurant in the west side ghetto where there are few businesses other than liquor stores. We also hear from an artist that paints murals for residents in public housing, a neighborhood of recent immigrants from many lands, a gadfly that fights corruption in the border suburb of Cicero (former headquarters of Al Capone), and several others. In many ways the author captures the city's feel, and allows readers to see how Chicago has evolved into a mostly post-industrial city, yet one where poverty and fear of minorities and violence remain touchstones for some.
   
   Oddly the author, who moved here 20 years ago from New York City, alternates praise with suggestions that the most successful see Chicago as unlovely and leave. In reality, most stay put in middle-class neighborhoods (or suburbs), acknowledging the city's problems, but prideful of our vibrant economy, superb lakefront, museums, parks, skyline, and universities - Chicago leads the USA in Nobel Prize winners. Despite small flaws, this is a revealing, concise, readable book.



5. Alex Kotlowitz's "There Are No Children Here" is rightly held up as one of the greatest works of journalistic nonfiction of the last twenty-five years. His "Never a City So Real," though, falls somewhat flat precisely because he tries to write an anecdotal series of re-creations of "Children."
   
   This book is readable and even interesting, but fails at introducing its reader to much of Chicago as a city. It contains almost no history and focuses solely on poorer, fringe neighborhoods while neglecting many more central (and historically important) points of interest. An interesting diversion, but one that is too skewed by Kotlowitz's politics to serve as anything more than that.

4 comments about Zagat 2007/08 Chicago Restaurants: Including Milwaukee.

1. I think these make the perfect gift to anyone relocating to a 'Zagat City'. I really like how the editors construct the descriptions by combining actual reviewer quotes submitted in their survey process. Main restaurant listing is alphabetical, but includes seperate lists by location, cuisine, special features, etc.
   
   If anything, buy one just to sit on your coffee table.



2. I've been living in Chicago for a year and a half. Before buying this guide I used to go to expensive and not so good restaurants and I was always complaining about it. After buying this guide I found out some amazing places at reasonable prices. Worth every penny!



3. the reviews of the restaurants is too brief and generally give insuficient information to make an lntelligent choice.



4. Poor guide.
   
   The food recomendations are mainly well known food chains. They seem to have failed to seek enough for original places.

4 comments about Newcomer's Handbook for Moving to and Living in Chicago: Including Evanston, Oak Park, Schaumburg, Wheaton, and Naperville (Newcomer's Handbook for Chicago).

1. I'm around 30 and single, about to move to Chicago for a job, and bought this book while I'm considering what area. The most useful thing this had was for each neighborhood, a 2-3 page summary of what the area's like, what it's historically been famous for, what types of businesses you find there. That type of information is available in other places, though.
   
   THe single most useful thing was a couple of sentances at the end of each neighborhood summarizing that it's 'best appreciated by serious urban-dwellers', or 'great for family but not much to do', or 'an interesting place that, because of crime issues, is not for everyone, you should visit before you choose to live here' (not real quotes, just examples)... *this* was the information I really needed. And it was only a few sentances.
   
   Aside from that information about neighborhoods, the other 2/3 of the book included information about moving (done that many times in my life) and how to evaluate an apartment and deal with a landlord (done that plenty, too), information about schools and daycare and places that kids would like (have none, so another chapter or two I didn't read), and where to find home furnishings and groceries (focused mainly on where to find the major shopping centers, which I'd think would be obvious).
   
   Basically, it's a book that, had I been shopping in a bookstore, I would've thumbed through, found the sentances I needed, and put back on the shelf. Maybe if I had kids, or hadn't been finding myself a new apartment and moving myself into it every few years, the book would be more helpful. But hey, just because I say it's not news doesn't mean you already know it, too - get the book if you think this would be helpful in your situation.



2. This is the greatest book that I have ever read.



3. I bought this book the second day I was in Chicago. I wish I'd bought it before my move! This book was extremely helpful in not only orientating me with the basic neighborhoods/geography of the city, but it was a great reference when it came time to do all that administrative stuff associated with moving. It tells you where the DMV, post office, library, police station, everything (!) is. It tells you where to get your parking stickers - wish I'd known that right away since I got a parking ticket my first day in the city! This book is a great guide for anyone moving to Chicago, even those of us who are experienced movers but need information beyond how to find a place. I've only had my copy 3 weeks, and it's already dog-eared.



