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City of Big Shoulders: A History of Chicago
"This compact yet comprehensive account of Chicago's history links key events in the city's development, from its marshy origins in the 1600s to today's robust metropolis. Synthesizing a vast body of literature, Robert Spinney presents Chicago in terms of the people whose lives made the city-not only the tycoons and the politicians but also the hundreds of thousands of immigrants from all over the world who have kept the city working"--
- GenresHistoryNonfiction
324 pages, Unknown Binding
First published March 16, 2000
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
April 29, 2010
Growing up in the suburbs, Chicago has always kind of been a mysterious void, something I am connected to somehow but never really understood, like an estranged family member. This book has taught me that while that family member may be bit crazy I'm not as far removed from him as I thought and indeed the similarities are quite shocking.
April 16, 2024
While there’s no chance I would’ve read this book if I hadn’t been forced to for a class, it was actually really interesting! I feel much more connected to the city I live in, and it’s cool to finally know the history behind Chicago.
November 4, 2023
City of Big Shoulders: A History of Chicago takes its name from a description of the city by poet Carl Sandburg. Authored by historian Robert G. Spinney, this excellent book takes readers through the history of Chicago from its days as a frontier outpost all the way to the twenty-first century.
It begins with the arrival of French Jesuit missionary Jacques Marquette to a region which would eventually encompass Chicago. His seventeenth century travels marked the earliest European exploration of the region, and the Europeans' interactions with native tribes was analyzed in the early portions of Spinney's history.
The author emphasizes how the brutal winter weather, alongside the natives in the area, retarded settlement of the area that would eventually become Chicago. It would not be until the mid-nineteenth century-two centuries after the arrival of men like Marquette and Louis Joliet-that Chicago really began to take off as a city.
City of Big Shoulders notes some of the early major contributors to Chicagoland's growth after the 1830s: trade. Its location on the Great Lakes (and therefore access to the recently built Erie Canal) as well as its vital link in the nation's burgeoning railroad system between the West and East helped propel early expansion.
Beginning with Chicago's first mayor William B. Ogden in 1837, the book does a nice job giving the back stories of various colorful mayors. From Anton Cermak-who was assassinated shortly in his term during an attempt to kill FDR-to the foulmouthed Rahm Emanuel in the 2010s, there is no shortage of mayoral-related material to work with.
Various moral crusades spearheaded by late nineteenth and early twentieth century mayors and city councils made for interesting reading, and oftentimes these were pushed by area-based pastors like Dwight Moody and Billy Sunday. Anti-vice laws, some of which seemed curiously aimed at groups like the hard-drinking German-Americans, were often led by men like Sunday and Moody. Mayors Carter Henry Harrison and his son Carter IV had huge impacts on the city, as did Upton Sinclair's revelations regarding terrible conditions for factory working immigrants in his novel The Jungle.
The city's role in supplying the Union Army with everything from food to weapons during the Civil War further helped its economy in the 1860s. The influx of numerous immigrant groups-Poles and Irish among them-during this era provides Spinney with an opportunity to delve into the city's various ethnic enclaves. The Great Migration of southern blacks to Chicago also guided the story into the origins of the city's large African-American population.
The Chicago Fire of 1871 (both the inferno and its aftermath) are covered by Spinney. He emphasizes just how fast the city bounced back from this terrible event and the degree to which it was constructed back bigger and better than before. The selfless work of women like Jane Addams the manner in which they aided the area's poor were also looked at by the author.
Richard J. Daley's twenty-one years as mayor loomed large over Chicago's development. From 1955 until 1976, he had an outsized influence over patronage and the steering of the Cook County Democratic Party.
His handling of protestors at the 1968 Democratic National Convention at the height of the Vietnam War came in for a tough analysis, and Spinney shows Daley growing more conservative as the 1960s and 1970s wore on. This shift reflected the rightward shift in much of the country at the time. Daley's handling of Martin Luther King and his attempts to scale back the ambitions of civil rights leaders demonstrated his increased willingness to play to Chicago's white working class at the expense of its nonwhite citizens.
His son Richard M. Daley's reign from 1989 until 2011 was shown to be almost as impactful. The younger Daley was shown to be more racially sensitive and a more tolerant person than his father. His investment in a number of city revitalization projects, including Millennium Park, went alongside largely successful attempts to loom information and technology jobs into the downtown corridor.
The role race played in Chicago was very evident in the portions on Harold Washington's election as mayor in 1983, when he became the first black mayor of a major American city. Jane Byrne's fumbling of these sorts of issues were shown to be a contributor to Washington's successful political comeback after a previous mayoral election loss.
Chicago's struggles with violence, from the days of men like Al Capone up to present day gang-related shootings, also came in for a close inspection in City of Big Shoulders. Spinney clearly knows a lot about the city's background, and he put both the good and bad on the table in this quality work of nonfiction.
City of Big Shoulders: A History of Chicago really shows how its done when it comes to telling the story of an important U.S. city. From the important civic and political leaders to the architectural changes Chicago experienced, this was clearly a book by a historian on top of their game. Even a resident of city is likely to come away with new nuggets of information after taking the time to read it.
-Andrew Canfield Denver, Colorado
It begins with the arrival of French Jesuit missionary Jacques Marquette to a region which would eventually encompass Chicago. His seventeenth century travels marked the earliest European exploration of the region, and the Europeans' interactions with native tribes was analyzed in the early portions of Spinney's history.
The author emphasizes how the brutal winter weather, alongside the natives in the area, retarded settlement of the area that would eventually become Chicago. It would not be until the mid-nineteenth century-two centuries after the arrival of men like Marquette and Louis Joliet-that Chicago really began to take off as a city.
City of Big Shoulders notes some of the early major contributors to Chicagoland's growth after the 1830s: trade. Its location on the Great Lakes (and therefore access to the recently built Erie Canal) as well as its vital link in the nation's burgeoning railroad system between the West and East helped propel early expansion.
Beginning with Chicago's first mayor William B. Ogden in 1837, the book does a nice job giving the back stories of various colorful mayors. From Anton Cermak-who was assassinated shortly in his term during an attempt to kill FDR-to the foulmouthed Rahm Emanuel in the 2010s, there is no shortage of mayoral-related material to work with.
Various moral crusades spearheaded by late nineteenth and early twentieth century mayors and city councils made for interesting reading, and oftentimes these were pushed by area-based pastors like Dwight Moody and Billy Sunday. Anti-vice laws, some of which seemed curiously aimed at groups like the hard-drinking German-Americans, were often led by men like Sunday and Moody. Mayors Carter Henry Harrison and his son Carter IV had huge impacts on the city, as did Upton Sinclair's revelations regarding terrible conditions for factory working immigrants in his novel The Jungle.
The city's role in supplying the Union Army with everything from food to weapons during the Civil War further helped its economy in the 1860s. The influx of numerous immigrant groups-Poles and Irish among them-during this era provides Spinney with an opportunity to delve into the city's various ethnic enclaves. The Great Migration of southern blacks to Chicago also guided the story into the origins of the city's large African-American population.
The Chicago Fire of 1871 (both the inferno and its aftermath) are covered by Spinney. He emphasizes just how fast the city bounced back from this terrible event and the degree to which it was constructed back bigger and better than before. The selfless work of women like Jane Addams the manner in which they aided the area's poor were also looked at by the author.
Richard J. Daley's twenty-one years as mayor loomed large over Chicago's development. From 1955 until 1976, he had an outsized influence over patronage and the steering of the Cook County Democratic Party.
His handling of protestors at the 1968 Democratic National Convention at the height of the Vietnam War came in for a tough analysis, and Spinney shows Daley growing more conservative as the 1960s and 1970s wore on. This shift reflected the rightward shift in much of the country at the time. Daley's handling of Martin Luther King and his attempts to scale back the ambitions of civil rights leaders demonstrated his increased willingness to play to Chicago's white working class at the expense of its nonwhite citizens.
His son Richard M. Daley's reign from 1989 until 2011 was shown to be almost as impactful. The younger Daley was shown to be more racially sensitive and a more tolerant person than his father. His investment in a number of city revitalization projects, including Millennium Park, went alongside largely successful attempts to loom information and technology jobs into the downtown corridor.
The role race played in Chicago was very evident in the portions on Harold Washington's election as mayor in 1983, when he became the first black mayor of a major American city. Jane Byrne's fumbling of these sorts of issues were shown to be a contributor to Washington's successful political comeback after a previous mayoral election loss.
Chicago's struggles with violence, from the days of men like Al Capone up to present day gang-related shootings, also came in for a close inspection in City of Big Shoulders. Spinney clearly knows a lot about the city's background, and he put both the good and bad on the table in this quality work of nonfiction.
City of Big Shoulders: A History of Chicago really shows how its done when it comes to telling the story of an important U.S. city. From the important civic and political leaders to the architectural changes Chicago experienced, this was clearly a book by a historian on top of their game. Even a resident of city is likely to come away with new nuggets of information after taking the time to read it.
-Andrew Canfield Denver, Colorado
January 23, 2025
This is a short and manageable general history of Chicago written by the author to support his college class on the city’s history. The idea is that one can pick up various strands of the history of Chicago but Professor Spinney wrote in response to a lack of histories covering the full history of the city. He succeeded - this is a readable story that ties together most of what a longtime resident might know and provides some insights along the way. I was mostly interested in the earlier history of Chicago written- prior to the great fire - but also in the time up through WW1.
This book works well, although for some areas, such as business and economics, there are much more in depth works, such as William Cronon’s Nature’s Metropolis (1992). As a one volume general history, this is good. The text extends up to 2020 and covers the council wars following Richard J. Daley’s death and the tenure of Richard M. Daley well. The period after the second Daley is generally on target, although I remember the times more as news rather than as an historical account. It ends on a nice twist about the city’s conflicts with the first Trump administration over immigration, which is an introduction to the current threatened ICE raid.
This works well as a general volume and I recommend it.
This book works well, although for some areas, such as business and economics, there are much more in depth works, such as William Cronon’s Nature’s Metropolis (1992). As a one volume general history, this is good. The text extends up to 2020 and covers the council wars following Richard J. Daley’s death and the tenure of Richard M. Daley well. The period after the second Daley is generally on target, although I remember the times more as news rather than as an historical account. It ends on a nice twist about the city’s conflicts with the first Trump administration over immigration, which is an introduction to the current threatened ICE raid.
This works well as a general volume and I recommend it.
April 17, 2023
This great book has a very disappointing ending (due to circumstantial factors)… it concludes in May 2019 with the election of Lori Lightfoot; missed opportunity because you do not want this ‘yarn’ to end! “City of Big Shoulders” is enriching, educating, and a wealth of information. I actually ordered my own copy about three-quarters of the way through reading it because I knew that I would be referencing this book repeatedly in the future. Obviously it doesn’t cover everything, and I was disappointed that some things were left out, or shaved down to a mere reference – yet for Spinney to be able to tell a story of an unoccupiable swamp in the 1600s, into its slow transformation into one of the world’s greatest metropolitan areas, without drowning the reader in dull facts, is a feat. This is a treat for historians, yet Spinney approaches the material from the perspective of race, particularly Chicago as a city of immigrants and changing social patterns/cultures from one neighborhood to the next.
