by Adam Cohen
First published 2001
Richard J. Daley controlled Chicago with absolute authority from 1955 until his death in 1976. His political machine commanded over one million votes and decided every major city appointment and congressional candidate. Daley's influence reached the White House, delivering Illinois for both Kennedy and Johnson. He rebuilt Chicago from a declining industrial city into a modern metropolis of skyscrapers and highways. Yet Daley also created America's most racially divided city, constructing massive ghettos and blocking civil rights progress. When Martin Luther King brought his desegregation campaign north, Daley stopped him cold. The mayor's famous defense of police violence at the 1968 Democratic convention revealed his authoritarian nature. Authors Adam Cohen and Elizabeth Taylor trace Daley's rise from his working class Irish roots through Chicago's corrupt political ranks to national power broker. They draw on new archival material and interviews with Daley's associates to show how one man's complex legacy continues shaping American cities today.
Genres: biography, history, 20th-century, american, political-science, american-history
Vibes: suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: power-dynamics, rise-and-fall
Setting: Chicago, Illinois
Period: 1955-1976
614 pages · Paperback · Little, Brown Paperbacks
Content warnings: racism