4. I got this before my move to Chicago and it was really helpful having all the information in one place. I still use it and highly recommend the sections about children. If you have kids and are moving here, you will really appreciate the suggestions.

5 comments about Chicago Architecture and Design.

1. This book described many of the significant architects in Chicago history. I found it to be informative and very readable. It is the best book I have found which summarizes Chicago Architecture. The color photograghs are excellent



2. I thought this book was very interesting it has great pictures of the buildings in Chicago. It has alot of information about the beginning of when Architects wanted to build something modern but unqiue at the same time. Get inspired by the great exterior and interior of these amazing buildings.



3. This book provides an excellent introduction to Chicago's numerous schools of architecture over the years. It also provides a photographic tour of the city's important buildings, from the late 1800s to the present day. The photography is great! Highly recommended for fans of Chicago or architecture buffs in general.



4. This book has beautifull photographs. The book is much deeper than other Chicago architecture books because it has a well thought out historical review of the progression of Chicago architecture. Interesting even for the lay person like me.



5. My nephew loved it. He grew up in Milwaukee, went to school and lives in California. He comes to Chicago about every other year.

5 comments about Chicago: City on the Make: 50th Anniversary Edition, Newly Annotated.

1. Well written though this is, ...City on the Make' does require a good knowledge of Chicago's history to keep going with it and to understand the connections.

   I gave up after chapter two because of my lack of background knowledge and because I felt that this was a piece of writing that had been worked at till it was little more than an exercise in style.

   It had a lot of energy but lacked the spontaneity to make it seem fresh. And it read like preaching to the converted, as opposed to being persuasive.




2. Although I have lived in Chicago for many years now, I am not a native Chicagoan, and I have to say that the attitudes and visions of Chicago that one finds in Nelson Algren's are not held by most of the people I have gotten to know well in Chicago. But, then, most of the people I know are also not native Chicagoans. The swagger, the love-hate, the cynicism, and the love and civic pride that manage to emerge despite the cynical pessimism are very definitely found in many of those I have come to know who were born and raised in the city.

   Nelson Algren's Chicago was one that was more strictly American than it is today, less international, more Midwestern, more radical, less conventional. It is a Chicago that in many ways no longer exists. This can be felt in the book's narrative voice. Algren writes in a prose that sounds like Carl Sandburg drenched in Baudelaire, and the various sections of the book sound more than anything like the kind of stuff that Baudelaire would have written had he strolled the streets of Chicago rather than Paris. The prose is always unique, frequently beautiful, oftentimes stunning. There are definitely times that it will be all but impenetrable to someone not well schooled in Chicago's geography and its history. If one really wanted to get all the references and historical citations, one should consider reading Donald Miller's CITY OF THE CENTURY, which will clue one in on most of the 19th century and more obscure references.

   But in a sense, being able to identify all the names and places isn't all that crucial. The heart of the book is intelligible regardless. An essential literary work about one of the world's great cities, by one of its great writers.




3. For a great American writer like Algren and with his love of the city, one could expect more. Perhaps this sort of loose style (it has been called a prose poem) just wasn't his forte. The book starts off strong, but breaks into highly personal memories, and gets a little slow as he covers the same ground again and again. In short, it needed editing. Many of the references are so particular that they don't translate well and have aged poorly- Algren failed to find the universal like Whitman did.
   
   Don't let this book turn you off to Algren's superb fiction writing. He remains a giant in American literature. This just wasn't his day.



4. I had the pleasure of reading Chicago: City on the Make in part, on a hot summer's day sitting in the back of a moving van with the door open, using a cargo strap as a seat belt. Riding along to the next job reading my first Algren made it an afternoon of twists and turns literal and figurative.
   
   As others have pointed out, this book is not a novel, novella or story collection, but a prose poem. They say it like that is a bad thing; as if any potential reader is such an idiot that the book should be printed with an I.Q.-based warning label ("Warning: unless you can handle Sartre in the original, this book might make your eyes bleed"). The book is a prose poem but so what? It's one of those rare and sometimes great books that can be read aloud for the language alone and for the most part, Algren makes every word about the cold wind off the river and the deep corruption count. When he is at his best, he makes the place sound positively holy--like something that glows.
   
