"Chicago's most famous stories tend to crowd out the competition and shout down alternate perspectives. Visit with the man who founded a 150-year-long Chicago political dynasty. Take a peek at some of the lesser-known Chicago film classics. Review Professor Moriarty's Chicago caper and Annie Oakley's cocaine case. Uncover the lengths to which Chicago's long celebrated Mr. Pioneer Settler went to keep a slave. Discover why the Kennedy curves at Division Street and why the county jail saved a gallows for fifty years. From Death Valley Scotty's wild ride to the bowling ball that went around the world, John Schmidt provides a parade of Chicago originals."--Provided by publisher.

Chicago's most famous stories tend to crowd out the competition and shout down alternate perspectives. Visit with the man who founded a 150-year-long Chicago political dynasty. Take a peek at some of the lesser-known Chicago film classics. Review Professor Moriarty's Chicago caper and Annie Oakley's cocaine case. Uncover the lengths to which Chicago's long-celebrated Mr. Pioneer Settler went to keep a slave. Discover why the Kennedy curves at Division Street and why the county jail saved a gallows for fifty years. From Death Valley Scotty's wild ride to the bowling ball that went around the world, John Schmidt provides a parade of Chicago originals.

Martin Preib is an officer in the Chicago Police Department—a beat cop whose first assignment as a rookie policeman was working on the wagon that picks up the dead. Inspired by Preib’s daily life on the job, The Wagon and Other Stories from the City chronicles the outer and inner lives of both a Chicago cop and the city itself. The book follows Preib as he transports body bags, forges an unlikely connection with his female partner, trains a younger officer, and finds himself among people long forgotten—or rendered invisible—by the rest of society. Preib recounts how he navigates the tenuous labyrinths of race and class in the urban metropolis, such as a domestic disturbance call involving a gang member and his abused girlfriend or a run-in with a group of drunk yuppies. As he encounters the real and imagined geographies of Chicago, the city reveals itself to be not just a backdrop, but a central force in his narrative of life and death. Preib’s accounts, all told in his breathtaking prose, come alive in ways that readers will long remember.

Hidden gems from Chicago’s past Tales of Forgotten Chicago contains twenty-one fascinating, little-known stories about a great city and its people. Richard C. Lindberg has dug deeply to reveal lost historical events and hidden gems from Chicago’s past. Spanning the Civil War through the 1960s, the volume showcases forgotten crimes, punishments, and consequences: poisoned soup that nearly killed three hundred leading citizens, politicians, and business and religious leaders; a woman in showbiz and her street-thug husband whose checkered lives inspired a 1955 James Cagney movie; and the first police woman in Chicago, hired as a result of the senseless killing of a young factory girl in a racially tinged case of the 1880s. Also included are tales of industry and invention, such as America’s first automobile race, the haunting of a wealthy Gilded Age manufacturer’s mansion, and the identity of the telephone’s rightful inventor. Chapters on the history of early city landmarks spotlight the fight to save Lakefront Park and how “Lucky” Charlie Weeghman’s north side baseball park became Wrigley Field. Other chapters explore civic, cultural, and political happenings: the great Railroad Fairs of 1948 and 1949; Richard J. Daley’s revival of the St. Patrick’s Day parade; political disrupter Lar “America First” Daly; and the founding of the Special Olympics in Chicago by Anne Burke and others. Finally, some are just wonderful tales, such asa touching story about the sinking of Chicago's beloved Christmas tree ship. Engrossing and imaginative, this collection opens new windows into the past of the Windy City.

Part I. Hidden Landmarks: Central and West; The Cowpath in the Loop; Dillinger Wannabe; Walt Disney Birthplace; Hef 's Galewood Homestead; Carl Sandburg's First House; Sam Giancana Home; Continental Divide; The Palace on 12th Street; Anton J. Cermak Home; St. Paul Catholic Church; Marquette Monolith; Clarence Wagner's Bridge; The Balbo Column; Who Is Buried in Logan's Tomb?; Part II. Hidden Landmarks: North; Fairbank Row Houses; Cider House Story; Gloria Swanson's Many Chicago Homes; The Vice President from Evanston; The Leaning Tower of Niles; Hillary's Home; Bring 'Em Back Alive; Chicago's Oldest House?; Robinson Family Graves; The Ground 'L'; Chicago's Shortest Street; Red Emma's Hideout; The Nazi Saboteur on Fremont Street; The Tomb in the Park; Part III. Hidden Landmarks: South; Bet-a-Million; Joe Louis Home; The O'Leary Himself; The Senator and the Pineapple; Al Capone Home; Mahalia Jackson Home; Chicago's Oldest Public Monument; The Real "Christmas Story" House; The Enchanted Lake; Chicago's Smallest Cemetery; The Richest Black Man in America; Marxism on the Grand Boulevard; A Forgotten Home of Clarence Darrow; Daley Family Home; Part IV. Lost Landmarks; Ronald Reagan's Chicago Home; Edgewater Beach Hotel; The Original Old St. Mary's; Peter Hand Brewery; The Houses that Jimmy Built; The Wandering Monument; Henry W. Rincker House; The Gold Coast Caverns; Archer-35th Recreation; Western-Belmont Overpass; Part V. Drive-By Neighborhoods; Albany Park; Cicero; Englewood; Hegewisch; Mount Greenwood; Portage Park; Rogers Park; West Garfield Park.

Showcasing the first Ferris wheel, dazzling and unprece­dented electrification, and exhibits from around the world, the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 was Chicago’s chance to demonstrate that it had risen from the ashes of the Great Fire and was about to take its place as one of the world’s great cities. Millions would flock to the fair, and many of them were looking for a good time before and after their visits to the Midway and the White City. But what was the bedazzled visitor to do in Chicago? Chicago by Day and Night: The Pleasure Seeker’s Guide to the Paris of America, a very unofficial guide to the world be­yond the fair, slaked the thirst of such curious folk. The plea­sures it details range from the respectable (theater, architec­ture, parks, churches and synagogues) to the illicit—drink, gambling, and sex. With a wink and a nod, the book decries vice while offering precise directions for the indulgence of any desire. In this newly annotated edition, Chicagoans Paul Durica and Bill Savage—who, if born earlier, might have written chapters in the original—provide colorful context and an informative introduction to a wildly entertaining journey through the Chicago of 120 years ago.

Think you know Chicago? If you are thinking of Al Capone, the L, the Cubs, Barack Obama or the Great Fire of 1871, then you are remembering the highlights from the tour bus. Here's the rest of the story, day by day. Chicago opened the first blood bank, invented the vacuum cleaner and sent a bowling ball around the world. One high school football game drew 120,000 people. Chicagoans fought nineteen years over the name of a street. For fifty years, they saved a gallows for an escaped killer. And those are just some of the stories.