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Lords of the Levee: The Story of Bathhouse John and Hinky Dink
Winner of 2006 Illinois State Historical Society Book Award-Certificate of Excellence
In the early twentieth century, John Coughlin and Mike Kenna ruled Chicago's First Ward, the lucrative lakefront territory and nerve center of the city. It was one of the most infamous havens for vice in the entire country, home to gambling palaces with marble floors and mahogany bars, to a mini-city of thugs and prostitutes and down-and-outers, to dives and saloons of every description and a few beyond description. In short, the First was a gold mine. In a city where money talked, it made boisterous Bathhouse John and the laconic Hinky Dink Kenna the most powerful men in town. This classic of Chicago-style journalism traces the careers of these two operators as they rose to the top of the city's political world.
In the early twentieth century, John Coughlin and Mike Kenna ruled Chicago's First Ward, the lucrative lakefront territory and nerve center of the city. It was one of the most infamous havens for vice in the entire country, home to gambling palaces with marble floors and mahogany bars, to a mini-city of thugs and prostitutes and down-and-outers, to dives and saloons of every description and a few beyond description. In short, the First was a gold mine. In a city where money talked, it made boisterous Bathhouse John and the laconic Hinky Dink Kenna the most powerful men in town. This classic of Chicago-style journalism traces the careers of these two operators as they rose to the top of the city's political world.
408 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1943
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 3, 2023
James Joyce wrote of the Dubliners he recalled from his youth, who later populated his novels and stories, that they "all belong to a vanished world and most of them seem to have been very curious types". And Wendt and Kogan themselves show us many "curious types" at work and play in this story of two aldermen of Chicago (elected members of the city council), with a colorful supporting cast of various other municipal politicians of the era, a "vanished world".
In the place and time the book is set, protectionism, patronage, graft, particularly "boodling", were pervasive and existed in a rococo variety not experienced today. You experience the rise and fall, or better yet, obsolescence with the march of time, of "Bathhouse" John Coughlin, and "Hinky Dink" Michael Kenna. They both rise through the odd jobs and desultory schooling of their youths, gain proprietorship of bathhouses and saloons, find their way into Chicago politics, and give us a great show.
I first heard of Coughlin and Kenna as I was reading Upton Sinclair's The Jungle; in that book they are mentioned briefly, their names but a phrase in a litany of corruption, somewhere above the great misery in Sinclair's book, and presumably at fault. As Wendt and Kogan describe them at length in this book, they are strictly charming. Mayor Carter Harrison considers them true political reformers for their relative rectitude in the "Traction Wars", the city transit intrigues of the turn of the twentieth century, even as he wryly denies having noticed "any wings sprouting on John".
The book does change, the parts prior to the Roaring Twenties the most packed with action and personalities. The latter part of the book is perhaps given in a single image: Coughlin greying, slowing, fortunes declining, still cheerful, still backslapping and benevolent, still boisterously sweeping into council chambers in garish suits twenty years and more out of date, little left to do, still re-elected year after year.
For a full biography of main characters John Coughlin or Michael Kenna, or supporting characters John Powers, Carter Harrison, etc., you would need to include other material; but to hear a good story about Chicago, pre-Roaring Twenties, this book is perhaps as good a place as any to start.
In the place and time the book is set, protectionism, patronage, graft, particularly "boodling", were pervasive and existed in a rococo variety not experienced today. You experience the rise and fall, or better yet, obsolescence with the march of time, of "Bathhouse" John Coughlin, and "Hinky Dink" Michael Kenna. They both rise through the odd jobs and desultory schooling of their youths, gain proprietorship of bathhouses and saloons, find their way into Chicago politics, and give us a great show.
I first heard of Coughlin and Kenna as I was reading Upton Sinclair's The Jungle; in that book they are mentioned briefly, their names but a phrase in a litany of corruption, somewhere above the great misery in Sinclair's book, and presumably at fault. As Wendt and Kogan describe them at length in this book, they are strictly charming. Mayor Carter Harrison considers them true political reformers for their relative rectitude in the "Traction Wars", the city transit intrigues of the turn of the twentieth century, even as he wryly denies having noticed "any wings sprouting on John".
The book does change, the parts prior to the Roaring Twenties the most packed with action and personalities. The latter part of the book is perhaps given in a single image: Coughlin greying, slowing, fortunes declining, still cheerful, still backslapping and benevolent, still boisterously sweeping into council chambers in garish suits twenty years and more out of date, little left to do, still re-elected year after year.
For a full biography of main characters John Coughlin or Michael Kenna, or supporting characters John Powers, Carter Harrison, etc., you would need to include other material; but to hear a good story about Chicago, pre-Roaring Twenties, this book is perhaps as good a place as any to start.
September 18, 2007
Interesting historical recap of two interesting Chicago aldermen at the turn of the century. Interesting and a ton of information. I didn't find it particularly engaging or find myself really attached to any of the characters, but being a native Chicagoan, it was interesting to read about the politics, corruption and craziness that was Chicago at the turn of the century.
January 13, 2009
Beautifully written in 1943 by Herman Kogan & Lloyd Wendt. They were able to interview many of the actual The story of the premier of Bathhouse John's song "Dear Midnight of Love" at the Opera House is wonderful. The scene in which Bathhouse meets Al Capone is chilling. Change some proper names and some dates and this could be contemporary history.
April 6, 2010
While the history part was interesting to learn, the story didn't grab my attention at all and was not as good as Sin in the Second City.
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July 26, 2012Excellent book by two of the greatest writers on Chicago History.
December 14, 2014
A great history of the Victorian Era Chicago.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews