Street Signs Chicago: Neighborhood and Other Illusions of Big-City Life

by Charles Bowden, Lew Kreinberg, William Appleman Williams (Foreword)

"Don't let the title fool you. It's about more than street it's about life in the big city; it's about history and the loss of history; it's about neighborhoods that were and never were, but still could be; it's about illusion and the real thing...." Studs Terkel

Hardcover

First published September 28, 1981

About the author

Charles Bowden was an American non-fiction author, journalist and essayist based in Las Cruces, New Mexico.

His journalism appeared regularly in Harper’s GQ, and other national publications. He was the author of several books of nonfiction, including Down by the River.

In more than a dozen groundbreaking books and many articles, Charles Bowden blazed a trail of fire from the deserts of the Southwest to the centers of power where abstract ideas of human nature hold sway — and to the roiling places that give such ideas the lie. He claimed as his turf "our soul history, the germinal material, vast and brooding, that is always left out of more orthodox (all of them) books about America" (Jim Harrison, on Blood Orchid ).

Reviews

[Joe Brunory · Rating 5 out of 5]

Before reading this I did not know that Bowden was a native Chicagoan. He charts the growth an evolution of the city with a light hand and with as much style as Algren or Sandburg. His writing is reason enough to read any of his books, each sentence a joy to the senses whatever the subject. An enlightened mind and a pleasurable and thought provoking book to read.

[Jeremy Cleveland · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun read as a time capsule of what Chicago writers in 1980 thought the future of Chicago would be. They predict Pilsen will be overrun by artists and gentrified (not exactly true, but more true than 1980). Also it’s very interesting that in the last chapter they make the same claim of “Sun Belt cities are unsustainable and there will be a migration from them to cities with good transportation infrastructure, such as Chicago” that I’ve heard from people. Nowadays you hear things like this from people concerned about climate change, but since this book is from 1980 it’s based on the assumption that oil production would continue to decline and prices would continue to rise inevitably. Which obviously didn’t end up being true but was a super popular belief at the time. Interesting read as a a snapshot of the time still.

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Captures a certain essence of Chicago but a bit disjointed.