   Chicago: City on the Make was like nothing I had ever read then and it is vastly unlike anything I have read since. I am re-buying it for someone else to read (a Chicago native, in fact) but I'm going to get to peek into it again before I give it to him. Chicago: City on the Make is more than just a book it is an experience, a way of doing things that only top-flight, internationally famous authors have the stones to write anymore.
   
   My experience of the book is old, in fact, so old, so that I remember only a few words from a few lines clearly and I am left with two major impressions in memory. The first is that it was a brilliant thing, fully worthy of being called "literature.'
   
   The second was that after an amazing job of keeping his prose flying high above what other authors could ever hope for, the thing bogs down in the end. Algren's voice becomes tired, his segues more and more stretched until there's nothing left of the energy you find in the beginning, but you soon find that you can't really blame him. Algren was not up to the task of finishing his amazing slender volume, but you can't blame him for it: it is certain that no one else could have done any part of it at all.



5. This is a magnificent prose poem-eulogy even- by Nelson Algren to his city.
   He takes you through all the characters and diverse cultures and corruptions that ingrained the Chicago he grew up in and are either being erased from the image the commercial big guns want to promote,or have just fallen by the wayside.
   There's a lot of visceral anger coming through in this book, and it is significant that Algren wrote it during the odious McCarthy anti Communist witch trails that was stiffling the freedoms of speech Algren so valued (he dumped his communist party interests as soon as the lack of free thought became obvious to him-now 'free' society was doing the same!)and distorting and promoting a mythical America that just didn't exist outside of a Disney film!
   The afterword and annotations in the 50th anniversary edition are vital to get the maximum from this book. Algren re articulates what his views are, and -to my mind-makes a postumous apology to his friend Richard Wright who he slammed for leaving Chicago for Paris and 'not sticking it out'. What could one black man who had suffered a life time of rejection and abuse do but say he'd had enough. I liked Algren the better for this acknowledgement.

1 comments about Hour Chicago: Twenty-five 60-Minute Self-guided Tours of Chicago's Great Architecture and Art.

1. Other guidebooks can tell you where to eat, where to stay, what to wear or what plays to go to. But if you love cities because of their art and architecture, if you want to get off the tour bus, THIS is the guidebook you want.
   
   The author is the perfect guide. After a few pages, you feel like you've gotten to know her, and you're eager to get her opinions on whatever she shows you on the next page. She's not afraid to say when she thinks a building is dull, which is a nice change from the hype of most tourist guides. But when she likes something, it's obvious. Somehow she can explain what makes a painting, sculpture or building great, in just a few choice words. You get the feeling she knows way more than she has space to share. But "share" is the word. She doesn't talk down to the reader, but she also knows that not everyone has a masters in fine art and architecture. There's a great glossary and good maps, which you'll need, because this guide doesn't stop at the Art Institute and the Loop. It takes you into the neighborhoods for galleries, architecture and smaller museums with collections that are world-class, but are overshadowed by the Art Institute.
   
   The book is the perfect size for a backpack or fanny pack -- you can tell it's meant to be USED. The prose is clean and direct, and should not be a problem for tourists whose 1st language is not English.
   
   It's organized into short tours that you really can take if you only have an hour, but you can also string them together if you're lucky enough to have a weekend or a lifetime. (This book is not just for tourists. It's must for people who live here, especially if you already think you know the city.)
   
   What I like most about this book is that it seems to have a special place in its heart for the person who is by himself or herself. Anyone who's travelled to a great city alone has felt at times the lack of a companion to share the experience with. You find yourself wanting to turn to someone and see your excitement reflected back. In "Hour Chicago,"that person is the author. You feel like, whether she's physically there or not, she wrote this book for you and is hoping to see her excitement reflected back in you.

4 comments about The Cheap Bastard's Guide to Chicago: Secrets of Living the Good Life--For Free! (Cheap Bastard).

1. I suppose the title gives it away, but I was unaware how much of a CHEAP BASTARD one has to be to find this book useful. This is NOT a book that gives you clever ways to cut corners. Instead, it assumes that you are in absolute poverty. Make sure you examine how much of a Cheap Bastard you really are before spending $15 that the book assumes you don't have.



