Praise for City of Scoundrels||||||||||||||||||||A Barnes & Noble Best Book of the Month*A Daily Beast and Vanity Fair Hot Read*A Parade Magazine Top Summer Read*A New York Times Nonfiction Bestseller*from The New York Times Book Review"'City of Scoundrels' is a lavishly intricate, well-paced account of a great city lashed to the breaking point by a political perfect storm. Krist, the author of 'The White Cascade' and five works of fiction, renders a nuanced portrait of a mayor most often remembered as a bombastic demagogue (and wannabe cowboy) at the head of a crooked machine...Above all, 'City of Scoundrels' freshly illuminates how the riots of 1919 were a turning point for African-Americans."
from The Washington Post"A page-turner that offers resonant insights...The way the disaster plays out, with Krist deftly cutting among multiple perspectives and eyewitness accounts that he has unearthed, is so spectacular and vivid that you’re picturing how James Cameron might film it all before you’ve reached page 20..."City of Scoundrels" hits with the force of Lake Michigan's winds."
from The Chicago Tribune"Fast-paced...Krist handles these overlapping events with remarkable skill, weaving what in less-talented hands could have been a tangle of incidents and anecdotes into a driving narrative. At its best, "City of Scoundrels" is utterly absorbing."
from The Weekly Standard"A raucous, briskly paced, thoroughly American tale that provides moments of great comedy and tragedy...'City of Scoundrels' reminds us how rich and enthralling reality can be in the hands of a great storyteller..."
from The Minneapolis Star-Tribune"From the first riveting pages in "City of Scoundrels," author Gary Krist masterfully sets the reader down into the vortex of this urban maelstrom...While bringing these events to life, Krist deftly juggles several story lines by using some of the city's most famous personalities of the past centuries."
from King Features"Krist takes a historical period from almost a century ago and creates such a blend of colorful characters and rich detail, the action seems to leap from the printed page. Distant history becomes exciting and relevant... Krist's book is an absolute triumph. It is meticulously researched and the work of a writer who is at the top of his game. This is historical reporting at its very best."
from The Christian Science Monitor"In his new book, historian Gary Krist takes a closer look at one of the most epic series of crises to ever hit an American city." City of Scoundrels "is a crackling history, full of expert storytelling from the very first page."
from Devourer of Books"City of Scoundrels is an amazing narrative of a transformative time in Chicago history. Krist makes the city into a living, breathing character."
from Shelf Awareness"Although Gary Krist's City of Scoundrels is nonfiction, it reads like a novel, with an hour-by-hour accounting of how each disaster unfolded. Krist ably bares the complicated, corrupt politics of Illinois, showing how city and state officials scrambled to deal with each problem and turn it to their own advantage. Set against the backdrop of Prohibition, the ending of World War I, and the great influenze epidemic, City of Scoundrels gives a vivid glimpse at 12 horrifying days in an already difficult era. The lives of Chicagoans, both famous and not, would never be the same again."
from Publishers Weekly"Krist serves up a solid, well-informed, and vibrant slice of urban history."
from Kirkus Reviews"A grim but eager narrative that delivers vivid reading."
from Booklist"A superior slice of urban history."
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