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The Third Coast: When Chicago Built the American Dream
A cultural history of Chicago at midcentury, with its incredible mix of architects, politicians, musicians, writers, entrepreneurs, and actors who helped shape modern America
Though today it can seem as if all American culture comes out of New York and Los Angeles, much of what defined the nation as it grew into a superpower was produced in Chicago. Before air travel overtook trains, nearly every coast-to-coast journey included a stop there, and this flow of people and commodities made it America's central clearinghouse, laboratory, and factory. Between the end of World War II and 1960, Mies van der Rohe's glass and steel architecture became the face of corporate America, Ray Kroc's McDonald's changed how we eat, Hugh Hefner unveiled Playboy, and the Chess brothers supercharged rock and roll with Chuck Berry. At the University of Chicago, the atom was split and Western civilization was packaged into the Great Books.
Yet even as Chicago led the way in creating mass-market culture, its artists pushed back in their own distinct voices. In literature, it was the outlaw novels of Nelson Algren (then carrying on a passionate affair with Simone de Beauvoir), the poems of Gwendolyn Brooks, and Studs Terkel's oral histories. In music, it was the gospel of Mahalia Jackson, the urban blues of Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf, and the trippy avant-garde jazz of Sun Ra. In performance, it was the intimacy of Kukla, Fran and Ollie, the Chicago School of Television, and the improvisational Second City whose famous alumni are now everywhere in American entertainment.
Despite this diversity, racial divisions informed virtually every aspect of life in Chicago. The chaos—both constructive and destructive—of this period was set into motion by the second migration north of African Americans during World War Two. As whites either fled to the suburbs or violently opposed integration, urban planners tried to design away “blight” with projects that marred a generation of American cities. The election of Mayor Richard J. Daley in 1955 launched a frenzy of new building that came at a terrible cost—monolithic housing projects for the black community and a new kind of self-satisfied provincialism that sped the end of Chicago's role as America's meeting place.
In luminous prose, Chicago native Thomas Dyja re-creates the story of the city in its postwar prime and explains its profound impact on modern America.
Though today it can seem as if all American culture comes out of New York and Los Angeles, much of what defined the nation as it grew into a superpower was produced in Chicago. Before air travel overtook trains, nearly every coast-to-coast journey included a stop there, and this flow of people and commodities made it America's central clearinghouse, laboratory, and factory. Between the end of World War II and 1960, Mies van der Rohe's glass and steel architecture became the face of corporate America, Ray Kroc's McDonald's changed how we eat, Hugh Hefner unveiled Playboy, and the Chess brothers supercharged rock and roll with Chuck Berry. At the University of Chicago, the atom was split and Western civilization was packaged into the Great Books.
Yet even as Chicago led the way in creating mass-market culture, its artists pushed back in their own distinct voices. In literature, it was the outlaw novels of Nelson Algren (then carrying on a passionate affair with Simone de Beauvoir), the poems of Gwendolyn Brooks, and Studs Terkel's oral histories. In music, it was the gospel of Mahalia Jackson, the urban blues of Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf, and the trippy avant-garde jazz of Sun Ra. In performance, it was the intimacy of Kukla, Fran and Ollie, the Chicago School of Television, and the improvisational Second City whose famous alumni are now everywhere in American entertainment.
Despite this diversity, racial divisions informed virtually every aspect of life in Chicago. The chaos—both constructive and destructive—of this period was set into motion by the second migration north of African Americans during World War Two. As whites either fled to the suburbs or violently opposed integration, urban planners tried to design away “blight” with projects that marred a generation of American cities. The election of Mayor Richard J. Daley in 1955 launched a frenzy of new building that came at a terrible cost—monolithic housing projects for the black community and a new kind of self-satisfied provincialism that sped the end of Chicago's role as America's meeting place.
In luminous prose, Chicago native Thomas Dyja re-creates the story of the city in its postwar prime and explains its profound impact on modern America.
508 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2012
253 people are currently reading
3043 people want to read
About the author
Thomas Dyja
16 books36 followersI've written three novels and two works of non-fiction before THE THIRD COAST. I've also worked as an editor, book packager, and many years as a bookseller in Chicago, New York, and Boston. I currently live in Manhattan with my wife and daughter, who's in high school; my son is away at college.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 253 reviews
August 22, 2015
Didn't care for this. It's a book about nothing that attempts to be a book about everything--jazz, poetry, architecture, literature, art, education, politics. The book presents a history of Chicago and modernism in the 1940s and 1950s, but there's no central narrative; the narrative takes the form of disjointed biographical vignettes. The subject matter is interesting, but two things I value in nonfiction--clear writing and clear argument--were wanting. I could look past the unusual narrative form, but it was the prose that really turned me off. I thought the writing was clunky and unnecessarily ornate. Too many references and allusions and name-dropping. To me, it read like a comp lit dissertation. It's a shame because the book appears to be well-researched. The tone was snooty and too high-brow, as if the author were trying too hard to establish his intellectual bonafides. I would have preferred to let the research speak for itself. I kept trying again and again to give the book another chance, but then I would come across yet another page of hifalutin prose. Unless one has a particularly keen interest in mid-Century Chicago, I would look elsewhere for a Chicago history.
July 19, 2014
After I finished, my thoughts about "The Third Coast" and Thomas Dyja were scorn, contempt and small regard. Here is the latest in a long line of elitist, hate-filled New Yorkers who smarmily attempts to prove the superiority of Manhattan by knocking its one-time rival for the title of most urbane U.S. city. And, yes, despite where Dyja was born, he is a New Yorker now. It is revealing that in the about-the-author section, that fact is not mentioned, as if embarrassed to declare it, and that a quote from Studs Terkel is dug up in an attempt to prove Dyja's Chicago credentials--crumbs to the Lazarus reader from the bursting-with-food board of the rich New York writer. Those readers who genuinely want to learn about what Chicago has contributed to the world would be better served by Donald L. Miller's "City of the Century." Those who want to get a deeper picture about why Chicago experienced decline should turn to Carl Smith's "Urban Disorder and the Shape of Belief." That great work provides a fuller treatment of what has happened to Chicago, as does Alan Ehrenhalt's "Lost City." Some of sections of the Dyja--those on African American culture, Chess Records, the Bauhaus in Chicago and Hugh Hefner--prevent me from giving "The Third Coast" one star. And I really wanted to give the book one star.
August 12, 2020
A most fascinating read - this is the story of Chicago in the Fifties (Dyja actually starts the story in 1945), when the city was both the geographical and cultural crossroads of America. Dyja focuses on the extraordinary mix of individuals who contributed to the city's greatness at that time. First and foremost was Mies van der Rohe,who brought Modernism to Chicago. His glass and steel architecture became so much of the face of Chicago as well as of corporate America. Another big name of Fifties Chicago was Hugh Hefner,who unveiled " Playboy" in the Windy City.The Chess brothers recorded Chuck Berry and it could be said that the Blues had a baby and they called it rock and roll. Then there were South Side poet Gwendolyn Brooks,the voice of the seamy underside,Nelson Algren, and my favorite,Studs Terkel, now best known for his oral histories.
If you ask Chicagoans who was the biggest name of the 50s,doubtless they would say "Richard J. Daley." Dyja shows us the rise of Mayor Daley and his strengthening of America's last great political machine.In 1960,Hizzoner reached a peak of power as he helped get fellow Irish Catholic Jack Kennedy elected President.
For me so much of the fascination of this story is learning about so many characters who had a part to play and whom I knew little or nothing about. Who remembers Laszlo Moholy-Nagy- and his Institute of Design? And the man behind the puppets Kukla and Ollie? (Burr Tillstrom)
Thomas Dyja has quite a story to tell and he tells it most engagingly. Above all, it's the story of a great city at the height of its power and influence and the unique group of people who made it possible.
If you ask Chicagoans who was the biggest name of the 50s,doubtless they would say "Richard J. Daley." Dyja shows us the rise of Mayor Daley and his strengthening of America's last great political machine.In 1960,Hizzoner reached a peak of power as he helped get fellow Irish Catholic Jack Kennedy elected President.
For me so much of the fascination of this story is learning about so many characters who had a part to play and whom I knew little or nothing about. Who remembers Laszlo Moholy-Nagy- and his Institute of Design? And the man behind the puppets Kukla and Ollie? (Burr Tillstrom)
Thomas Dyja has quite a story to tell and he tells it most engagingly. Above all, it's the story of a great city at the height of its power and influence and the unique group of people who made it possible.
January 6, 2016
Just like Chicago never became the city Dyja thinks it could have been, this book doesn't quite hold together the way it ought. I picked this up and didn't make much progress in November 2013; I revisited it recently because I saw this was selected as the 2016 Chicago Public Library "One Book, One Chicago". Dyja's strengths are his focus on specific elements of Chicago during a specific time period, his willingness to address racist systems head-on, and a clearly vast pool of research. His weakness, largely, is failing to articulate what he thinks Chicago "could have"/"should have" been, the standard to which he holds the city throughout the book. A sense of disappointment haunts the book, but the reader isn't sure why.
Dyja discusses several factors that may have inhibited Chicago's late-20th/early-21st century ambitions, including government corruption, de-industrialization, racism, and a certain overzealousness about perceived blight that damaged historical architecture (otherwise a Chicago strength). But he fails to distinguish these elements of Chicago from similar elements in other cities - Chicago may be corrupt, but is it so much more corrupt than comparable Midwestern cities that it hindered growth? For sure it's possible - but he doesn't make that case or that comparison. Another example: he suggests Los Angeles' population skyrocketed past Chicago's because ... the DC-8 enabled people to fly non-stop from New York? As opposed to, say, climate, the growth of LA as an entertainment hub, or changing migration/immigration patterns?
In the end, the strength of the book is also its weakness. In writing solely about Chicago, Dyja is able to focus his argument - but he removes the argument from context. ALSO! I don't know that making regular comparisons to New York (X Chicago neighborhood is the equivalent of Z New York neighborhood) is really useful for the reader. If you're some sort of lunatic who's lived in Chicago and not New York the comparisons are meaningless and then sort of obnoxious if looked into. Most readers of Dyja's book are going to be people with Opinions About Chicago (good or bad) and most of the people in that group didn't sign up for a course in the cultural geography of Manhattan as a pre-requisite.
Dyja discusses several factors that may have inhibited Chicago's late-20th/early-21st century ambitions, including government corruption, de-industrialization, racism, and a certain overzealousness about perceived blight that damaged historical architecture (otherwise a Chicago strength). But he fails to distinguish these elements of Chicago from similar elements in other cities - Chicago may be corrupt, but is it so much more corrupt than comparable Midwestern cities that it hindered growth? For sure it's possible - but he doesn't make that case or that comparison. Another example: he suggests Los Angeles' population skyrocketed past Chicago's because ... the DC-8 enabled people to fly non-stop from New York? As opposed to, say, climate, the growth of LA as an entertainment hub, or changing migration/immigration patterns?
In the end, the strength of the book is also its weakness. In writing solely about Chicago, Dyja is able to focus his argument - but he removes the argument from context. ALSO! I don't know that making regular comparisons to New York (X Chicago neighborhood is the equivalent of Z New York neighborhood) is really useful for the reader. If you're some sort of lunatic who's lived in Chicago and not New York the comparisons are meaningless and then sort of obnoxious if looked into. Most readers of Dyja's book are going to be people with Opinions About Chicago (good or bad) and most of the people in that group didn't sign up for a course in the cultural geography of Manhattan as a pre-requisite.
September 3, 2013
This book covers the history of Chicago from 1945 to 1960, and argues that Chicagoans essentially invented a certain "everyman" mid-20th Century American culture. The author bases this claim on the fact that McDonald's, Playboy, the Blues, and modern architecture were invented in Chicago during this period and exported to the wider American public.
An interesting thesis, but ultimately a too shaky one on which to base a 550 page book. This book would have been just as successful in half the length. The book switches between a fascinating study of mid-20th Century Chicago politics and race relations and lengthy mini-biographies of many important and not-so-important individuals. The author never finds his footing, perhaps because he never convinces the reader that there even was a "everyman" mid-20th Century American culture to begin with, let alone that it was invented by Chicagoans.
If you're interested in a deeper study of mid-20th Century Chicago's political and social environment, I would recommend "American Pharaoh," an excellent biography of Richard J. Daley.
An interesting thesis, but ultimately a too shaky one on which to base a 550 page book. This book would have been just as successful in half the length. The book switches between a fascinating study of mid-20th Century Chicago politics and race relations and lengthy mini-biographies of many important and not-so-important individuals. The author never finds his footing, perhaps because he never convinces the reader that there even was a "everyman" mid-20th Century American culture to begin with, let alone that it was invented by Chicagoans.
If you're interested in a deeper study of mid-20th Century Chicago's political and social environment, I would recommend "American Pharaoh," an excellent biography of Richard J. Daley.
February 12, 2023
A book about everything is a book about nothing. The author tried to fit too much into one book and the thoughts are poorly connected.
May 11, 2016
Ok, that's enough. This book starts with architecture, and when I hit page 144, Chapter 11, and Dyja was STILL writing about architecture, I decided to hell with it. Architecture is fine if it's a nice sunny day and you're on a Chicago River tour, sipping a drink and looking at the pretty buildings. But not when it makes up the brunt of a 400 page book.
I've made a couple trips to Chicago over the last few years, and I decided I wanted to read a Chicago history, and this one really jumps out at you from the shelf. It LOOKS great. Nice title. But really, what is the point? It's about a bunch of stuff that happened in Chicago in the 40s and 50s. Ok, but lots of stuff happened in lots of cities in the 40s and 50s. You could probably pick a city at random, discuss the post-war period, and claim that the city was driving the American Dream. Detroit, Boston, Miami, LA...Houston...Seattle.
The blurb on the back did mention architecture but it also mentioned McDonalds and Playboy magazine. I flipped around, and near as I can figure McD's shows up on page 296 and Playboy on 260. I shudder to think how much architecture I would have had to sit through to get there.
I've made a couple trips to Chicago over the last few years, and I decided I wanted to read a Chicago history, and this one really jumps out at you from the shelf. It LOOKS great. Nice title. But really, what is the point? It's about a bunch of stuff that happened in Chicago in the 40s and 50s. Ok, but lots of stuff happened in lots of cities in the 40s and 50s. You could probably pick a city at random, discuss the post-war period, and claim that the city was driving the American Dream. Detroit, Boston, Miami, LA...Houston...Seattle.
The blurb on the back did mention architecture but it also mentioned McDonalds and Playboy magazine. I flipped around, and near as I can figure McD's shows up on page 296 and Playboy on 260. I shudder to think how much architecture I would have had to sit through to get there.
August 5, 2013
Well written and solidly researched. I learned a lot reading this book. Highlights include compelling portraits of Mies van der Rohe, Sun Ra, and Mahalia Jackson. Nice cameos by Ray Kroc, Hugh Hefner, Adlai Stevenson and Henry Darger. But there are several folks who, while interesting characters, were never really game changers. For instance, I like Nelson Algren as much as the next guy, but he's notable mostly for his unrealized potential. Nor do I buy Dyja's argument that Kukla, Fran and Ollie or Dave Garroway somehow changed the world. Too much Studs Terkel, too much jazz, too much Maholy-Nagy, too much of a lot of stuff that really just proves Chicago probably was a backwater, even during these halcyon days. Also, Dyja casts the racist aspersion too easily. Mayor Daley doesn't just crave power; he's a racist. White folks in their working class 'hoods are all ignorant, and any memories they have of their tight knit communities are delusional. It's all so neat and tidy when you opt to dimiss the lives of entire peoples. But I still enjoyed reading some of the bios, and the argument that Kroc, Hefner and van der Rohe collectively framed post-WWII America is fairly persuasive.
May 21, 2015
There's a lot to learn from this cultural and social history of the city, even for a native Chicagoan. You get accounts of Louis Sullivan, Mahalia Jackson, the first Mayor Daley, along with many other major figures, plus the conniving that shaped and continues to shape Chicago into a unique, important city.
What you don't get is a coherent story. Maybe that's impossible, but author Dyja didn't even try, settling for a disjointed account of events. For example, near the book's end, on pp. 408 to 409, the topic jumps from JFK's election campaign to a book of poems by Gwendolyn Brooks to efforts to tear down the Garrick Theater.
The author clearly has taken the time to research the book well. There are 45 pages of end notes and 25 pages listing sources. What's still needed is a book that digests the facts.
What you don't get is a coherent story. Maybe that's impossible, but author Dyja didn't even try, settling for a disjointed account of events. For example, near the book's end, on pp. 408 to 409, the topic jumps from JFK's election campaign to a book of poems by Gwendolyn Brooks to efforts to tear down the Garrick Theater.
The author clearly has taken the time to research the book well. There are 45 pages of end notes and 25 pages listing sources. What's still needed is a book that digests the facts.
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September 9, 2019"Understanding America requires understanding Chicago."
Thomas Dyja, The Third Coast
>>Read by David Drummond
app 18hrs
Thomas Dyja, The Third Coast
>>Read by David Drummond
app 18hrs
September 5, 2023
This book is a disjointed, unfocused, mess. There must be hundreds of better books about Chicago or Mayor Daley to read than this one. Hard Pass.
May 12, 2013
Thomas Dyja has written a wonderful social and cultural history of Chicago that spans the time period from the death of Louis Sullivan at the start of the Great Depression until the death of Walter Paepcke, the CCA executive who served as "Chicago's Medici" by funding many of the art and design initiatives of the period that brought such renown to the city during this period. The story goes far beyond art, architecture, photography, and design to cover popular music (blues, soul, rock, jazz), literature, All of these stories are tied together in a broader narrative of politics, both national and local, and broader cultural and social developments, especially the civil rights movement. There is a huge amount of information here and the trick is organizing it so it doesn't come across as just a huge amount of information. Dyja does this by focusing on a few of the major actors who were critical to Chicago's development. Mies and Frank Lloyd Wright are covered. Nelson Algren and Simone De Beauvoir are another central pair. Mayor Daley is a key to the second half of the book. Hutchins and Adler, along with the Great Books, are another recurring pair. What I found most interesting were the portraits of the Chess brothers of Chess Records, and the large group of musicians that they worked with, including Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf. (The musicians are especially interesting because as an early classic recording is mentioned, one can easily look it up on YouTube.) This is only a small sampling, however, of a very complex scene.
Dyja tells a good story and has an opinion on almost everything covered. The last trait is a bit annoying at times and sounds a bit like some recycling is going on, but this doesn't happen too often. Dyja is especially good at weaving together the stories of the different actors to produce memorable combinations. The link between Studs Terkel and Mahalia Jackson was one that I had missed and is fascinating. I think the author is a fan of Chicago, although in parts the story suggests more of a "love-hate" relationship. This is especially clear in his judgments on the period of the first Mayor Daley (Richard J.) whose machine presided over and enshrined many of the city's bad habits and suppressed the black community in favor of developers. This is not a new critical take on the city's history, but the account of Chicago presented here has both strengths and weaknesses, highlights and blemishes.
This is a rewarding book and should be essential for anyone interested in Chicago It fits in nicely with a number of good Chicago books in recent years, such as the Devil in the White City, City of Scoundrels, Sex in the Second City, and The Warmth of Other Suns (in which one of the three critical biographies is about a move to Chicago).
Dyja tells a good story and has an opinion on almost everything covered. The last trait is a bit annoying at times and sounds a bit like some recycling is going on, but this doesn't happen too often. Dyja is especially good at weaving together the stories of the different actors to produce memorable combinations. The link between Studs Terkel and Mahalia Jackson was one that I had missed and is fascinating. I think the author is a fan of Chicago, although in parts the story suggests more of a "love-hate" relationship. This is especially clear in his judgments on the period of the first Mayor Daley (Richard J.) whose machine presided over and enshrined many of the city's bad habits and suppressed the black community in favor of developers. This is not a new critical take on the city's history, but the account of Chicago presented here has both strengths and weaknesses, highlights and blemishes.
This is a rewarding book and should be essential for anyone interested in Chicago It fits in nicely with a number of good Chicago books in recent years, such as the Devil in the White City, City of Scoundrels, Sex in the Second City, and The Warmth of Other Suns (in which one of the three critical biographies is about a move to Chicago).
June 15, 2022
So much potential, but super boring writing.
June 23, 2022
This was masterfully done. The book tells the story of just fifteen years in the life of Chicago (1945-1960). With his recounting of those 15 years Dyja attempts to do two things, and pulls both of them off. His first priority, which is billed more heavily in the book's promotional material, is to make the case for Chicago's central role in setting the format of 20th and 21st century American life, from architecture, to television, race relations, comedy and about a dozen other things as well. The second priority, which I think elevates this book far beyond regional boosterism, is to document just how quickly leadership in all of those arenas slipped away to the coasts. This second aspect of the book provides the tragic heft that I believe makes it truly great.
I enjoy reading regional boosterism more generally. Perhaps it's a sign of encroaching middle age, but I love learning about the local history and culture of places all over the United States, even, or perhaps especially if nothing particularly noteworthy happened there. Dyja's book on Chicago is a few cuts above any other book I have read in this genre. He's blessed by the source material that Chicago provides, but the author's research and literary choices really make the book shine. The book is a propulsive read.
Dyja weaves together the stories of Chicago's great heroes, from Mayor Dailey, Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, Pulitzer prize winning poet Gwendolyn Brookes, as well as its martyrs like Emmet Till, and outsider artists like Nelson Algren and Studs Terkel. Those names are just a small selection of the dozens of characters who pop in and out of the narrative. Dyja manages to analyze the works and provide the stories of dozens of people while piecing together an edifice of Dickensian scope. It's a rare gift to be able to combine this intensity of research with these story-telling skills. The Third Coast manages to provide an absolute wall of information and also be a page-turner.
This book will fit well on my shelf next to Nature's Metropolis, one of my favorite works of 19th century American history. Nature's Metropolis chronicles Chicago's rise from nothing to become the logistical hub of the entire country in a few short decades, sucking in the continent's commodities, and spewing out settlers nationwide. This book, The Third Coast, documents how quickly that centrality was stripped away by a few technological changes, its elite's unwillingness to appreciate the artistic bounty it had, and the wider public's obsession with race-based urban renewal. The book is tragic in that sense, but it's also a monument to how much you could, and, I like to believe, still can do in this country, even if you're not in New York or Los Angeles.
I enjoy reading regional boosterism more generally. Perhaps it's a sign of encroaching middle age, but I love learning about the local history and culture of places all over the United States, even, or perhaps especially if nothing particularly noteworthy happened there. Dyja's book on Chicago is a few cuts above any other book I have read in this genre. He's blessed by the source material that Chicago provides, but the author's research and literary choices really make the book shine. The book is a propulsive read.
Dyja weaves together the stories of Chicago's great heroes, from Mayor Dailey, Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, Pulitzer prize winning poet Gwendolyn Brookes, as well as its martyrs like Emmet Till, and outsider artists like Nelson Algren and Studs Terkel. Those names are just a small selection of the dozens of characters who pop in and out of the narrative. Dyja manages to analyze the works and provide the stories of dozens of people while piecing together an edifice of Dickensian scope. It's a rare gift to be able to combine this intensity of research with these story-telling skills. The Third Coast manages to provide an absolute wall of information and also be a page-turner.
This book will fit well on my shelf next to Nature's Metropolis, one of my favorite works of 19th century American history. Nature's Metropolis chronicles Chicago's rise from nothing to become the logistical hub of the entire country in a few short decades, sucking in the continent's commodities, and spewing out settlers nationwide. This book, The Third Coast, documents how quickly that centrality was stripped away by a few technological changes, its elite's unwillingness to appreciate the artistic bounty it had, and the wider public's obsession with race-based urban renewal. The book is tragic in that sense, but it's also a monument to how much you could, and, I like to believe, still can do in this country, even if you're not in New York or Los Angeles.
February 6, 2017
Dyja's book is a history of Chicago from the 1930s to 1960. It breaks no new ground, but rather is a bundling up of stories told by others: there's Hirsch's Making the Second Ghetto; there's American Pharaoh; there's Lhamon's Deliberate Speed; there's the story of Nelson Ahlgren and Simone de Beauvoir; there's Ray Kroc and McDonald's. There's a compressed bit of Lewis Mumford, about the rise and fall--the breathing in and breathing out--of great cities, on a scale of decades rather than centuries, Chicago a center, an afterthought, a center, and an afterthought all in the period from the 1890s to the 1960s.
These should have been enough, I think. Dyja is also a novelist, and he narrates some of the scenes expertly (perhaps too expertly: more than once I wondered how he could have known certain details, and worried there might be some fiction in the stories). I would have liked a book of these smaller stories, of Gwendolyn Brooks and Ahlgren and Muddy Waters, making their way in a modernizing, but dangerously racially-polarized city.
Dyja, though, has bigger aspirations. Much of the story is of the architects who envisioned a new City arising after the Depression; of the ones, then, who actually did the remaking, building the public housing projects and expressways, the razing of old places and the raising of new; of the political battles that kept the city so segregated. (And even if there is no new ground broke, it is necessary to keep repeating the stories of the horrible white riots against blacks moving into homes of white neighborhoods, riots that were purposefully kept quiet by the local media.)
The second half of the book, especially, deals a lot with politics, and the rise of Richard Daley as a kingmaker. (He pushed the Democrats to drop Adlai Stevenson and choose Kennedy in 1960.) I haven't read any Mike Royko in a long, long time, but one could hear the echoes of his "Boss" in these sections. The point that Dyja wants to make is that Chicago had a chance to truly cement itself as America's second city--perhaps even its first, taking over New York's position: there was a flourishing arts scene, great music and writers, entrepreneurial talent. But Chicago could not: the faltered under the weight of the racist cross it bore.
The housing problems--that would anger MLK--were never resolved. The great mass of talent went un-recognized, in part because much of it was black, and Chicago, as Dyja has it, never celebrated black artists the way that New York had with the Harlem Renaissance. Crime, space shortages, and racism exploded the city, so that there was a mass exodus, the city's population peak coming in the early 1950s. Manufacturing left, and so there were fewer jobs. Talent left, too: the comedians and actors and TV personalities who had made the city vibrant, for a time, found themselves rewarded better in New York, or Hollywood. And in that space, Los Angeles became the second city, and Chicago slipped to third coast.
I'm not just sure that this is true or not--it's an interesting enough possibility, but without a comparative approach, it seems to me to be unknowable. But I think that it also swamps the more interesting personal stories, in order to repeat some well known ons (especially about Daley's rise, Stevenson's eggheadedness, and the corruption of the Chicago machine). It also comes across a bit defensive, and forces Dyja to stretch some of the evidence to fit into his story.
Because ultimately his claim is that, Chicago was so vital during the central decades of the twentieth century because it distilled the American essence. There is a tension between grandiosity--the American century--and humility--just regular guys--that structures American culture, Dyja says at the beginning--and throughout--that was echoed in Chicago's own history. And he certainly finds evidence of it. But this evidence seems everywhere applicable: that artists had to innovate--one is tempted to say hustle--in order to make ends meet hardly seems unique to Chicago. That even seedy politicians speak in purple prose also seems, if not unremarkable then typical.
Ray Kroc may have made McDonald's famous, but he bought the idea, whole hog (as it were) from brothers in California. Indeed, so many of these stories are bigger than Chicago--Ahlgren and Beauvoir stretch the tale to Paris, as does the Dyja's Greek chorus, the ex-patriate Richard Wright--and Dyja seems to scramble to find any Chicago connection for other famous people, as though there fame should rub off on Chicago itself.
This need to make Chicago the center of everything--this forced perspective--ends up swelling the book. Dyja is a graceful stylist, but the book is simply too long, and huge chunks of it demand to be skimmed, the eye searching for those more interesting, smaller stories.
And in these I found some arcane bits that were of interest to me, for my particular reasons. Decadal divisions don't usually work in history, for example, but the transition from the 1940s to the 1950s does seem momentous, and there is cultural dividing line to go along with the temporal one, the loose, experimental, skeptical years just after the war giving way to an age of conformity and anti-Communism. The year 1955, as Lhamon pointed out, is pivotal in the development of America's culture during the second-half of the 20th century, setting the terms of its repeated cycles.
The book is good for that--finding small details among the big; it's worth a read if any of the stories sound interesting, just so one can find their own favorite bits.
These should have been enough, I think. Dyja is also a novelist, and he narrates some of the scenes expertly (perhaps too expertly: more than once I wondered how he could have known certain details, and worried there might be some fiction in the stories). I would have liked a book of these smaller stories, of Gwendolyn Brooks and Ahlgren and Muddy Waters, making their way in a modernizing, but dangerously racially-polarized city.
Dyja, though, has bigger aspirations. Much of the story is of the architects who envisioned a new City arising after the Depression; of the ones, then, who actually did the remaking, building the public housing projects and expressways, the razing of old places and the raising of new; of the political battles that kept the city so segregated. (And even if there is no new ground broke, it is necessary to keep repeating the stories of the horrible white riots against blacks moving into homes of white neighborhoods, riots that were purposefully kept quiet by the local media.)
The second half of the book, especially, deals a lot with politics, and the rise of Richard Daley as a kingmaker. (He pushed the Democrats to drop Adlai Stevenson and choose Kennedy in 1960.) I haven't read any Mike Royko in a long, long time, but one could hear the echoes of his "Boss" in these sections. The point that Dyja wants to make is that Chicago had a chance to truly cement itself as America's second city--perhaps even its first, taking over New York's position: there was a flourishing arts scene, great music and writers, entrepreneurial talent. But Chicago could not: the faltered under the weight of the racist cross it bore.
The housing problems--that would anger MLK--were never resolved. The great mass of talent went un-recognized, in part because much of it was black, and Chicago, as Dyja has it, never celebrated black artists the way that New York had with the Harlem Renaissance. Crime, space shortages, and racism exploded the city, so that there was a mass exodus, the city's population peak coming in the early 1950s. Manufacturing left, and so there were fewer jobs. Talent left, too: the comedians and actors and TV personalities who had made the city vibrant, for a time, found themselves rewarded better in New York, or Hollywood. And in that space, Los Angeles became the second city, and Chicago slipped to third coast.
I'm not just sure that this is true or not--it's an interesting enough possibility, but without a comparative approach, it seems to me to be unknowable. But I think that it also swamps the more interesting personal stories, in order to repeat some well known ons (especially about Daley's rise, Stevenson's eggheadedness, and the corruption of the Chicago machine). It also comes across a bit defensive, and forces Dyja to stretch some of the evidence to fit into his story.
Because ultimately his claim is that, Chicago was so vital during the central decades of the twentieth century because it distilled the American essence. There is a tension between grandiosity--the American century--and humility--just regular guys--that structures American culture, Dyja says at the beginning--and throughout--that was echoed in Chicago's own history. And he certainly finds evidence of it. But this evidence seems everywhere applicable: that artists had to innovate--one is tempted to say hustle--in order to make ends meet hardly seems unique to Chicago. That even seedy politicians speak in purple prose also seems, if not unremarkable then typical.
Ray Kroc may have made McDonald's famous, but he bought the idea, whole hog (as it were) from brothers in California. Indeed, so many of these stories are bigger than Chicago--Ahlgren and Beauvoir stretch the tale to Paris, as does the Dyja's Greek chorus, the ex-patriate Richard Wright--and Dyja seems to scramble to find any Chicago connection for other famous people, as though there fame should rub off on Chicago itself.
This need to make Chicago the center of everything--this forced perspective--ends up swelling the book. Dyja is a graceful stylist, but the book is simply too long, and huge chunks of it demand to be skimmed, the eye searching for those more interesting, smaller stories.
And in these I found some arcane bits that were of interest to me, for my particular reasons. Decadal divisions don't usually work in history, for example, but the transition from the 1940s to the 1950s does seem momentous, and there is cultural dividing line to go along with the temporal one, the loose, experimental, skeptical years just after the war giving way to an age of conformity and anti-Communism. The year 1955, as Lhamon pointed out, is pivotal in the development of America's culture during the second-half of the 20th century, setting the terms of its repeated cycles.
The book is good for that--finding small details among the big; it's worth a read if any of the stories sound interesting, just so one can find their own favorite bits.
July 30, 2022
As a lifelong Chicagoan I learned a lot in this book that the traditional histories of Chicago do not cover. I was a very young child during the main years this book covers, so I don’t have personal memories of these events. From my secluded neighborhood on the north side, I learned nothing of the black south side; I didn’t read Brooks and didn’t listen to Mahalia. I now understand how limited my knowledge of my home town is.
The book is not perfect, jumping from one subject to another, but it is eye-opening. It’s also sad in the sense of what could have been. It would be easy to blame it all on Mayor Daley and racism, and while that may be true, it’s not the whole picture.
Recommended for people who think they know Chicago.
The book is not perfect, jumping from one subject to another, but it is eye-opening. It’s also sad in the sense of what could have been. It would be easy to blame it all on Mayor Daley and racism, and while that may be true, it’s not the whole picture.
Recommended for people who think they know Chicago.
September 29, 2025
Hahahahaha what the fuck 🙃 I know every city has troubled history and corruption, but damn...Chicago was a city of snakes. Lots of positive history in here as well.
I didn't know the book would only cover the 20th century up to the 60s. Would have loved to know about the city in the 1800s and Chicago from the 60s onward for as long as that book was but that's my bad.
I didn't know the book would only cover the 20th century up to the 60s. Would have loved to know about the city in the 1800s and Chicago from the 60s onward for as long as that book was but that's my bad.
May 26, 2013
I expected a breezy, anecdote-filled cruise through the highlights of culture in Chicago during the period covered by the book (roughly the late '30's through 1960). Instead what I found was a serious history and analysis of the growth and eventual decline of Chicago as a cultural center, covering architecture (Chicago's biggest claim to fame), literature (Gwendolyn Brooks and Nelson Algren in particular), music (gospel, blues, early rock n roll) and painting, as well as a discussion of how the politics of the city developed and how it affected the art and cultural spheres.
Although I'm a Chicago native, there is actually very little in this book that I knew. I found it fascinating to read about the early days of television in Chicago, which, according to Dyja, was extremely influential. Dyja's discussion of the racism and segregation in Chicago was also illuminating (although in general not news to me).
Dyja's writing style is serviceable and very readable. Like many contemporary non-fiction writers, he adopts a favorite technique of the late David Halberstam by starting some sections of the book with a written portrait of a person at a particular moment ("so and so woke up on a snowy morning in February, 1953 and...."). Dyja doesn't use this to particularly good effect; these portraits do draw the reader in, but they don't connect that well with the substance of the section. But then few authors that I read do this as well as Halberstam did.
A few words about the Kindle edition, which is what I read. The physical book has a section of photos in the middle. In the Kindle version, these appear after the text and before the acknowledgements, notes, index, etc. That's good; some Kindle books shamefully don't reproduce the graphic elements of the physical book. However, the photos here are too small, hard to see. Also, when I read a book, I like to be able to track where I am and how much of the book is left to read. The Kindle edition of this book doesn't have page numbers, and because of the lengthy reference section, the principal text of the book ends at the 60% mark. That's incredibly misleading, not to mention annoying.
Although I'm a Chicago native, there is actually very little in this book that I knew. I found it fascinating to read about the early days of television in Chicago, which, according to Dyja, was extremely influential. Dyja's discussion of the racism and segregation in Chicago was also illuminating (although in general not news to me).
Dyja's writing style is serviceable and very readable. Like many contemporary non-fiction writers, he adopts a favorite technique of the late David Halberstam by starting some sections of the book with a written portrait of a person at a particular moment ("so and so woke up on a snowy morning in February, 1953 and...."). Dyja doesn't use this to particularly good effect; these portraits do draw the reader in, but they don't connect that well with the substance of the section. But then few authors that I read do this as well as Halberstam did.
A few words about the Kindle edition, which is what I read. The physical book has a section of photos in the middle. In the Kindle version, these appear after the text and before the acknowledgements, notes, index, etc. That's good; some Kindle books shamefully don't reproduce the graphic elements of the physical book. However, the photos here are too small, hard to see. Also, when I read a book, I like to be able to track where I am and how much of the book is left to read. The Kindle edition of this book doesn't have page numbers, and because of the lengthy reference section, the principal text of the book ends at the 60% mark. That's incredibly misleading, not to mention annoying.
March 26, 2016
"The Third Coast" should have a certain appeal to Chicago "baby-boomers", but the book never seemed to pull all the elements together into a cohesive story. While the book contained a ton of factoids about a wide range of Chicagoans, especially in the 1940's and 1950's, many people included were individuals I'd never heard of before, and am quite sure I'll never hear of again. I thought Dyja spend an inordinate amount of time discussing the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) and its school of architecture, including what seemed to be a discussion about every faculty member and department head over the years. In addition to the information about the architectural school of Chicago, there are smatterings of discussions about the music scene, political bosses, the music scene, development of public housing and racial segregation, Chicago theater, etc., but the story ended up disjointed and never quite seemed to find its focus.
November 14, 2015
This is a very well researched book, and I learned a lot about this city of mine. But I think the author crammed in too much information for my taste. After a while I could not keep track of the names and historical figures and then people would get lost until the end of the book or new people would be introduced with very minimal background information. Thanks to this book, though, my next nonfiction pick will be about Richard J. Daley specifically.
Also, I wish there were more pictures, although I know that would have been expensive for the author and eventually for readers. It was frustrating to read about a building or person without a visual cue.
Also, I wish there were more pictures, although I know that would have been expensive for the author and eventually for readers. It was frustrating to read about a building or person without a visual cue.
August 10, 2018
A magnificent cultural history of Chicago in the middle of the 20th Century. Unfortunately, Goodreads deleted my longer review. So I'll just say this is very highly recommended.
August 31, 2021
Is there a trace of Chicago in your blood?
Then you need to read "The Third Coast."
What a magnificent piece of writing.
What superb research about so many facets of Chicago life and history.
There's architecture, of course, and the blues, of course, and Richard J. Daley, of course.
But there's authors, horrific racial incidents, gutsy humor, machine politics, titans of industry, household names like Hugh Hefner, Mahalia Jackson, Mies van Der Rohe, Muddy Waters, urban planning, urban renewal, integration (but not much!), Joe McCarthy and the House UnAmerican Activities Committee, Cabrini-Green, Nelson Algren, Richard Wright and Kukla-Fran-and-Ollie, for Pete's sake.
Oh, did I forget Gwendolyn Brooks, the University of Chicago, IIT, Louis Sullivan, the Prudential Building, Second City, Mike Nichols and Elaine May, Marshall Field's, Studs Terkel, JFK, Queen Elizabeth, and Chess Records?
If you grew up in Chicago in the 1950s-60s — especially if you grew up white — a good bit of this trip through some 40 years of history following the late 1930s may very well be eye opening.
Author Thomas Dyja deserves a Pulitzer for his work here.
Queen Elizabeth?
Yep, she visited Chicago.
For a whole 13 hours.
You can't make up stuff this good.
Then you need to read "The Third Coast."
What a magnificent piece of writing.
What superb research about so many facets of Chicago life and history.
There's architecture, of course, and the blues, of course, and Richard J. Daley, of course.
But there's authors, horrific racial incidents, gutsy humor, machine politics, titans of industry, household names like Hugh Hefner, Mahalia Jackson, Mies van Der Rohe, Muddy Waters, urban planning, urban renewal, integration (but not much!), Joe McCarthy and the House UnAmerican Activities Committee, Cabrini-Green, Nelson Algren, Richard Wright and Kukla-Fran-and-Ollie, for Pete's sake.
Oh, did I forget Gwendolyn Brooks, the University of Chicago, IIT, Louis Sullivan, the Prudential Building, Second City, Mike Nichols and Elaine May, Marshall Field's, Studs Terkel, JFK, Queen Elizabeth, and Chess Records?
If you grew up in Chicago in the 1950s-60s — especially if you grew up white — a good bit of this trip through some 40 years of history following the late 1930s may very well be eye opening.
Author Thomas Dyja deserves a Pulitzer for his work here.
Queen Elizabeth?
Yep, she visited Chicago.
For a whole 13 hours.
You can't make up stuff this good.
April 14, 2017
Growing up on the south side of Chicago during the 1950's through 1970's, I remembered many of the people and incidents Thomas Dyja wove into the story line. His research, particularly of the south side and how it and the city of Chicago evolved during these years, was extensive. He added back story and details that gave me a whole new perspective of the dreamers, power brokers, winners and losers that lived during this inventive and changing time.
The author's writing style is lyrical and detailed, so a slow-read for me. But the overall story made it very worthwhile. Djya argues that Chicago, as the crossroads of America, where everyone had to get off the train, and not New York or Los Angeles, was the epicenter of post-war America during this time. After reading his book, I agree.
All Chicagoans should consider putting The Third Coast on their to-read list.
The author's writing style is lyrical and detailed, so a slow-read for me. But the overall story made it very worthwhile. Djya argues that Chicago, as the crossroads of America, where everyone had to get off the train, and not New York or Los Angeles, was the epicenter of post-war America during this time. After reading his book, I agree.
All Chicagoans should consider putting The Third Coast on their to-read list.
July 16, 2025
chat i might need to move to Chicago now?
but in all seriousness a great read, delves into how Chicago's culture became mainstream America's culture to an extent, from the theatre and jazz scene, to the consumerism mentality. the dive into the reign of Daley was also fascinating. very amusing that the Chicago mindset of "do great things but please be mostly normal" led to some characters thriving and others crashing
but in all seriousness a great read, delves into how Chicago's culture became mainstream America's culture to an extent, from the theatre and jazz scene, to the consumerism mentality. the dive into the reign of Daley was also fascinating. very amusing that the Chicago mindset of "do great things but please be mostly normal" led to some characters thriving and others crashing
August 28, 2024
Not really what I was looking for in terms of HOW Chicago became the economic powerhouse it is today, but stories discussing Chicago's close ties to blues and R&B were very interesting. I also liked some of the discussion of architectural institutions.
July 15, 2020
Wow, I've lived in Chicago for 27 years and still learned so much by reading this book.
October 10, 2023
This was well researched and had some great stories, but it really needed some editing! Stories are half-told, references are made to things that are unexplained, and many threads get lost. It should be so much better!
January 19, 2022
This book was a selection by the Chicago Public Library's "One Book, One Chicago" reading series, though technically there were two books selected per year. Generally, the books on this list (reproduced in the review linked below) are of high quality, and this one is no exception.
It is a history book. It is a work of non-fiction. But like some of the best non-fiction, it reads like fiction. Because this is a big book (400 pages is borderline "big," but the material here is dense) that goes very many places, to give a taste of what you may be in store for, I will just cut and paste a paragraph from the review:
"To give a brief overview, this book is primarily about architecture, music, theater, literature, painting, photography, politics, television, industry, and education. It features a truly dizzying cast of characters, and I will attempt to name the major ones: Louis Sullivan, Mies van der Rohe, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Frank Lloyd Wright, Walter Gropius, the Chess Brothers, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Mahalia Jackson, Chuck Berry, Reverend C.L. Franklin (and his daughter Aretha), Sun Ra, David Shepherd, Mike Nichols, Elaine May, Ed Asner, Nelson Algren, Simone de Beauvoir, Gwendolyn Brooks, Richard Wright, Lorraine Hansberry, Katherine Kuh, Henry Darger, Harry Callahan, Elizabeth Wood, Adlai Stevenson, Richard J. Daley, Studs Terkel, Burr Tillstrom, Dave Garroway, Ray Kroc, Hugh Hefner and Robert Maynard Hutchins. I'm probably forgetting a few, and also elevating the presence of a few. The major characters are Mies, Algren and Daley."
The people are what make the book special, but there seems to be a heavier weight attached to the topics of Architecture and Literature. For me personally, the material on Nelson Algren and Simone de Beauvoir was most compelling. Sometimes Dyja's writing annoyed me, because it seemed needlessly confusing, but perhaps I am just a dimwit. On the whole, it's a very impressive research project that was effectively spun into a mostly gripping narrative. No one could call this book a failure.
http://flyinghouses.blogspot.com/2016...
It is a history book. It is a work of non-fiction. But like some of the best non-fiction, it reads like fiction. Because this is a big book (400 pages is borderline "big," but the material here is dense) that goes very many places, to give a taste of what you may be in store for, I will just cut and paste a paragraph from the review:
"To give a brief overview, this book is primarily about architecture, music, theater, literature, painting, photography, politics, television, industry, and education. It features a truly dizzying cast of characters, and I will attempt to name the major ones: Louis Sullivan, Mies van der Rohe, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Frank Lloyd Wright, Walter Gropius, the Chess Brothers, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Mahalia Jackson, Chuck Berry, Reverend C.L. Franklin (and his daughter Aretha), Sun Ra, David Shepherd, Mike Nichols, Elaine May, Ed Asner, Nelson Algren, Simone de Beauvoir, Gwendolyn Brooks, Richard Wright, Lorraine Hansberry, Katherine Kuh, Henry Darger, Harry Callahan, Elizabeth Wood, Adlai Stevenson, Richard J. Daley, Studs Terkel, Burr Tillstrom, Dave Garroway, Ray Kroc, Hugh Hefner and Robert Maynard Hutchins. I'm probably forgetting a few, and also elevating the presence of a few. The major characters are Mies, Algren and Daley."
The people are what make the book special, but there seems to be a heavier weight attached to the topics of Architecture and Literature. For me personally, the material on Nelson Algren and Simone de Beauvoir was most compelling. Sometimes Dyja's writing annoyed me, because it seemed needlessly confusing, but perhaps I am just a dimwit. On the whole, it's a very impressive research project that was effectively spun into a mostly gripping narrative. No one could call this book a failure.
http://flyinghouses.blogspot.com/2016...
February 27, 2014
A scattered, helter-skelter history of America's grand central metropolis, The Third Coast juggles many local balls and too frequently hurls them aloft, demanding deference on the national stage for Chicago's contributions to architecture, music, and politics--at one point going so far as to list dozens of comedians who stepped forth from sessions at Second City.
Thomas Dyja is determined that Chicago is determined to prove that Chicago is worthy of his attention. It undoubtedly is, but he fails to rationalize his start and finish--is it post-war or should we count a lengthy prologue? Ought we care more about the zenith of the blues and the rapid ascent of rock and roll or the crowning of Richard J. Daley as the boss of Chicago? Do the down and out artists, doomed to mooning after lost loves, broken neighborhoods, and beautifully bent people fit with the rise of mad men and money in the right precincts of town?
Perhaps these several contrasts work well in duet, but Dyja leaves little more than a chronological beat and a few desultory transitions in the dance from one scene to the next. We're reminded that Emmett Till came from the South Side, but we don't stick around for the riots that eventually followed the squelching of the movement his death helped emancipate.
In the end, Chicago is seen, heard, and pondered, and that is enough. Whether it's the significance of Mies, the muddy roots of the burgeoning blues, or the faded prose of Chicago's literary scene gone run out of town, Dyja brings us stories worth reading. They just might read better, segregated.
Thomas Dyja is determined that Chicago is determined to prove that Chicago is worthy of his attention. It undoubtedly is, but he fails to rationalize his start and finish--is it post-war or should we count a lengthy prologue? Ought we care more about the zenith of the blues and the rapid ascent of rock and roll or the crowning of Richard J. Daley as the boss of Chicago? Do the down and out artists, doomed to mooning after lost loves, broken neighborhoods, and beautifully bent people fit with the rise of mad men and money in the right precincts of town?
Perhaps these several contrasts work well in duet, but Dyja leaves little more than a chronological beat and a few desultory transitions in the dance from one scene to the next. We're reminded that Emmett Till came from the South Side, but we don't stick around for the riots that eventually followed the squelching of the movement his death helped emancipate.
In the end, Chicago is seen, heard, and pondered, and that is enough. Whether it's the significance of Mies, the muddy roots of the burgeoning blues, or the faded prose of Chicago's literary scene gone run out of town, Dyja brings us stories worth reading. They just might read better, segregated.
May 22, 2016
I bought this on my first trip to Chicago about 18 months ago and read it during my trip there this week. It's not bad, but it's disappointing. There's a lot crammed in here even though it's focused on a fairly short time period of the 40s and 50s and the narrative structure just didn't flow well for me. The author also seemed to expect you to know certain people or references that seemed a bit obscure to me. It didn't explain why he was talking about some of the people, so some of his choices seemed random. I did like the sections on architecture for the most part, race/housing and oddly Hugh Hefner. (I don't like Hefner but his story was interesting.) Sections on literature and art, topics I love, fell flat, as did the info on politics. I also felt like the author doesn't actually like Chicago very much or at least has an odd way of showing it. I also don't think it did a very good job of making the point of its subtitle: when Chicago Built the American Dream. He references this a few times but mainly in conjunction with Hefner and Ray Kroc, neither of which were actual focal points. There are probably much better books about Chicago out there. Now I'm stuck with deciding whether to keep this as a souvenir or not. That's the only problem with buying books as souvenirs - sometimes I don't end up liking them!
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