City of Scoundrels: The 12 Days of Disaster That Gave Birth to Modern Chicago

by Gary Krist

The masterfully told story of twelve volatile days in the life of Chicago, when an aviation disaster, a race riot, a crippling transit strike, and a sensational child murder transfixed and roiled a city already on the brink of collapse.When 1919 began, the city of Chicago seemed on the verge of transformation. Modernizers had an audacious, expensive plan to turn the city from a brawling, unglamorous place into "the Metropolis of the World." But just as the dream seemed within reach, pandemonium broke loose and the city's highest ambitions were suddenly under attack by the same unbridled energies that had given birth to them in the first place.It began on a balmy Monday afternoon when a blimp in flames crashed through the roof of a busy downtown bank, incinerating those inside. Within days, a racial incident at a hot, crowded South Side beach spiraled into one of the worst urban riots in American history, followed by a transit strike that paralyzed the city. Then, when it seemed as if things could get no worse, police searching for a six-year-old girl discovered her body in a dark North Side basement.Meticulously researched and expertly paced, City of Scoundrels captures the tumultuous birth of the modern American city, with all of its light and dark aspects in vivid relief.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, American History, Audiobook, Historical, Politics, True Crime

378 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Gary Krist is the author of four previous narrative nonfiction books: The White Cascade, City of Scoundrels, Empire of Sin, and The Mirage Factory. He has also written three novels and two short story collections. A widely published journalist and book reviewer, Krist has been the recipient of the Stephen Crane Award, the Sue Kaufman Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a Lowell Thomas gold medal for travel journalism, a fiction fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, and a Public Scholar grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. His newest book--Trespassers at the Golden Gate: A True Account of Love, Murder, and Madness in Gilded-Age San Francisco--will be published in March of 2025.

Reviews

[Mara · Rating 4 out of 5]

The "twelve days of disaster" covered in Gary Krist's City of Scoundrels begin with a seemingly innocuous blimp test-flight above "the Loop" on July 21, 1919. Curious crowds gathered to behold the dirigible airship, Wingfoot Express, (pictured below, prior to its crash, obviously), and plenty of prominent characters tried to pull strings to go along for the ride.



Ever wondered how they figured out to use helium rather than hydrogen gas by the time they got to the good old Hindenburg (and the Excelsior for that matter)? Well, it might have something to do with the fact that hydrogen is extremely flammable.



It's unclear what the exact cause was, but things went awry, and the fireball of Wingfoot Express came crashing through the skylights of the Illinois Trust Building, chock full of typists and clerks.



As if this "air monster" catastrophe didn't already have the people of the city up in arms (it seemed pretty obvious, in retrospect, that the airspace above a densely populated city might not have been the wisest choice for an experimental flight), on July 22 the parents of six-year-old Janet Wilkinson reported their daughter missing. Immediate suspicion fell on neighborhood creep, John Fitzgerald who had been seen chatting with Janet that day. A JonBenét Ramsey-esque media frenzy ensued in the days before Fitzgerald confessed on July 26. However, things didn't end there.

With reports of other instances of pedophilia and abductions pouring in, the people wanted a solution and wanted one fast. So, the police chief went for somewhat of a sweeping approach, declaring that all "morons, half-wits, and subnormals" be rounded up and arrested.

All the while, Chicago was a veritable tinderbox of racial tension. The spark that ignited it all involved the death of a Black teenager (by drowning after being hit in the head by a rock) who had essentially floated (he was on a raft with friends) too close to what was considered a "whites only" beach area.



And, well, I'll just hand it over to Eric Cartman to announce what ensued...



The city descended into anarchy as the members of whites-only "athletic clubs" roamed the streets on the hunt for anyone on whom they could "exact revenge." Soon it wasn't just the neighborhood toughs involved (arson doesn't exactly require brute strength). Shown below, a group of white children pose proudly outside of an African-American residence they had set aflame.



Newspaper coverage did little to stop the violence, with headlines like Negroes Plan to Kill All Whites and drastically distorted numbers of the numbers of whites being killed being reported- a bias that carried on through the litigation which featured not a single white defendant.



Of course, there is so much that I'm leaving out. Larger than life politicians like Mayor "Big Bill" Thompson, the reporter and, now, famous poet Carl Sandburg, and the woefully under-appreciated Ida B. Wells.

I recommend this to any fans of narrative history, especially if you enjoyed The Devil in the White City .


Extra Credit Archer Love: (What? it's like a disease...)

Hello airplanes? Yeah it's blimps, you win.

Also of interest: Timeline of the "12 Bloody Days" from Chicago Magazine

[Jeanette · Rating 3 out of 5]

This might not be as interesting to some readers as it was to myself, a girl born on Racine Ave. near Garfield Blvd. It jumps between several 1919 events within Chicago. Parts were intriguing, holding my strong interest. Within other sections, and in other minutia of alliances, mostly of Big Bill Thompson politico, not so much.

Knowing all the locations and logistics made it nearly a 4 star for me. And yet one or two of the premises so centrally highlighted? Well, there was not harmony before, and far less after. There were reasons of economics, survival, health, access to a job, safety of transportation (huge problem in my life twice)why there has not been harmony. People have lost much and some have suffered much. So I really did LOL when I read there was a "Harmony" political party in 1919. Oh, I am not surprised that it never got off the ground either.

But because of how Chicago grew and how business and transportation expanded from 1871 at the time of the fire, to the Great Migration of most Southern Black Americans North- from the diversity of immigrant inputs and huge variance in jobs at different times; well, it's just not a happy camper or peaceful period at any time of its history. That it became worse after this 1919 period, not surprising. Yet Chicago was no staid or calm haven before this either. And far less some decades later.

But I was overjoyed to hear about White City, which my Mother always talked about as her girlhood favorite "day" place. I knew it was decades after the World's Fair and always thought she was exaggerating. But she wasn't. It was there until she was at least 15.

I was surprised that this book connotes a published self-identity and awareness (6 newspapers strong then)changing in 1919. As a lifelong South sider with no ancestor in America or in Chicago before 1917 and most of them coming in 1933- none of us have seen a long period of calm.

Periods of 1960s, 1970s, there were more than four or five times that were at least equal to wars (with war-like action visible for days at a time too, and once for weeks on end) in my lifetime too. North of the Loop and in the Western areas of affluence, Chicagoans hold an entirely different memory, I'm sure. The only reason we ever had to wander North of Marshall Field's was to go to Riverview. And that had to be on 2 cent day and took about 1-1/2 hours on the Western Ave bus.

This book was another look from the outside in. Interesting, well researched, but hardly "the change" it describes.

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Picking up on a recent trend - chronicling lesser well known but nonetheless critical historical events - the author focuses on twelve eventful days during the summer of 1919 in Chicago. And what a twelve days it was for the Windy City, including the crash of a blimp in the downtown Loop area, the mysterious disappearance of a 6-year-old girl, a transit workers' strike and several days of race riots. Using just the right mix of newspaper and first-hand accounts, mini-bios of the personalities involved - and this being Chicago, the politics - and enough back-story for context, Krist coherently tells us the story of this almost fortnight of drama.

In July of 1919 World War I had been “concluded” less than a year earlier and the world, country and city were dealing with the Spanish flu pandemic. Nationally Prohibition loomed on the horizon, inflation was running high and labor was frustrated with their post-war wages. President Woodrow Wilson was shuttling back and forth across the Atlantic - "making the world safe for Democracy" and campaigning here for his League of Nations. (Indirectly, the author provides a picture of what was happening as the country transitioned from war to peace mode with no one at the helm - Wilson obsessed with the aforementioned and then subsequently debilitated by a stroke.)

In Chicago, William Hale "Big Bill" Thompson was mayor and he had big, big plans for his beloved city. (If for no other reason, this book is worth the reading just to "get to know" Big Bill - bombastic, flamboyant and wildly corrupt - cartoonish, except he was real - the epitome of the opportunistic politician, if that's not redundant. His political feud with then Governor Frank Lowden - covered in all its adolescent petty detail here - is classic.) And then the twelve days of July 1919 chronicled here happened, putting all "plans" on the back-burner.

The obvious comparison here is to Erik Larson's books. Fair enough, but this is not Devil in the White City - Not a knock, just an observation. City of Scoundrels is more history less mystery, yet is still a fascinating read.

[Blaine DeSantis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now this was a fun book for me - even though it covered a very difficult time period: Summer of 1919 in Chicago. First of all a shout out to Carly at LitWit podcast. She did not recommend this book, but another one by Gary Krist and that got me searching the library e-book shelves. They had this book and it was a super enjoyable and fast non-fiction read.
Set in the summer of 1919 this book documents all that happened that summer: Aviation disaster, race riots, Red scare, child kidnapping, corrupt Mayor running for reelection, etc. Krist is one of this new breed of non-fiction writers who write as if it is a novel. Well written and superbly researched, this is a book for anyone who wants to learn a bit of US history, learn about Chicago, learn about some amazingly colorful figures, learn about the press and just try and recreate all that was happening in Chicago almost 100 years ago. The author does take a quick shot or two at current day Chicago and Illinois politics, but it is 1919 that draws our focus and the vice and corruption that was Chicago at the dawn of the Jazz Age.
I big thumbs up to this and a great book for those who do not love non-fiction, but who enjoy a good story. One thing about Chicago, it may have been corrupt but it certainly was a very good story!

[Lynn · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars. The premise of this book is that there were 12 horrible days in 1919 in Chicago that utterly transformed the city and gave rise to modern Chicago. During those 12 days a Goodyear blimp crashed through a bank skylight, killing people on the ground and some of its passengers, a young girl went missing and was later found dead, there was a race riot and a crippling transit strike.

Overseeing all this was a larger than life Mayor, William Thompson and the Governor of Illinois, Frank Lowden. The fact that these two men hated each other and worked at crossed purposes did not help the city during its time of greatest need. Thompson had a Svengali like character by his side, Fred Lundin, who was really the brains behind a lot of his schemes. Although Thompson did do some things that were good for Chicago, his overriding interest was always "What's in it for me?" I have to say that the more I read about Mayor Thompson, the more he reminded me of the current resident of the White House, and not in a good way.

Most of the book is focused on the 12 days in July that give rise to the disasters. There is a section prior to this that focuses on the rise of William Thompson. I get why it is necessary, but it is dry as a bone. The sections about the "days of disaster" are much more interesting, but they can be very confusing as the narrative jumps from one disaster to the next. The descriptions of the riots are just horrific at times.

By the time you get to the end of the book, you are waiting for the author to explain how those "12 days of disaster" led to modern Chicago. He does this in one paragraph. One paragraph! Really! At the end of the book. And his explanation is really lame.

Another ding is the inclusion of Emily Frankenstein and her romantic dramas. I have no idea why he spent so much time telling us about her. She added nothing to the narrative, and had no connection to any of the events. She was just there. For no reason.

The book gives an interesting snapshot of Chicago in the summer of 1919 and what politics and life was like back then. There is no keen insight as promised by the subtitle as to how what happened then gave rise to "modern " Chicago. The writing is quite dry with only a few flashes of creativity every so often. I doubt I'd read a book by this author again. If you compare this to Erik Larson's Devil in the White City, this would lose miserably.

[Jill H. · Rating 4 out of 5]

When we think of Chicago, that "city of big shoulders", in the early part of the 20th century, our first thoughts are Al Capone, bootlegging, and shootouts in the street. But prior to the rise of organized crime was the original organized crime of the city's government under "Big Bill" Thompson and incidents that set the tone for things to come in Chicago. This book basically covers the year 1919, especially twelve days in which the city came as near to destroying itself as it ever would.

It all started with the explosion and crash of a prototype blimp in the downtown Loop, killing and injuring crowds gathered to watch the airship gliding peacefully over the city. Then came the transit strike which paralyzed all public transportation and race riots on a scale not seen before. All this was tearing the city apart while the mayor and his political cronies sat back and plotted what political advantages they could make from the crisis. It was old Chicago politics at its worst and reached into every department of city and state government. A very interesting biography of not only the ineffective and corrupt government but also of a rising metropolis trying to find its way in the overall scheme of things. Recommended.

[Sean O · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an excellent book. Weaving the tale of the 12 days in the summer of 1919 where four different tragedies plunged Chicago into a crisis of character.

I thought the book was really good and full of great history, but the last third of the book becomes a political biography of William Hale Thompson, an outsize and corrupt politician that somehow gets a pass because he spouted a lot of pro-Chicago boosterism.

The direction of the last third of the book really bothered me, and I lost interest and my review lost a star.

The remainder of the book is one of my favorite types of history books: normal people doing important things in challenging times.

If you can live with a slightly positive portrait of Thompson, you’ll love this book. I can’t, so it only got four stars.