August 10, 2025
Coming back to this one 4 years later, it surprises me even more. It’s the best general history of Chicago and it’s not even close. It spans everything from the pre-colonial period to the election of Lightfoot, and gets straight to the point on every event. Other books on Chicago suffer from too many lyrical digressions and introduction of unnecessary characters. This one simply lists the main developments in the life and politics of the city, mayor by mayor, community by community. It is balanced, including the history of labor and racial conflicts, and avoiding one dimensional characterizations of politicians. Exactly what an introductory general history should do. Other people may not like it for its dryness or textbook-ishness, but that’s exactly what kept me engaged. I do wish that it was 3x longer, but I’m not sure Chicago will ever get a book of that scale, unfortunately.
February 28, 2024
So incredibly informative and engaging! This book captivated my attention spanning across several centuries and topics, and I feel like I have a good understanding of what makes Chicago “Chicago.” Somehow the author was able to provide enough detail and story to make each section feel substantial without being overwhelming or getting boring. This was a great crash course in the full history of Chicago.
December 10, 2024
As a history buff who grew up in Chicagoland and has since moved back, I dusted off this book that my brother had gotten me some past Christmas. Boy, am I glad I did!
This history covers Chicago from the first settlers in the region through 2018. It threads the historical facts in a narrative that is fun to read.
I didn't want to put the book down, and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in a comprehensive yet accessible history of Chicago.
This history covers Chicago from the first settlers in the region through 2018. It threads the historical facts in a narrative that is fun to read.
I didn't want to put the book down, and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in a comprehensive yet accessible history of Chicago.
November 26, 2022
First three quarters or more are excellent historical narrative of Chicago's roots and development. The last part seems dated, ending as it does in 1997. So much has happened since then, mostly positive but with some serious issues like gun violence and police misconduct. Its a good read and I am of course not blaming the author for his publishing date.
March 3, 2023
Read this for Chicago Sociology class. Definitely jammed pack with material, and I feel like I uncovered every stone there was to turn over about Chicago's history. helped me understand a lot about how Chicago came to be. Makes me view the city in a different light now. I just don't like history books lol.
February 27, 2024
Thorough but not compelling. Still on the hunt for the best Chicago/Illinois history. The equivalent of Ferenbach’s Lone Star for Texas. The end is weak. Needs more discussion of the development of the CTU and current relationship between state and city/union. This takes the cake as an inoffensive Chicago history in most respects but in the some important areas falls short.
April 18, 2018
Good narrative history of Chicago that manages to fit a lot of time into a short book. A little slow to read and textbook-like, but solid if you want an overview of the major timeline of Chicago.
April 22, 2024
HE SIGNED MINE 🥰🥰
March 10, 2025
An exceptionally well-done textbook on Chicago--very few errors and a largely fair and judicious account--that will definitely save some time if you're not into the much longer tomes on the 'Windy City'. The book reads fast and is always pretty interesting--avoids long digressions into the historiography but does poke holes in some of the lazier and die-hard narratives along the way. The book makes it all the way to the opening of Lori Lightfoot's term as Chicago's mayor and it is fascinating to see the latest takes on such legendary Chicago personalities as George Pullman, Eugene Debs, and Richard J. Daley.
Really well done and left this reader wanting more Chicago (probably not hard, but I imagine it can do the same for more casual readers as well!)
Really well done and left this reader wanting more Chicago (probably not hard, but I imagine it can do the same for more casual readers as well!)
August 16, 2014
It's an interesting idea to give a history of a city and Chicago is a city with a story (or more accurately stories) to tell. I thought the author did a good job of writing an informative and interesting book for the semi- serious reader. Interspersed in the historical account, which starts with the Indians in the 1600s, were a number of odd vignettes and facts that lent color to the book. The author seems to do a good job of sticking to the facts and only interjecting a measured dose of commentary that, for the most part, seemed warranted.
But be warned, colorful vignettes aside, this is an ugly book. There weren't many heroes. There wasn't much that was noble and virtuous. This is not Mayberry. Yet I found it sobering in a helpful sort of way to learn how corrupt Chicago has often been and continues to be. It is easy to forget how much corruption there is here in America as it tends to stay out of sight of those living in middle class suburbs.
