Chicago's Great Fire
The Destruction and Resurrection of an Iconic American City
Published on the 149th anniversary of the catastrophe, Chicago’s Great FireWill appeal to readers of great narrative historians who have chronicled disasters like Erik Larson (Isaac’s Storm) and David McCullough, whose first major book was The Johnstown Flood. As with McCullough’s book, Chicago’s Great FireWe are publishing a year in advance of the 150th anniversary of the fire, and the paperback publication in 2021 on that anniversary will offer renewed marketing and publicity opportunities. Chicago’s Great FireCarl Smith is a prize-winning professor of history at Northwestern University, and he has given many talks at institutions including the Chicago History Museum, the Newberry Library, the Art Institute, and the Field Museum. His book The Plan of Chicago: Daniel Burnham and the Remaking of the American CityShould appeal to the many readers of David von Drehle’s Triangle, which has sold almost 130,000 copies in all formats, and readers of books like Sheri Fink’s 2013 bestseller Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital.
Carl Smith is Franklyn Bliss Snyder Professor of English and American Studies and Professor of History, Emeritus, at Northwestern University. His books include Chicago and the American Literary Imagination, 1880-1920; Urban Disorder and the Shape of Belief: The Great Chicago Fire, the Haymarket Bomb, and the Model Town of Pullman; The Plan of Chicago: Daniel Burnham and the Remaking of the American City; and City Water, City Life: Water and the Infrastructure of Ideas in Urbanizing Philadelphia, Boston, and Chicago.
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