City of the Century: The Epic of Chicago and the Making of America

It is about Chicago in the 19th century.

The city has gone through a number of developing phases, with all sorts of drama and changes, both good and bad, throughout the past hundred plus years. The industrial, political and lifestyle pressures were abundant and have had huge effect on the midwest and the nation,. In spite of it all, she has survived. This book tells her spectacular story.

I thought the book was interesting and well written. However, I thought it went on too long and with too much detail, so that I struggled to finish it (extremely unusual for me).

Donald Miller wrote a masterpiece that belongs in every library. I loved it so much that I read it twice and you can believe it will remain in my personal library as both an entertainment and reference source. What can I say about Miller other than WOW!City of the Century is a wonderfully written history of the development and trials and tribulations of nineteenth century Chicago. The good - the bad - and the ugly. The story is captivating and I found it hard to put it down. Note: after my 1st read, I bought copies for my brothers and grandchildren and they too love this book.I submit that it should be a MUST read for anyone with an interest is U.S. history since it is a story about nineteenth century Chicago as told through individual stories of Chicago business leaders, politicians and Chicago citizens.You will enjoy how the story unfolds and the influence that Chicago and it's people had as the U.S. marched westward taking along the Midwest ideals, values, and attitudes.I can only way that I was NOT sorry that I bought Miller's book. You won't be sorry either!

I appreciated the depth but approachability in Miller’s writing. It was fun to read about Chicago becoming and re-becoming a new city as I myself am becoming a new resident, experiencing the place for the first time.And as someone coming to this book with basically no knowledge of Chicago history, I was struck by how many “big names” started or came to prominence here, from Pullman to Debs to Wright to McCormick to Field and many, many more.Read this if you have an interest in Chicago before the fair and are willing to sit up and absorb a tone that is a tough more serious than purely popular history.

The author kept his word in that his history of Chicago would be different from most other histories. His theme was economic-based. He focused on the geography, explaining the initial situation of how Chicago started in the location that it did. Then how the people I've came the obstacles of the location to build the city. Like many cities, there was no overarching plan. The city had problems and plenty of them. But then came the Great Fire, which provided a second chance to make it a better place. This set the stage for the high-rise Chicago we know today. Then in 1893 came the White City showing the world what Chicago had become after the fire and what it could become in the future. A very interesting history that has led me to other books about Chicago. I highly recommend this book.

This book put meat on the skeleton history I already had of Chicago, but it would be just as fascinating for someone with only cursory familiarity of the city as well. The characters came alive, and just about every lingering question I had has been answered, all while providing an excellent historical perspective and understanding of the growth of this urban place. All history has to be sliced one way or another, and this really told the story of the city thoroughly and gave it a theme and character, but I would like to have the anecdotes about the colorful figures of this time and place compiled more into their individual stories rather than scattered about the themes of the story of the city. Probably can't have it both ways though, and I found this book to be an excellent read as it stands. Will there be a follow up on modern Chicago? Hope so.

the book arrived in good shape. I've only just begun to read it.

This is a very enjoyable book on the earlier history (up to 1893) of one of the world’s great cities. There were some very memorable sections on Joliet & Marquette, the Union Stock Yards, the great Chicago fire of 1871 as well as the chapter on Mayor Carter Harrison, immigrant Chicago and local politics. There are many interesting pen portraits of a host of vibrant, fascinating characters – the ‘titans’ of the city’s early history as it was put.After reading the book it’s hard to disagree that Chicago was the ‘city of the century’. It’s difficult to think of another place that went from a scattering of log cabins to a global ranking city of a million people in 60 years – burning down once in the process! It gave birth to or developed much of the way the modern world works. After all, Amazon itself is just a version of Montgomery Ward or Sears Roebuck for the internet age.Despite very much enjoying it, my only criticism is that it was a bit over-long at 550 reading pages. For me there was too much on the skyscraper architecture, for example. I think with 100 pages less it would have zipped along more excitingly. Nevertheless, well worth reading!

For anyone who has been to Chicago, or is considering going, this book is a good read of the development of the city up to the Columbian Exposition in 1893 and just after.