Knowing the history of Chicago also helps to put things into perspective. It is easy to think that things are so much worse than they ever have been before, and maybe they are, but reading about the crime and vice that was commonplace 100 years ago reminds us that it wasn't like America used to be the world as Norman Rockwell painted it to be. Things may be going downhill, but things have been bad- real bad- since the beginning.
It also may be of interest to know that the same author has written a booklet on modesty, "Dressed to Kill" which is my favorite book on the subject and which led me to read this book on Chicago.
But be warned, colorful vignettes aside, this is an ugly book. There weren't many heroes. There wasn't much that was noble and virtuous. This is not Mayberry. Yet I found it sobering in a helpful sort of way to learn how corrupt Chicago has often been and continues to be. It is easy to forget how much corruption there is here in America as it tends to stay out of sight of those living in middle class suburbs.
Knowing the history of Chicago also helps to put things into perspective. It is easy to think that things are so much worse than they ever have been before, and maybe they are, but reading about the crime and vice that was commonplace 100 years ago reminds us that it wasn't like America used to be the world as Norman Rockwell painted it to be. Things may be going downhill, but things have been bad- real bad- since the beginning.
It also may be of interest to know that the same author has written a booklet on modesty, "Dressed to Kill" which is my favorite book on the subject and which led me to read this book on Chicago.
got-about-halfway-through
August 9, 2009Some interesting notes and quotes:
Early French explorers transcribed the Indian name for the place as Chigagou, which meant 'the wild-garlic place.' It was an inhospitable swamp where little grew and the winters were so harsh that few native peoples regarded it as a good place to stay.
Page 36: With mud streets littered with animals' carcasses, putrid meat, puddles of green putrid water, decaying vegetable matter, and livestock manure, one visitor in 1845 said, "Chicago should be called the City of pestiferous odour." I think about that saying every time I pass by a manhole exuding sewage stank into the streets above.
Page 46: French political scientist Emile Boutmy speaking about Americans and their relationship to the land in the late 1800s: "Their one primary and predominant object is to cultivate and settle these prairies, forests, and vast waste lands. The striking and peculiar characteristic of American society is, that it is not so much a democracy as a huge commercial company for the discovery, cultivation, and capitalization of its enormous territory....The United States are primarily a commercial society...and only secondarily a nation."
"The city was an act of will, a défi, an imposition, a triumph over circumstance. There was nothing 'natural' about it." - Gary Wills Maybe that explains why the CTA system is so mediocre.
BEST CHICAGO NICKNAME EVER? "PORKOPOLIS"!!1@!!@#2!! Man, it does not get better than that. *Wipes tear of laughter from eye.*
Early French explorers transcribed the Indian name for the place as Chigagou, which meant 'the wild-garlic place.' It was an inhospitable swamp where little grew and the winters were so harsh that few native peoples regarded it as a good place to stay.
Page 36: With mud streets littered with animals' carcasses, putrid meat, puddles of green putrid water, decaying vegetable matter, and livestock manure, one visitor in 1845 said, "Chicago should be called the City of pestiferous odour." I think about that saying every time I pass by a manhole exuding sewage stank into the streets above.
Page 46: French political scientist Emile Boutmy speaking about Americans and their relationship to the land in the late 1800s: "Their one primary and predominant object is to cultivate and settle these prairies, forests, and vast waste lands. The striking and peculiar characteristic of American society is, that it is not so much a democracy as a huge commercial company for the discovery, cultivation, and capitalization of its enormous territory....The United States are primarily a commercial society...and only secondarily a nation."
"The city was an act of will, a défi, an imposition, a triumph over circumstance. There was nothing 'natural' about it." - Gary Wills Maybe that explains why the CTA system is so mediocre.