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book, mostly for the look back at Chicago at time that I am very unfamilar. One thing that I liked was that I could indirectly relate to this book, through my relatives who lived on Chicago's south side during that time. My grandmother was born on the south side in March of that very year, so her family would have been aware, if not witness, to some of the things happening, specifically the race riots that engulfed the south side. I'm a big history buff and if I can find some kind of personal connection to events in history, that makes it even more interesting to me. Growing up and living in the Chicago suburbs, I never knew of many of the events discussed in this book - the Wingfoot Express disaster, the murder of Janet Wilkinson, specifically. I enjoyed that Krist made it a personal story, recounting everyday Chicagoans experiences of those times, as opposed to writing a detached view of those events, he made it more relatable by including those people.
May 8, 2014: had a desire to re-read this one again. In the mood for some Chicago history.

[Pamela W]

I'm dying to read this. Having just moved FROM Chicago after 20 years, this just sounds like a typical week to me.

[George · Rating 4 out of 5]

A VERY INTERESTING AND MASTERFULLY TOLD TALE.


“At 11:59 P.M. on Monday, June 30, [1919] every saloon, tavern, and beer hall in Chicago was filled to bursting. Men—and more than a few women—were packed three to ten deep at every bar, with long lines of would-be patrons snaking out into the beer-soaked streets.” “At midnight, wartime Prohibition would go into effect, and the entire city would be dry.”—page 114

The start of the Jazz Age, the beginning of Prohibition, a time of nascent Machine Politics, an aviation disaster, a race riot, a crippling transit strike, and a sensational child murder—what’s not to like about CITY OF SCOUNDRELS: The 12 Days of Disaster That Gave Birth to Modern Chicago, by Gary Krist. Well researched history and sociology that reads like a novel… but more interesting.

Recommendation: A must read for history, culture, politics and/or city crazies. From State Street to the stockyards, Chicago is my kind of town.

“Deputy Chief Alcock, under enormous pressure, decided to take action. ‘I have ordered the arrest of all half-wits and subnormals, because they are a danger to every woman and girl in the city,’ he announced to reporters. ‘They are responsible for almost all the attacks that are reported to the police, and they should have been rounded up long ago and sent to institutions where they can be cared for.’ ”—page 151


NOOKbook edition, 363 pages

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you want evidence that things haven’t changed all that much in the great state of Illinois, read City of Scoundrels by Gary Krist. It’s a work of nonfiction covering July 21 to August 1, 1919 in Chicago.

A lot happened during those 12 days, more than I ever learned in school. The book opens with a prologue covering the crash of a blimp named the Wingfoot Express. The airship flew over the city several times on July 21. It took flight for the last time at 4:50 pm with five passengers. As it crossed State Street and the city’s central district, it caught fire; baseball fans at Comiskey Park south of downtown watched the flames erupt. As the passengers plummeted from the burning airship, it crashed into the Illinois Trust and Savings Bank.

The author spends a lot of time covering Chicago’s mayor, the colorful William Hale Thompson. The last Republican mayor of Chicago, he was known as Big Bill and is considered one of the most unethical mayors of all time. His relationship with Governor Frank Lowden was contentious and seems to have contributed to some of the city’s biggest problems during the summer of 1919. Still, Krist credits Thompson’s corrupt and wasteful administration with helping turn 21st-century Chicago into “perhaps the most architecturally distinguished and physically impressive city in the Americas.”

The problems that summer included racial unrest and bombings, race riots, a transit strike, and the frightening disappearance of a six-year-old girl. Krist’s quotations from newspapers of the day make it clear that claims that the press used to be unbiased are wishful thinking.

One thing that I did not expect to find in City of Scoundrels was multiple references to Galesburg’s own Carl Sandburg. Hired by Chicago Daily News editor Henry Justin Smith to be a labor reporter, he comes across as one of the good guys, fighting for the underdog and spotlighting the rights of the black soldiers recently returned from fighting for the U.S. in the Great War. Krist quotes from Sandburg’s poem “Hoodlums,” written in Chicago on July 29, 1919, and calls it “a powerful indictment of the senseless anger he was seeing all around him.”

City of Scoundrels is meticulously footnoted, but don’t let that put you off. It’s a fascinating look at Chicago – and the United States – of 100 years ago.

[Paul Pessolano · Rating 4 out of 5]

“City of Scoundrels” by Gary Krist, published by Crown Publishers.

Category – History

What can one say about Chicago? A city that has been plagued by political scandal since the 1900’s, but has maintained its image of a modern and vibrant city.

