Sidewalks: Portraits of Chicago

By Rick Kogan

Book Overview

"A wonderful book that tells you the basic truths of our city." --Studs Terkel

Few people know Chicago as do Rick Kogan and Charles Osgood, and their "Sidewalks" column for the Chicago Tribune Sunday Magazine is a tour of the city like no other, taking readers to the off-beat and quintessential spots that give Chicago its character--that make its inhabitants feel at home and tell its visitors that they have arrived.

Accompanied by evocative color photographs by Charles Osgood, Kogan's pieces revisit the lost places and people of Chicago, and take readers down the quiet byways and thriving thoroughfares, pointing out the characters and cornerstones, the oddities and institutions that make the city what it is. In this collection you will find an elegy for Maxwell Street, the marketplace that pulsed with city life for more than 100 years; a remembrance of a disturbing advertisement ("Are you a slave to housework?") on the side of a building on Irving Park Road; a cross marking a deadly intersection; a magical miniature golf course; as well as ballad singer Fred Holstein, the denizens of the World Gym and memories of Bensinger's pool hall, the day-camp kids of summer, bike couriers, the creatures of the beach, and much, much more. Here is Chicago, past, present, and--let's hope--future, captured in the unique archive of Sidewalks.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0810151936
• ISBN13: 9780810151932
• Release Date: April 2008
• Publisher: Northwestern University Press
• Length: 248 Pages
• Weight: 2.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 8.8" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

An engaging read

There are hundreds of books written about the people and places that comprise Chicago. Fortunately, there's always room for one more -- if it's good enough! "Sidewalks: Portraits of Chicago" combines the narrative text of Chicago native son Rick Kogan with the color photography of Charles Osgood. The result is a fascinating, informative, unique introduction to memorable characters, fascinating histories, and cultural diversities that are what make Chicago a true urban gem of the American Midwest. Readers will be engagingly introduced to Chicago's many and diverse neighborhoods illuminated and illustrated with evocative images of the people encountered and places traversed along the sidewalks and walkways of the Windy City. "Sidewalks: Portraits Of Chicago" is an engaging read and highly recommended for Chicago libraries, Chicago citizenry, and anyone planning a visit to Chicago for either business or pleasure.