Chicago

Chicago has been called the `most American of cities' and the `great American city'. Not the biggest, or the most powerful; neither the richest, prettiest nor best — but the most American. How did it become that? And what does it even mean?

At its heart, Chicago is America's great hub. It began as a trading post, which grew into a market for the east to purchase the goods of the west, sprouting the still-largest rail interchange in America. As people began to trade virtual representations of those goods — futures — the city became a centre of finance and law. And as people studied the city's growth and its economy, it became a nucleus of intellect, with the University of Chicago's pioneering sociologists shaping how cities at home and abroad would come to understand themselves.Whet Moser's book reveals how the city grew into a metropolis through its social, urban, cultural and sometimes scandalous history. He also traces the development of and current changes in its neighbourhoods: Chicago is famous for them, and infamous for the segregation between them. Moser takes readers from the very beginnings of the city as an idea, a vision in the minds of its first explorers, to the global city it has become — and offers a local's perspective on the best and most interesting aspects of Chicago to visitors today.