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45th out of 52 books
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7 voters
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American Pharaoh: Mayor Richard J. Daley - His Battle for Chicago and the Nation
Now in paperback comes the story of Richard J. Daley, the last of the big city bosses, the patriarch of a political dynasty, and a major national figure in American urban politics. of photos.
Paperback, 640 pages
Published
May 1st 2001
by Back Bay Books
(first published May 2000)
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I confess I have a soft spot for old-style politics--the bosses and machines. Folks like Sam Rayburn and LBJ, the got shit done. But when it comes to Dick Daley, I think he was one of the worst human beings this country produced: a bigoted, narrow-minded Irish thug who thought attending all those masses would exonerate all the evil he perpetrated. (Actually, he was too stupid to know that what he was doing was evil.) He was, quite simply, an awful human being, and this book so expertly reveals a...more
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Daley was a fascinating, bigoted, devoted, charismatic, powerful, awful man - much of that in equal parts. He had a hold on Chicago that was unparalleled and knew how to both cater to constituents and get things done in the machine of his owm creation. While his acfions were abhorrent and somewhat tough to swallow, the story itself is a page turner. It makes me wonder how we ever got through 1968 and how defeating it musg have been to be on the Republican side of the street for much of Daley's m...more
Richard Daley was an only child, a rarity in his Irish Catholic neighborhood in the early 1900s. Apparently he was the only kid in the neighborhood who owned pajamas. One neighbor described the Daleys as the kind of people who had fruit in the house even if nobody was sick.
This book taught me about four-legged voting, which happens when a ward heeler [political worker:] accompanies a voter into the booth to supervise. If a voter took more than a few seconds in there, the ward heeler ...more
This book taught me about four-legged voting, which happens when a ward heeler [political worker:] accompanies a voter into the booth to supervise. If a voter took more than a few seconds in there, the ward heeler ...more
Kate
rated it
·
review of another edition
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Chicagoans, readers interested in the civil rights movement, political machines, urban issues
Recommended to Kate by:
A book store in Ann Arbor
This book explains how Richard Daley rose to become mayor and head of the powerful Cook County political machine. Daley and the machine used patronage jobs to ensure an army of workers who would help keep him and other machine politicians in office. His political power was stunning- there is no equivalent to it today. Daley controlled city councilmen, judges, and many Congressmen, which made it easy to get money from Washington for his city projects. (The book also explains how suburbanization,...more
No satisfactory explanation as to how Mayor Daley, Elizabeth Wood and the CHA failed to put comparable (to the South Side) public housing in the vast lily-white areas of the North Side. Here following the money and most importantly the vote count is implied. Just how powerful were those North Side aldermen and Democratic committeemen? Apparently quite.
The whole tone of this book persuasively supports the theme that everyone in the world now understands ... that Chicago politics is...more
The whole tone of this book persuasively supports the theme that everyone in the world now understands ... that Chicago politics is...more
Andrea
is currently reading it
I had to return the other book as someone recalled it from the library. Instead, I'm reading this book on the Chicago political machine. I have read a few articles recently on similar topics -- the appointment of Roland Burris, the Blagojevich situation -- and a friend from Chicago recommended this book as a primer on the insanity that is Chicago politics.
This is an excellent history of Chicago in the middle decades of the 20th century. From public housing, to the 1968 convention, to the growth of the Machine in Chicago politics, this covers the basics. It's less of a biography of Daley and more of a biography of Chicago, and unfortunately in the process flattens Daley's complicated life into a near cartoon-like racist, scheming, maniacal control freak. Don't get me wrong, he's a complete SOB - I just think the book portrayed him as the devil whi...more
This is a pretty comprehensive history of Mayor J. Daley. At times, I felt like the authors overstepped their boundaries--there was quite a bit of background history on Chicago that I suppose worked into the overall thesis they developed, but at times, it gets tedious. There are many other books on the history of Chicago that are far more interesting. They should have just stuck to Daley.
On that note, when is a comprehensive history going to be written on Harold Washington? In th...more
On that note, when is a comprehensive history going to be written on Harold Washington? In th...more
When I first moved to Chicago, I always took people's stories about city politics with a grain of salt - they sounded far too out-in-the-open to be true. Not always the most readable, but a compelling look at machine politics and Chicago.
The authors did exquisite research about the elder mayor Daley. The details sometimes would get tedious, but I really did learn a lot about what was happening in Chicago in the 1960s.
C. Miles
is currently reading it
I've only just started this book but - holy cow - the facts and details about the history of Chicago are so fascinating and dense that I feel I need to start over and try to read this book as slowly as possible so I remember everything!!
Five stars for those who want to understand the Daley legacy and all of its contradictions. The book does a great job of capturing Chicago while Daley grew up - he was born in 1902 - and the hard-scrabble life ahead. The authors then do a nice job of organizing around themes, such as the battles over public housing, that provide the reader with a continuity of the topic and an understanding of the major players involved. Throughout, the authors highlight the underlying tensions of race and how...more
Phew. This turned out to be a slog, albeit a fascinating one. Probably required reading for anyone who is interested in the history of Chicago.
All that you wanted to know about the history of Chicago. It was well written and an interesting book. The segregation of races based on how Mayor Daley laid out the city and the highway system, made me so mad.
This is very good so far. The narrative of Daley's career and upbringing are interwoven with the political history of Chicago. Could be confusing, but appears seamless.
Intrigued by tidbits in the book, I looked up Elizabeth Wood in the CHM catalog. Wood was first executive director of the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA), and Studs Terkel interviewed her in 1964. The museum has a partial transcript online:
http://chsmedia.org/media/fa/fa/M-T/T141...
Update: Moved ...more
Intrigued by tidbits in the book, I looked up Elizabeth Wood in the CHM catalog. Wood was first executive director of the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA), and Studs Terkel interviewed her in 1964. The museum has a partial transcript online:
http://chsmedia.org/media/fa/fa/M-T/T141...
Update: Moved ...more
Maxo Marc
added it
A powerful politician who did a lot good while doing a lot of dirt.
Wow. Great biography of Daley, which at the same time is a history of how modern Chicago came to be. Did you know that Chicago is still one of the most racially segregated cites in the US? It is, because Daley and the Democratic Machine designed it that way. While Daley was a flawed racist man, he still "saved" Chicago from utter decline, turning the Loop into a tourism and convention destination. He was also a powerful national figure, which surprised me.
This is the story of the late great and original Mayor Daley of Chicago. The book is a very interesting story of how he came to and held on to power for over a decade. It is one of the best examples of Machevelianism I've ever read. If you like Chicago, even a little, this is an interesting read. Beware: book is very long (but worth it)
A fantastic book about the history of Chicago and the political machine that was behind it...Mayor Richard J. Daley. This book goes into detail about how the democratic political machine worked by giving out patronage jobs and how Daley kept neighborhoods segregated, but still managed to pull in the votes.
Everything you need to know about why Chicago is the city it is, exists within these pages. Not just because the younger Daley is in office now, but because his father's legacy, good and bad, is around every corner.
Anyone in Chicago should read this book - it tells the story of how Chicago got to be what it is through a really fascinating character: Daley. Its easy to read but also very informative. It will make you mad and the history you learn will inform the way you look at the city today.
To see where Chicago is going, it's important to see where it's been. This is a great documentation of the decades that made the city what it is today. Almost a full chapter dedicated to Elizabeth Wood, who stands in contrast to machine politics as usual.
Kevin J.
rated it
Recommends it for:
The story of one of the 20th centuries most powerful men
Shelves:
generalinterest
I was captivated by this story that thoroughly explains an example of how political power works in America. It shows the positive outcomes that power produces for some along with the adverse outcomes that power delivers for others.
The gears of the Chicago machine exposed. If you enjoy history and politics this is a must read. If you would like to understand the inter workings of the American political foundation this is highly recommended.
a very good book on the ORIGINAL Mayor Daley which in my view is very accurate. I came from that area of Chicago and was a city worker for years I don't have an insider's view but I am acquainted with many of the facts
still reading, but amazing review of racial relations in the North, at such a turbulant time - Black Flight out of the South meeting untested racial positions in the North; very well researched and presented thus far...
Dennis
rated it
·
review of another edition
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Chicago History buffs
Shelves:
booze-n-bookclub
A great look at the history of the administration of Richard J. Daley. I wonder if a book about his son's terms as mayor will be as interesting, because nobody seemed to be able to run a machine like his dad.
If you have any interest in Chicago, machine politics or 20th century American history, I strongly recommend this book. Be prepared to read @ 600 pages, but it's well worth it!
Great insight to how Mayor Daley I ran the City and the Democratic Party. Lots of space devoted to public housing - interesting now that many of the projects are being torn down.
This is a really readable book about a very important figure in American politics. It's not entirely objective, but it is hard not to have strong feelings about Daley.
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