Praise for Chicago's Great Fire:
“A brisk, gracefully written book.”—Margaret Talbot, New Yorker
"A wonderfully thoughtful and concise retelling of the tragedy and its aftermath. More important, the book reminds the reader that many of the issues battled over today—the place of immigrants, the nature of poverty, the efficiency and reliability of a democratic government—have cycled through American affairs for more than a century and a half . . . Chicago's Great Fire goes beyond the disaster and its causes to recount the remarkable way the city sprang back." —Richard Babcock, Wall Street Journal
"Simply put, the best book ever written about the fire, a work of deep scholarship by Carl Smith that reads with the forceful narrative of a fine novel. It puts the fire and its aftermath in historical, political, and social context. It's a revelatory pleasure to read." —Rick Kogan, Chicago Tribune
"An important book of Chicago history, highly readable, and deeply researched . . . Smith's gripping account of the blaze, itself, however, is only the beginning . . . A thoroughgoing look at the fire, its aftermath, and its meaning . . . A crackerjack history that is rousing, thought-provoking, and a necessary addition to the city's historical bookshelf." —Third Coast Review
"Smith's description of the fire's race through the city is gripping . . . His discussion of why Chicago was vulnerable to fire and how it rebounded so quickly are equally fascinating . . . A thought-provoking and lively account of the physical, political, and social impact of a disaster on a community." —Shelf Awareness
"An exemplary historical retelling of an event that still looms large in the American imagination, and an exploration of how the response to it was shaped by the ideas and ideals of the time. It manages the difficult balance between these two modes expertly, with an eye towards both the interesting anecdotal narrative and the greater historical significance." —Book Reporter
"Smith's well-written narrative not only examines the fire itself, but also the rise of the city of Chicago and how it was forced to rebuild after the blaze tore through its neighborhoods. With accessible writing, Smith tells the story of the disaster through various individuals who lived in and around the city . . . Stunningly well-researched, this book fully examines a pivotal moment in Chicago's history. Readers of Smith's other Chicago-based books will find this fascinating. Fans of Erik Larson, American history, and the triumph of the human spirit will also greatly enjoy." —Library Journal (starred review)
"Smith drops readers right into the action, transforming us into virtual citizens caught up in the conflagration and its aftermath of raucous political debates, intense class and ethnic tensions, yellow journalism, and the incredible energy and drive that enabled Chicagoans to rebuild . . . Smith, professor emeritus at Northwestern University, the author of a plethora of books on urban development and crises, and a true master of his craft, sets the historical record straight in advance of the sesquicentennial anniversary of Chicago's 'great fire.' An accessibly dramatic, even gritty factual account of a much-mythologized historic disaster." —Booklist (starred review)
"Fast-moving . . . A vivid history revealing hidden aspects of supposedly well-known events." —Kirkus Reviews
"A definitive retelling of one of America's 'most fabled disasters.'" —Publishers Weekly
"Chicago's Great Fire is just that, great—a notable history, rich in detail, and powered by a narrative that moves at the speed of the galloping flames. It unravels the mystery of Mrs. O'Leary and her poor cow, and is also sadly relevant, in revealing the steps and missteps, the generosity and greed, the stupidity and invention that accompanied a great city's recovery from near-total disaster." —Scott Turow
"This is a bracing and impeccably written history by a true master of the craft. Smith captures beautifully Chicagoans' hubris in building their great flammable city and their resilience as they survived the unthinkable." —Daniel Immerwahr, author of How to Hide an Empire
"Carl Smith has written the definitive work on the Great Chicago Fire—the context, the stories, and the aftermath. He masterfully demonstrates how disaster can unveil forces at work in society." —Gary T. Johnson, President, Chicago History Museum
"A gripping description of a modern urban catastrophe, filled with the recollections of men, women, and children who fled their homes as the fire advanced. Carl Smith is a master at taking well-known events and making them new." —Ann Keating, author of Rising Up From Indian Country: The Battle of Fort Dearborn and the Birth of Chicago
★ 10/01/2020
Historian Smith (emeritus, history, Northwestern Univ; The Plan of Chicago) fully researches and examines the Great Chicago Fire, which spanned three days in October 1871. Surprisingly, this is the first popular history book on the subject of the fire. Smith's well-written narrative not only examines the fire itself, but also the rise of the city of Chicago and how it was forced to rebuild after the blaze tore through its neighborhoods. With accessible writing, Smith tells the story of the disaster through various individuals who lived in and around the city. The book dives into the intrigue surrounding city officials, who received warnings from those who recognized that the city's poor engineering would mean a fire not only possible, but actually likely to occur. Smith also includes many maps of Chicago neighborhoods before and after the fire, portraits of people involved in local government, and pictures of buildings and landscapes that were forever changed. VERDICT Stunningly well-researched, this book fully examines a pivotal moment in Chicago's history. Readers of Smith's other Chicago-based books will find this fascinating. Fans of Erik Larson, American history, and the triumph of the human spirit will also greatly enjoy.—Jason L. Steagall, Arapahoe Libs., Centennial, CO
We all know the story of the Chicago Fire (Oct 8-10, 1871), which began when Mrs. O’Leary’s cow kicked over a lantern. The entire city burned. In a somber voice, David DeVries narrates this authoritative and informative history of the fire, which documents the late and inadequate response by the fire departments and the loss of much of the city. Throughout this sweeping and exhaustive story, DeVries’s steady, no-nonsense delivery explains the growth of this city, the minute details of the fire, the subsequent feeding and rehousing of survivors, and the extensive rebuilding of “the Big Windy.” DeVries denotes newspaper reports by shifting his tone, contrasting that part of the account with the barely emotional narrative. On the sesquicentennial of the fire, Smith’s detailed history celebrates the rebirth of this key Midwestern city. M.B.K. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine
2020-07-29
In which Mrs. O’Leary’s cow is cleared of all charges.
Chicago was not prepared for the conflagration that erupted on Oct. 8, 1871. Writes Smith, an emeritus professor of history at Northwestern, the city was barely 40 years old and had been constructed haphazardly, with wooden structures barely held together by a few nails and—as with the home of the Irish immigrant O’Leary family—set atop pilings rather than a foundation. The fire that began in their barn—no bovine agency involved—spread quickly, and it didn’t help that the city’s pumping station was one of the victims. The fire spoke not just to overcrowding, class divides, poverty, and poor building standards, but also to political corruption. Yet Chicago was also a city of economic promise. “The outbreak of the Crimean War in 1853 caused American wheat exports to double in volume and triple in value,” writes the author, and the more or less contemporaneous development of the transcontinental railroad, the grain elevator, and mass stockyards placed the port city in an enviable position. Chicago was able to rebuild, and fairly quickly, though it would be years before it had the solidity of stone and steel that characterizes it today. Smith unearths several interesting aspects of the great fire. One was the organization, around the country and world, of tremendous relief efforts—“even Richmond, Virginia, and other southern cities joined in, as did remote Santa Fe and even remoter Honolulu” along with magnates like J.P. Morgan and potentates like the emperor of Prussia. Another was the role of the fire in reshaping city politics, with reformers ousting the entrenched bosses and labor gaining a sense of its power through work stoppages and strikes for better pay and working conditions. The result, writes Smith in this fast-moving narrative, was a rapid expansion of an almost new city—though poor Catherine O’Leary still carries the blame and has been the fire’s “most enduring victim.”
A vivid history revealing hidden aspects of supposedly well-known events.