2. I got this book as a present when I spent a few months in Chicago for work. At first I thought is was just a fun gift - love the title, but I wasn't really expecting to get much use out of it. But I was shocked by how much useful stuff is in the book. I was able to see some amazing shows for free including performances at The Goodman and Steppenwolf, ate more than my fair share of free pizza, took a wonderful walking tour with the Chicago Greeters and got a great dirt-cheap massage at a massage school. I was really surprised by how much great free and seriously cheap things are in Chicago (and this book!). I highly recommend it.



3. This book will pay for itself. Easily the most useful guide for moving to Chicago I've seen. If you are starting out in the city, you should get this book.



4. Partially my fault. I was looking for inexpensive restaurants, etc., in Chicago. I thought this was similar to the now defunct Mr. Cheap's Chicago.
   
   Instead, it only lists free stuff, such as museums that provide free admission in January. Too bad this was May.
   
   If I lived there it might be different. But I am not SO cheap as to travel all around town to a bar that lets me nurse a drink and pig out on their free food.
   
   Too bad. There is lots in Chicago for people on a budget.

5 comments about The Sumerians: Their History, Culture, and Character (Phoenix Books).

1. The Sumerians is a very interesting book about ancient Mesopotamia and Sumerian civilisation.
   One of biggest mysteries of the world is the development of human culture and civilisation, for many decades scholars believed that first writing system was invented in Egypt but excavation in Mesopotamia showed a different picture and tablets found in that area dated back to 3000 BC and recent excavation in Iran revealed tablets(proto Elamit found in Jiroft area) dated 200 years before Sumerian tablets.
   The book gives a good insight to Sumerian daily life, Sumerian law,religion and Sumerian gods, mathematical school tablets(dated 2500 BC) which includes multiplications, squares, square roots, cubes
   And many other amazing information about medicine(prescriptions to make herbal medicine) .
   This is a very good book with lots of information and easy to read and
   good value for money.



2. Kramer, one time the world's leading Sumerian epigrapher, does a remarkable job here of clearly explaining concepts and developments to a nonspecialized reading audience. In this regard, I found much in this book about both the general mechanisms of writing as well as the actual inscriptions themselves to be extremely useful when I wrote my own book (Wetlands of Mass Destruction: Ancient Presage for Contemporary Ecocide in Southern Iraq). It is a rare academic who can move between the writing of technical journal articles and of books for the educated lay public, something in which Kramer, regardless of how dated specialists may now find his work, excelled at.



3. Kramer provides a brief survey of the history of ancient Sumer. Even though this book is listed as archeology, he gleans most of his narrative from literary sources. It includes a history of the area from early dynastic times down to the time of Hammurabi, as well essays on Sumerian literature, education, religion, and so forth. Kramer writes very elegantly and includes a large collection of primary sources, making this book, despite its age, one of the best on its subject. On the other hand, it is a rather old book, and there are some subjects where Kramer's interpretations do not seem to have been accepted by more recent scholars, for instance his theories about Magan, Meluhha, and Dilmun. Despite this, his book is a good introduction to the history of Sumer, worthy of a read by anyone who is or thinks they might be interested in the subject.



4. An extremely rich series of tableaus of a fascinating cvilization in all its past glorious history. The author is a superb writer. And this book is a treasure...almost all the vital aspects of Sumer are depicted with bright colors:...religion...culture, way of life...society..ideology...history and fascinating stories..It is rich rich rich. No library on history and civilizations is complete without this book! Really a rare gem!!



5. Very good book to start reading about a people and a time that is hard to research and investigate.I think the author presented a very good account of the Sumerians and in a clear and concise manner.Excellent book!

1 comments about Journey Around Chicago From A To Z (Journey Series).

1. Of all the Journey ABC books the one to Chicago has been the best. After reading the book one can make a list of where he or she would like to go and the sights to see in Chicago. The book is beautifully illustrated with a little WALDO theme inserted. Children and adults will enjoy finding a cardinal on every page.I recommend the book to 7 and older especially to those who like to travel.

No comments about City Walks: Chicago: 50 Adventures On Foot (City Walks).