“City of Scoundrels” is a story of just twelve days in 1919 that shows both the rotten and good side of this teeming metropolis. The story begins with the crash of the blimp, “Wingfoot Express”, continues through the search for a missing child, continues through a transit strike, and ends with a race riot that put the city under martial law.
During all of this two political rivals, Big Bill Thompson (Mayor of Chicago) and Frank O. Lowden (Governor of Chicago) lock horns in a battle to forward their own agendas.

The book leaves no doubt that the oil that keeps Chicago running, then and now, is political favoritism doled out in both jobs and money.
The book also leaves no doubt that many problems that came out of these twelve days was largely due to misinformation that came not only from people on the street but by the many Chicago newspapers.

The riot, that was due to racial unrest, was fueled by the number of people reported murdered and the ghastly stories (all untrue) of the mayhem in the streets.

A very concise and well written history of 1900’s Chicago, stories that not too many people are aware of, including native Chicagoans. A history book that is not only easy to read but very informative.

[Susan in NC · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everything I like my popular history to be - entertaining, well-researched and informative, this book focuses on the disastrous events over 12 days in July of 1919 that brought parts of Chicago to a standstill.

Krist does an excellent job of setting the stage by giving readers a pithy, concise profile of Mayor William Hale Thompson, aka “Big Bill”, and the political machine he controlled. I was fascinated by the cynical prevalence of populism in Thompson’s reign, and the modern parallels I see in today’s national political scene. Thompson came from a wealthy background, but affected a cowboy hat and styled himself the champion of the working classes, all the while attacking the press and his political enemies with equal fervor, while presiding over his corrupt administration. Thompson seemed to truly love the city and its people, championing the ambitious Chicago Plan to beautify the city and turn it into a world class destination, but his desire above all was to remain in power and politically viable - his main motivation throughout all the crisis events of that brutal summer, and in the fallout that followed.

The first crisis was the crash of a dirigible into a bank in the business district, raining down fire on the employees below. Devastating as that was, the following days would see a little girl disappear and be found, murdered, in a coal cellar; a race riot erupt on a sweltering South Side beach, and rage for four days before National Guard troops were called in to calm the situation, and a transit strike cripple the city.

In the aftermath, blame would be passed around as citizens called for responsibility to be apportioned, and politicians would squabble among themselves, trying to spin the crises to their advantage, despite the devastation and shocking death toll.

My two main takeaways, as a native Chicagoan who didn’t know about these events, was that politics are truly cyclical - the more they change, the more they stay the same; politicians will always cynically spin and manipulate situations. Secondly, I better understand the racial animus I sensed among some adults as I was growing up on the South Side of Chicago - turns out, the roots of the racial strife go deep into the past.

I really enjoyed this book about the events of the summer of 1919 in Chicago, it helped me better understand my hometown and learn more about it. I enjoy the author’s crisp, entertaining and informative writing style, and look forward to reading more of his books.

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

An energetic and readable summary of a simply ruinous two-week period that hit Chicago in July 1919. Krist starts this history with a spectacular blimp crash (not a typo), before pulling back the camera and introducing us to the politicians, reporters, and other historical figures who would make their mark on Chicago. As he comes back to July of 1919, Krist weaves in a missing-child story that feels up-to-date in its breathless and constant coverage, a transit strike, a race riot, and the battles of political machines that arguably exacerbated each.

Where City of Scoundrels falls short is primarily in living up to its own goals. While these events certainly had their impacts, Krist never really makes the case that these events caused Chicago to be its modern self in a meaningful way, except to argue at the end that certain politicians would or would not have been in office, and therefore modernization plans would have gone differently. While this doesn't detract from Krist's accomplishment in pulling together a very interesting piece of history, it does feel a little disappointing.

In sum, City of Scoundrels hasn't displaced The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America as my favorite Chicago history book; however, it's a fun (albeit nonessential) read.

[Jake Weber · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eminently readable - wild to see how far we’ve come, yet also how little has changed. One of those that changes the way you look at a city and think/feel about the different parts of it which you may have previously taken for granted.

[Suanne Laqueur · Rating 4 out of 5]

The 50-State Nonfiction Challenge continues with Illinois (obviously I’m not going in alphabetical order but by whatever’s available on Libby).

This was terrific look at twelve days in Chicago when A LOT OF CRAZY SHIT HAPPENED. A blimp accident, race riots, civil unrest, a transit strike, an unsolved child murder... Krist moves effortlessly from historical to anecdotal, political to personal. I was completely entertained and learned a lot.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

From July 21st through August 1st, 1919 Chicago was a city of turmoil. This non-fiction account of that time reads like a good historical fiction novel, but as the author states in the forward all the events are factual and no dialogue is invented. Mr. Krist draws from public record, newspaper accounts and personal diaries to piece together what happened during those 12 days. On a calm and comfortable Monday afternoon the Wingfoot Express blimp exploded over the city sending burning debris (and bodies) crashing into a bank. While the city mourns the 13 tragic deaths from the explosion a 6-year-old girl goes missing starting the hunt for a dangerous pedophile. Already reeling, Chicagoans also witness the very public suicide of a judge, suffer through a transit strike and endure the infamous race riots.

Mr. Krist chronicles these events in order and intersperses the narrative with excerpts from political documents outlining the conflict between mayor “Big Bill” Thompson and Governor Lowden, readings from the diary of a debutante in love with an unsuitable young man and various other personal and public documents. This allows the reader a glimpse into the gritty politics and racial tensions of the city and the feelings of citizens affected by what was going on around them.

Mr. Krist’s writing is never dry and the book moves along without a hitch to make it an enjoyable read. If textbooks were written in this manner, students would be lining up to take history classes. While it may be a positive for other readers, if I had to make a negative comment I would be that, for this reader, the narrative was a little heavy on the politics.

[Judy McCarver · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chicago in 1919 was tumultuous, angry, corrupt, and boiling over with cruelty and indifference. The freedoms espoused for a diverse population in the North (versus the South) was never so untrue as it was in Chicago in 1919. The violence and brutality was shocking and rampant during the race riots that took place in those hot summer days of July 1919. Against an aggravating backdrop of transportation workers striking, crimes against children, and the devastating crash of a Goodyear blimp. All the while as political leaders led their self absorbed lives, yet delivered heady speeches to constituents touting their support of the working man or the black population, even as all around them, the city literally lay in ruins. The ignorance of so many prevailing so loudly is what leaves your head spinning. The newspapers (Tribune, Daily, Herald) mostly just stoked the fires of violence in the city that summer while the mayor and his entourage, and the chief of police-their lips always moving, still yet did little to abate the storm. Politicians today still “deliver heady speeches to constituents touting their support” while assuming the role of champion. However, the truth lies somewhere different than the public stage. It lies within each of us, no matter who or where we are. There is a verse in the bible that says it best: “A good person brings good out of the good stored up in his heart. An evil person brigs evil out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.”

[Matthew McElroy · Rating 2 out of 5]

For all the New Yorkers who want to tell you they live in the greatest city in the world, people who judge a city by more than the number of bodegas know that Chicago is a superior city.
Rather than being molded into a city, immigrants molded the city to what they wanted. Bill Thompson took advantage of all of this and made himself one the iconic mayors in US History. (I know this is specious reasoning, but how many other mayors can you even name?)
While I don't know that Krist proves his thesis, it is certainly a compelling story of 12 harrowing days. Krist never connects this period fully with what happens in the century that follows. If you enjoyed Devil in the White City, this story is every bit as interesting and intense.
One last endnote: if you are use the tracker to chart your progress, this book has an impressive 70 pages of endnotes, bibliography and indices.

[Wanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was not engaged in this short history. I did not find the writing to be particularly compelling. The best written part concerned the dirigible disaster, otherwise it was pretty tired and thin. Not much more to say on the matter.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had high hopes for City of Scoundrels, and while I enjoyed it overall, my hopes dropped faster than a Goodyear gasbag. Based on the title, subtitle, and jacket description, I expected this to be, primarily, a review of a series of events with about equal attention given to each, perhaps with a packaged summary and reflection of their impact at the end. Instead, the book is mostly a biography of Mayor William Hale Thompson.

I can’t decide how I’m supposed to feel about Thompson, built up in the first half of the book as a deceitful villain, but revealed in the second half to be a savior of the city, who eventually loses, then wins, then loses again. I am told that he is dishonest, conniving, and a buffoon, but also that he is elected to his office three times—including after the tragedies that unfold in the 12 days of the sutbtitle.

Then there’s those 12 days. I couldn’t tell you now with any certainty which days on the calendar were the 12 in the title. The first chapter is day one, but the next chapter goes back in time to “Big Bill’s” first election, then forward again to give a thorough telling of all 365 days of 1919. Wrap it up with some of days of 1920 and beyond, and there is my confusion.

