Gary Krist brings to life the many tales of woe that befell the city of Chicago in the summer of 1919 -- a post-war year that started out with celebration and hope. But soon a dirigible crashes, killing 13 people, a young girl is murdered, race riots break out, fires decimate a neighborhood, a transit strike looms and political turmoil ensues.

Mr. Krist's story starts out strongly with the dirigible crash. He sketches out a few of the people involved in the incident, so with an emotional investment in these people, the reader mourns their fate.
The fate of the young girl who disappears is similarly examined through the members of her family and her neighbors. And the building racial tensions and outbreaks of violence make for riveting reading.

In between, though, there's a lot of back-office politics, and the ins and outs of the transit negotiations. For me, a fairly a-political person, these long chapters brought the momentum of the book to a halt. A history buff or a Chicagoan might think differently.

I would have appreciated more analysis of the importance of the events to the shaping of modern Chicago, as the title promises. I don't know what modern Chicago is like and I finished the book not sure how this brief historical period had a lasting impact on the city.