BEST CHICAGO NICKNAME EVER? "PORKOPOLIS"!!1@!!@#2!! Man, it does not get better than that. *Wipes tear of laughter from eye.*
October 6, 2008
A great historical tool for anyone who wants to know more about the history of Chicago. I read this book for a summer sociology class on Chicago @ Loyola a few years ago and I find myself referring back to it often. Before there was a city of Chicago, Native Americans knew about a marshy area they called Chigagou, meaning "the wild-garlic place." This book traces Chicago's development from the area's first settler, the Haitian-born Jean Baptiste Pointe Du Sable, through the wild speculation that defined Chicago's early days, and up to the present day Daley-run machine that Chicago has become. With an emphasis on trends (political, racial, and sociological) this book provides a good base for a better understanding of Chicago's place in history.
January 14, 2009
A pretty good overview of the Second City's history; however, the book devotes almost one-fourth of its entire length to the years 1950-1997. Unsurprisingly, this is also the portion of the book that is most compelling and fluid. Earlier segments of the book read like a college thesis, with a lot of reiterations and stock phrases seemingly used to pad out the chapters. The book does a good job of covering both white and black immigration trends to the city, and the even-handed chapter on R.J.Daley's successes and failures serves as a nice counterpoint to Royko's vituperative (and far more entertaining) Boss.
All in all a fairly good introduction to Chicago Lore, but definitely had me wanting to read more.
July 2, 2015
As an X-Chicago native, I really enjoyed reading City of Big Shoulders. Although much of Chicago's history was covered in my 7th grade history class, I needed a refresher course. Since my father was an immigrant who came to Chicago in the '20s, and my maternal grandparents hailed from Chicago's west side, the book made me think about their histories and potential concerns in the 1800s and beyond. As a child in one of Chicago's many segregated neighborhoods, I knew little about others in the greater Chicago area, and this book gave me a broader historical perspective. Even though the book needs editing to avoid content duplication, I thoroughly enjoyed reading it for the thoughts and memories it brought to mind.
March 12, 2008
Evidently this book was written as a text for a college class. It was basic and nuts-and-bolts, first this happened and then this happened.
The section on Chicago's ethnic migration was the best of the book. The book only gave two pages on the creation of highrise storage of poor blacks, and one paragraph on why the Chicago public schools are so horrifically bad. Interesting stat: in the 1990's, one in three Chicagoans were functionally illiterate.
I will definitely pick up a more detailed volume on Chicago history. This book just didn't tell me what I wanted to know.
The section on Chicago's ethnic migration was the best of the book. The book only gave two pages on the creation of highrise storage of poor blacks, and one paragraph on why the Chicago public schools are so horrifically bad. Interesting stat: in the 1990's, one in three Chicagoans were functionally illiterate.
I will definitely pick up a more detailed volume on Chicago history. This book just didn't tell me what I wanted to know.
March 25, 2016
Extremely enjoyable overview of Chicago. Well paced and covers all the major events. You don't often see overarching themes so clearly laid out but then backed by concrete narratives. The author gave a particular well balanced view of Mayor Daley and the infamous Chicago machine, touching both scandals and economic benefits.
July 5, 2023
A good, clear, and readable short history of the city (something I have not found anywhere else). I think he's a little easy on the Daleys, especially, Richard M. (the current mayor), but if you want a more critical look, read "Boss" by Mike Royko.
May 18, 2010
I really enjoyed this book, it gives a detailed history of Chicago from its roots as Fort Dearborn to its current state as a metropolitan giant. It is simply filled with all kinds of useful trivia about the City. Very good read if you are from Chicago and want to get to know her a little better.
June 6, 2013
A good, concise history of the city that explains, among other things, how immigration and ethnic groups helped to shape Chicago and its politics.
Read
April 12, 2016Chicago political vice, alderman to mayor = fiefdoms to kingdoms, built on hard working immigrants, political will to keep city segregated.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 11, 2021
i love chicago!
June 25, 2025
This is excellent. I enjoyed it!
September 22, 2010
a history of Chicago - loved it!!!!
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews