Book Mark Book Review Club - February Book Review

CITY OF THE CENTURY
Donald L. Miller

The Travelling Toe and several friends are members of a book review club, called Book Mark Book Review Club  The group meets 6 times a year.  A professional book reviewer is engaged to present a book review to the members.  The choice of the book and author is totally up to the book reviewer.  It is always a wonderful and enjoyable surprise as to which book the reviewer selected.

Book Reviewers Association

For February, our reviewed was Mary Booty.  WOW!!!!  Her presentation was so entertaining and engrossing.  Having performed in regional theater groups she put those skills to  good use in her presentation.  Not only was her story telling skills excellent but she would throw in a song that highlighted the story line. (Mary's bio is below)

The book she chose was "City of the Century: Th Epic of Chicago and the Making of America". The author of the book is Donald L. Miller.

Donald L Miller

Wikipedia
Donald L. Miller is a prominent biographer and historian. He is the John Henry MacCracken Professor of History at Lafayette College in Pennsylvania. 
Born: November 11, 1944 (age 71)

Mary begin the review by starting in the 17th Century when French explorers first arrived in the area that became Chicago.  By 1837, it had grown to about 4,000 inhabitants and eventually was able to obtain a city charter.  A canal was built that linked the Chicago River to Lake Michigan and it allowed for shipping goods, products and people all the way down the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico.  The canal construction attracted an influx of immigrants and by 1870, 50% of Chicago residents were foreign born. 

One interesting character Mary talked about was George Pullman who invented the Pullman Rail Cars that revolutionized the travel industry throughout the world.  By 1856, Chicago was the center of the largest railroad network in the world.  

McCormick moved their manufacturing to Chicago.  That in turn brought in the large grain harvests from the Mid-West farms into Chicago to be refined and shipped out.  

Philip Amour headed the hog market and Gustave Swift invented the refrigerated rail car.  

Potter Palmer, an entrepreneur, established a retail store like no other.  It had a refined atmosphere in order to cater to wealthy women.  He was the first to advertise his store in a newspaper.  When he retired, the store was sold to 2 young men and one of the partners was Marshall Field. He also build a luxury hotel,The Palmer House, which still bears his name.

Also retailers Montgomery Wards and Sears began their business ventures in Chicago.

Mary then discussed Jane Adams and Hull House.  One young man who took music lessons at Hull House was Benny Goodman.  Jane was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931.

One of the big events in Chicago was of course the fire of October 1871.  The fire burned for 31 hours. A cold October rain fell to help quell the fire. Over 300 people died, over 100,000 were homeless and 17,000 buildings were reduced to ashes.

But out of that came a new Chicago and with it a celebration - the Chicago World's Fair, Colombian Exposition.  It was to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus and his discovery of the New World.  So of course it was held in 1893.  The previous World's Fair had been in Paris and the Eiffel Tower was unveiled. So Chicago held a contest for new inventions to attract attention and the winner was a man named Ferris who built the first Ferris Wheel.

Chicago's famous Ferris Wheel

There are more stories and history that Mary shared but The Travelling Toe will leave it here for you to explore if you care to do so. Chicago is still a toddlin town!

Chicago's World Fair

Here is an overview of the book from the Simon and Shuster's website:

The epic of Chicago is the story of the emergence of modern America. Here, witness Chicago's growth from a desolate fur-trading post in the 1830's to one of the world's most explosively alive cities by 1900.

Donald Miller's powerful narrative embraces it all: Chicago's wild beginnings, its reckless growth, its natural calamities (especially the Great Fire of 1871), its raucous politics, its empire-building businessmen, its world-transforming architecture, its rich mix of cultures, its community of young writers and journalists, and its staggering engineering projects -- which included the reversal of the Chicago River and raising the entire city from prairie mud to save it from devastating cholera epidemics. The saga of Chicago's unresolved struggle between order and freedom, growth and control, capitalism and community, remains instructive for our time, as we seek ways to build and maintain cities that retain their humanity without losing their energy. City of the Century throbs with the pulse of the great city it brilliantly brings to life

Simon and Schuster


Biography for Mary Booty: