City of Big Shoulders links key events in Chicago's development, from its marshy origins in the 1600s to today's robust metropolis. Robert G. Spinney presents Chicago in terms of the people whose lives made the city-from the tycoons and the politicians to the hundreds of thousands of immigrants from all over the world. In this revised and updated second edition, Spinney sweeps his historian's gaze across the colorful and dramatic panorama of Chicago's...

Raised by his grandparents, first in Mississippi then in Wisconsin, ten-year-old Lymon moves to Chicago in 1945 to live with the mother he never knew, while yearning for his father.

This mesmerizing narrative nonfiction draws on contemporary accounts as it traces the roots of an explosion that had been building for decades in race relations, politics, business, and clashes of culture.

Coretta Scott King Award winner * Carter G. Woodson Book Award from the National Council for the Social Studies

On a hot day in July 1919, five black youths went swimming in Lake Michigan, unintentionally floating close

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"In 1859, eleven-year-old Nell goes to live with her aunt, Kate Warne, the first female detective for Pinkerton's National Detective Agency. Nell helps her aunt solve cases, including a mystery surrounding Abraham Lincoln, and the mystery of what happened to Nell's own father" --

While running a con in 1934 Chicago, sixteen-year-old Joe splits his time between Eddie, a handsome flirt, and Raymond, a carefree rich kid who shows Joe the queer life of the big city, but as danger closes in, Joe must decide who he wants to be before disappearing.

Baseball parks are as American as apple pie and America's Classic Ballparkscommemorates nine ballparks guaranteed to spark nostalgia for the old ball game. Featuring striking images, America's Classic Ballparks offers a wealth of information on these beloved national landmarks.

The author presents a new portrait of Capone, from the brutal wars in which Capone climbed to the top of gangsterdom, to his long incarceration as one of the first prisoners at Alcatraz, to a detailed account of his long slide into illness and death.

Oscar Starling never wanted to come to Chicago. But then Oscar finds himself not just in the heart of the big city but in the middle of a terrible fire! No one knows exactly how it began, but one thing is clear: Chicago is like a giant powder keg about to explode. An army of firemen is trying to help, but this fire is a ferocious beast that wants to devour everything in its path, including Oscar! Will Oscar survive one of the most famous and devastating...