NFPA Conference & Expo

Amazon top-rated books about Chicago

Are you interested in learning about Chicago, the host city to the 2013 NFPA Conference & Expo?  Or maybe you're just looking for a good book to read.   In the coming weeks, I'll be highlighting some of the customer top-rated (four and five star) books about Chicago from Amazon.com.  Have a favorite book about Chicago that you'd like to share? Tell us about it in the Comments section. Enjoy!

Not For Tourists Guide to Chicago: 2012 

With details on everything from the Magnificent Mile to Wicker Park, this is the only guide a native or traveler needs.

The Not For Tourists Guide to Chicago divides Chi-town into sixty mapped neighborhoods. Every map is dotted with user-friendly NFT icons that plot the nearest essential services and entertainment locations, while providing important information on things like kid-friendly activities, public transportation, restaurants, bars, and Chicago’s art scene. The book includes a foldout highway map, and covers the North Side, Near North Side, Near West Side, the Greater Loop, the South Side, and Greater Chicago. It’s the only key to the Windy City that Daley can’t give you. 150 color illustrations.

 

Your opportunity to meet noted historian and Pulitzer Prize winning author Doris Kearns Goodwin!

Doris Kearns Goodwin, world-renowned historian and author of the best-selling book Team of Rivals:  The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, will be giving the keynote address at the NFPA Conference & Expo on Monday, June 10.  Team of Rivals was re-released to coincide with Steven Spielberg's new film Lincoln, based in part on the book.  Following the general session, there will be a book signing in the exhibit hall at booth #695 near the grand prize drawing area.  Stop by to meet Doris and bring one of her books to have it signed.  Since many of you are reading e-books these days we will also have complimentary photographs of Doris available for her to autograph. 

Amazon top-rated books about Chicago

Are you interested in learning about Chicago, the host city to the 2013 NFPA Conference & Expo?  Or maybe you're just looking for a good book to read.   In the coming weeks, I'll be highlighting some of the customer top-rated (four and five star) books about Chicago from Amazon.com.  Have a favorite book about Chicago that you'd like to share? Tell us about it in the Comments section. Enjoy!

City of Scoundrels: The 12 Days of Disaster That Gave Birth to Modern Chicago

The masterfully told story of 12 volatile days in the life of Chicago, when an aviation disaster, a race riot, a crippling transit strike, and a sensational child murder roiled a city already on the brink of collapse. 

When 1919 began, the city of Chicago seemed on the verge of transformation. Modernizers had an audacious, expensive plan to turn the city from a brawling, unglamorous place into "the Metropolis of the World." But just as the dream seemed within reach, pandemonium broke loose--the city's highest ambitions suddenly under attack by the same unbridled energies that had given birth to them in the first place. 

It began on a balmy Monday afternoon when a blimp in flames crashed through the roof of a busy downtown bank, incinerating those inside. Within days, a racial incident at a hot, crowded South Side beach spiraled into one of the worst urban riots in American history, followed by a transit strike that paralyzed the city. Then, when it seemed as if things could get no worse, police searching for a six-year-old girl discovered her body in a dark, North Side basement. 

Meticulously researched yet expertly paced, City of Scoundrels captures the tumultuous birth of the modern American city, with all of its light and dark aspects in vivid relief.  By Gary Krist.

Amazon top-rated books about Chicago

Are you interested in learning about Chicago, the host city to the 2013 NFPA Conference & Expo?  Or maybe you're just looking for a good book to read.   In the coming weeks, I'll be highlighting some of the customer top-rated (four and five star) books about Chicago from Amazon.com.  Have a favorite book about Chicago that you'd like to share? Tell us about it in the Comments section. Enjoy!

Frommer's Chicago (Frommer's Color Complete)

Insider advice on Chicago's burgeoning dining scene, which includes rising stars like Grant Achatz, as well as the best spots to sunbathe by the lake, take in famous artworks, such as Edward Hopper's Nighthawks, and where to find the best live blues.

Where to find the best deep dish pizza, Chicago-style hot dogs, and neighborhood pubs. 

Insightful commentary on Chicago's historic past and dynamic future, as well as a discussion of its status as an architectural center home to buildings designed by iconic figures such as Frank Lloyd Wright and Louis Sullivan.

Amazon top-rated books about Chicago

Are you interested in learning about Chicago, the host city to the 2013 NFPA Conference & Expo?  Or maybe you're just looking for a good book to read.   In the coming weeks, I'll be highlighting some of the customer top-rated (four and five star) books about Chicago from Amazon.com.  Have a favorite book about Chicago that you'd like to share? Tell us about it in the Comments section. Enjoy!

Chicago: A Biography

Chicago has been called by many names. Nelson Algren declared it a “City on the Make.” Carl Sandburg dubbed it the “City of Big Shoulders.” Upton Sinclair christened it “The Jungle,” while New Yorkers, naturally, pronounced it “the Second City.”

At last there is a book for all of us, whatever we choose to call Chicago. In this magisterial biography, historian Dominic Pacyga traces the storied past of his hometown, from the explorations of Joliet and Marquette in 1673 to the new wave of urban pioneers today. The city’s great industrialists, reformers, and politicians—and, indeed, the many not-so-great and downright notorious—animate this book, from Al Capone and Jane Addams to Mayor Richard J. Daley and President Barack Obama. But what distinguishes this book from the many others on the subject is its author’s uncommon ability to illuminate the lives of Chicago’s ordinary people. Raised on the city’s South Side and employed for a time in the stockyards, Pacyga gives voice to the city’s steelyard workers and kill floor operators, and maps the neighborhoods distinguished not by Louis Sullivan masterworks, but by bungalows and corner taverns.

 Filled with the city’s one-of-a-kind characters and all of its defining moments, Chicago: A Biography is as big and boisterous as its namesake—and as ambitious as the men and women who built it.

Amazon top-rated books about Chicago

Are you interested in learning about Chicago, the host city to the 2013 NFPA Conference & Expo?  Or maybe you're just looking for a good book to read.   In the coming weeks, I'll be highlighting some of the customer top-rated (four and five star) books about Chicago from Amazon.com.  Have a favorite book about Chicago that you'd like to share? Tell us about it in the Comments section. Enjoy!

 

 

You Were Never in Chicago (Chicago Visions and Revisions)

In 1952 the New Yorker published a three-part essay by A. J. Liebling in which he dubbed Chicago the “Second City.” From garbage collection to the skyline, nothing escaped Liebling’s withering gaze. Among the outraged responses from Chicago residents was one that Liebling described as the apotheosis of such criticism: a postcard that read, simply, “You were never in Chicago.”

Neil Steinberg has lived in and around Chicago for more than three decades—ever since he left his hometown of Berea, Ohio, to attend Northwestern—yet he remains fascinated by the dynamics captured in Liebling’s anecdote. In You Were Never in Chicago Steinberg weaves the story of his own coming-of-age as a young outsider who made his way into the inner circles and upper levels of Chicago journalism with a nuanced portrait of the city that would surprise even lifelong residents.

Amazon top-rated books about Chicago

Are you interested in learning about Chicago, the host city to the 2013 NFPA Conference & Expo?  Or maybe you're just looking for a good book to read.   In the coming weeks, I'll be highlighting some of the customer top-rated (four and five star) books about Chicago from Amazon.com.  Have a favorite book about Chicago that you'd like to share? Tell us about it in the Comments section. Enjoy!

 

 

Fodor's Chicago 2012 (Full-color Travel Guide)

Full-color guide
• Make your trip to Chicago unforgettable with illustrated features, 36 maps, and 225 color photos.

Added bonus: At the end of each Fodor’s hotel review, we’ve included snippets from TripAdvisor reviews. Plan your trip with the extra peace of mind that comes from knowing each of Fodor’s expert selections is reinforced by consumer experience and feedback.

Amazon top-rated books about Chicago

Are you interested in learning about Chicago, the host city to the 2013 NFPA Conference & Expo?  Or maybe you're just looking for a good book to read.   In the coming weeks, I'll be highlighting some of the customer top-rated (four and five star) books about Chicago from Amazon.com.  Have a favorite book about Chicago that you'd like to share? Tell us about it in the Comments section. Enjoy!

 

 

Chicago (America the Beautiful)

A lavishly illustrated tour of America's most compellingly beautiful places.

The America the Beautiful series takes readers on a photographic tour of the country's most beautiful states and most vibrant cities. Top photographers contribute their best images -- from dazzling cityscapes to quiet forests -- of both well-known destinations and hidden gems. Clear and informative captions bring each scene to life. These handsomely designed books show the beauty of each destination, to be enjoyed by visitors and locals alike. By Jordan Worek, Dan Liebman and Alan Klehr.

 

Amazon top-rated books about Chicago

Are you interested in learning about Chicago, the host city to the 2013 NFPA Conference & Expo?  Or maybe you're just looking for a good book to read.   In the coming weeks, I'll be highlighting some of the customer top-rated (four and five star) books about Chicago from Amazon.com.  Have a favorite book about Chicago that you'd like to share? Tell us about it in the Comments section. Enjoy!

 

The Little Black Book of Chicago, 2013 Edition

2013 Edition. From the Magnificent Mile to the magnificent lakefront, Chicago has it all! This pocket guidebook will walk you through the best the Windy City has to offer. Author Margaret Littman contributes to Moon Metro Chicago, Real City Chicago, and Chicago SHOPS.

Will reading about the Great Chicago Fire make a difference if you are attending the NFPA C&E?

Panorama of Chicago after 1871 Fire. Image attributed to George N. Barnard

So, why does a fire that occurred 142 years ago matter now if you are attending the NFPA Conference & Expo?  Plenty, as it turns out.

Chicago wouldn't be what it is today -- an urban center with innovative architecture and creative life -- if the horrific Great Chicago Fire of 1871 had not happened. It was one of the largest disasters of the 19th century, leaving one-third of the city's population homeless and killing hundreds. The fire, which lasted 3 days, began in a barn -- but the exact cause has always been a mystery. 

This tragedy transformed the Second City. If you take time to stroll down Chicago's Magnificent Mile, you'll find that most of the buildings are from the 20th and 21st century -- which feels odd for a 200-year-old city. Two of the few buildings to survive the 1871 fire are the Chicago Water Tower (806 North Michigan Avenue) and the Chicago Avenue Pumping Station (821 North Michigan Avenue). 

I love going back to Chicago with C&E because more than anywhere else NFPA goes with the annual meeting, the staff we work with in Chicago enthusiastically works to comply with NFPA codes and standards. They "get" it!

Check out one of these books which are available in most public libraries, the NFPA Library, or on Amazon:

"The Great Chicago Fire" edited by David Lowe and compiled by Mabel McIlvaine, is a fast, factual definitive read on this 1871 fire.  Only 87 pages long, this book includes eyewitness accounts before and after the fire. It has 70 photographs and engravings covering before and after scenes. 

Robert Cromie's "The Great Chicago Fire" is a good re-telling of this tragedy and has wide appeal.  He focuses on human interest stories -- how this fast-moving drama impacted rich and poor alike -- into a good story.  Great photos and engravings are included.

"The Great Chicago Fire" by Paul M. Angle, published by the Chicago Historical Society, was created from seven detailed and moving letters from 1871.  If you want original sources, this is the book for you.