Krist does a great job with the story he tells, and it was a lot of fun (as much as race riots, murder, mechanical disaster, and politics can be), it just wasn’t what it was set up to be. My next step is to read some of the reviews by others, to help me understand this book the way it was meant to be understood. Hopefully I am just missing connections and reading what someone else has to say will make the light come on for me.

As a history of Chicago, City of Scoundrels is valuable, presenting some little-known events and characters in the city's story, as well as mentioning some of the big ones with which we are all familiar. I would recommend it, just don't put too much weight into the words on the cover.

[Randee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was sitting at my aunt's and uncles living room waiting for dinner to be announced, I began reading the Chicago Field Museum magazine, in which my Aunt and Uncle were members. i was turning pages rapidly when I stopped on a page where there was a young , 14 year old that looked like he could have been my Uncle Al's twin when my uncle was young. I checked the kid out and he had the name last name and my uncle and pop. Curious-er. and curious-er. No one in the family...not my aunts/uncles/my parents/grandparents, etc. had never breathed a word of this story. And what a story it is! On July 21, 1919, Goodyear began running an experimental blimp run from Grant Park to various spots in downtown Chicago for a type of thrilling sightseeing excursions. The first two of the day went off as planned. The third trip, shortly after the blimp had passed State Street caught fire and plummeted ablaze through the skylights of the Illinois State Bank. Several crew members were killed and even more bank employees were burned alive. My uncle's father youngest brother was one of them He was 14 and worked as a bank messenger. This was the first air disaster to ever take place in Chicago. It was also the kick off of 2 weeks of disasters that I found to be interesting. Political corruption, race riots, transportation strikes. abducted, murdered kids by pedophiles. Nothing has really changed.

[Carole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Krist is a good story teller and specializes in narrative history. He focuses on a few characters as the basis of a tapestry centering on a series of disasters that rocked the city of Chicago in the summer of 1919. This included a spectacular aviation accident, racial upheaval, a massive transit strike, and the disappearance and murder of a small child. A populist governor (whose eyebrow-raising maneuvers strike a familiar current tone) deals with the issues both in a direct and underhanded way. Krist creates a rich depiction of place and time. It is thoroughly researched and full of telling and colorful detail and context. Readers who enjoyed The Devil on White City might like this as a follow-up.

[Meg · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have lived in Chicago my whole life, but I hadn't heard of many of these disasters. I do feel that the title was misleading, because so much of the book was about Mayor Bill Thompson and his elections and agenda. I also wished they would have talked more about the Eastland Disaster. It was mentioned twice, but only a single sentence each time, while other disasters had almost unbelievable detail. I understand this didn't fall under the 12 days of disaster, but it still happened when Bill Thompson was mayor and it was the largest loss of life shipwreck ever on the Great Lakes (844 people drowned while it was still docked in the Chicago River!).

I appreciate learning more (the good and not-so-good) about my home-town, but I would probably only recommend this to history buffs.

[Tabitha Krug · Rating 4 out of 5]

(audiobook) It was nice to learn some history of Chicago, but the book had a strange pace. It started with the very exciting airship crash, then the next 1/4 of the book was just about the boring mayoral race. Horrifying account of the race riots--in some ways it seemed so different from today (when some politicians started suggesting, in response to the riots, that some segregation laws might be beneficial to the city), but in other ways it seemed too familiar (despite there being more black victims and more white rioters/murderers, most of the men initially put on trial were black).

[John Yingling · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars
It seemed, as I was reading this book, that it could have been about the present-day: political corruption and backstabbing, racism, corporations looking out for themselves, unions going on strike, and child murder. It's a history told extremely well by the author as a series of stories, and each one is almost worthy of a book. All in all, it's another slice of history that I didn't know anything about, and now I'm glad that I do.

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am obviously biased as a proud Chicagoan, but this is such a wonderful account of a city gone mad and all of the influences and influencers that provoked chaos. Honestly, I wish that every high school student in the city would be required to read this.

[Kristin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Really wanted to like this more than I did, but I couldn’t wait for it to be over. Some parts were interesting, but I skipped through a lot of the last section. And I had no clue why the author included the whole story of Emily Frankenstein. It seemed so out of place, and didn’t add a whole lot to the premise that 12 days of disaster that changed Chicago forever.

[Pamela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Timely reading these days.

[Andrea McGinnis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Introduction to book sounded great. It got too deeply into character development and no plot... I gave up at 25%