Chicago American
The story of the Chicago American and the great age of the city's newspaper wars — Hearst, jazz, and the twentieth-century metropolis — from Robert Shumake's Living Archive Series.
Publisher Description
The Chicago American: A Living Archive of Chicago, Illinois is a vivid journey through the twentieth-century history of one of America's great cities, chronicled through one of its most colorful daily newspapers. Part of the acclaimed Living Archive Series published by Robert Shumake and Shumake Media Group, this volume preserves the documented story of the Chicago American and the city of Chicago, Illinois, restoring it for a new generation of readers, students, genealogists, and history lovers.
Founded in 1900 as a Hearst evening daily, the Chicago American came of age during the legendary era of Chicago's newspaper wars, when fierce competition and bold reporting defined the city's press, until the paper ceased publication in 1974. Inside, you'll explore Chicago as it grew into a modern metropolis — the industrial powerhouse, the cultural capital of the Midwest, and the city that gave the world its own sound in jazz and blues.
This book chronicles the defining and difficult chapters of the modern city with honesty and care — the Haymarket affair, the 1919 race riot, the St. Valentine's Day Massacre of the Prohibition era, the turbulent 1968 Democratic National Convention, and the 1995 heat wave — alongside the energy, ambition, and resilience that made Chicago a city like no other. Readers will encounter the figures, neighborhoods, and movements that shaped the metropolis across the twentieth century, from the Great Migration to the rise of a great American city.
The volume also features the city's weather and climate history, its business and cultural institutions, and a rich obituary section invaluable for Chicago, Illinois genealogy and family history research. Researched and restored using advanced artificial intelligence and drawing on resources such as the Library of Congress, this historic newspaper archive returns the heritage of Chicago, Illinois to the public it serves. An essential addition to any collection of Chicago history, Midwestern history, and twentieth-century American history.
