Reading in Chi-town

Two of my favorite books are set in Chicago- Native Son by Richard Wright and The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson. One of my goals while I was here was to reread both of these books. I finished Native Son last week and enjoyed it just as much as I did the first time, if not more. It's the story of Bigger Thomas, a young black man living on Chicago's South Side in the 1930s- a time when Chicago had some of the nation's strictest residential segregation laws. The 'black belt'- the only part of the city where black people were permitted to live- was run down and overcrowded. Housing shortages were severe and drove the cost of living far above what it was in other parts of the city. Essentially, these laws forced Chicago's poorest residents to live in sub-standard conditions but pay a higher price to do so. As one would expect, such oppression produced high levels of racial strife and did nothing to improve the safety and security of Chicago's residents, as it was meant to do. Native Son exposed and drew attention to the ugly nature of race relations in America in the mid 20th century. One of the recurring themes in the book is blindness- a commentary on America's inability to see race relations as they really were. It's a dark story with some shocking and unexpected twists in the plot and an ending that is sad but almost feels hopeful. Ultimately, it's a story about the real consequences of oppression, the absurdity of token charity, and the dangers of using fear as a means to control people.

I didn't reread The Devil in the White City as I had hoped to. Napoleon was reading it and left it inside a cab. I was too lazy to buy another copy so that was that. It is still one of my favorite books though and having read it made my experience in Chicago more meaningful. It's a non-fictional account of the World's Columbian Exposition, held in Chicago in 1893, and America's first serial killer, Dr. H.H. Holmes- who was operating in the city at the same time. It's a interesting book that tells two stories simultaneously- the first about the team of architects who created one of the most spectacular scenes in the world and the second about a man whose life revolved around luring young women off the street and killing them in a building that he had designed and built just for that purpose. It's creepy and fascinating all at the same time. Most of the sites discussed in the book no longer exist, but their architectural legacy can be seen throughout the city. In fact, the building that we've been living in was originally designed by Daniel Burnham- one of the primary architects discussed in the book.