Good Reads - Nonfiction

Chicago Stories

The Downers Grove Public Library collection is rich in stories about Chicago, past and present. We hope you will be tempted by these nonfiction titles representing a variety of people, places and events around the city.

Muldoon: A True Chicago Ghost Story: Tales of a Forgotten Rectory by Rocco A. Facchini - 2003
Fresh out of seminary in 1956 Father Rocco Facchini was appointed to a parish on the city's Near West Side. Adapting to rectory life and the needs of the impoverished neighborhood were challenges in themselves. Little did Father Rocco know the rectory was haunted by the ghost of a former bishop. This chilling tale is intertwined with behind-the-scenes politics of the Catholic Church in Chicago.

364.106 COO
When Corruption Was King: How I Helped the Mob Rule Chicago, Then Brought the Outfit Down by Robert Cooley - 2004
This is a true-crime memoir of a mob lawyer turned mole. The author recounts his turbulent youth, a stint on Chicago's police force, law school and then the inner sanctum of Chicago's mob bosses and political leaders. With Cooley on their side the mob controlled the courts, the cops and the politicians. Then in a startling act of conscience Cooley became a star witness in nine federal trials that took down the Chicago Outfit. A tale of transgression and redemption, this book reveals the personal story behind the federal government's most successful Mafia investigation.

364.1523 LAR
The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America by Erik Larson - 2003
Bringing Chicago circa 1893 to vivid life, Erik Larson's spellbinding bestseller intertwines the true tale of two men—the brilliant architect behind the legendary 1893 World's Fair and the cunning serial killer who used the fair to lure his victims to their death. Combining meticulous research with nail-biting story-telling, Erik Larson has crafted a narrative combining the wonder of newly discovered history and the thrill of first-rate fiction.

364.1523 POS
Everybody Pays: Two Men, One Murder, and the Price of Truth by Maurice Possley - 2001
Bob Lowe was the sole witness to a brutal murder in his neighborhood. When he decided to testify it was the worst mistake of his life. Two veteran Chicago journalists tell a nightmarish tale of the Mafia, judicial corruption, a flawed witness protection program, and the extraordinary sacrifice one average citizen made for telling the truth.

796.323 JOR
Hoop Dreams: A True Story of Hardship and Triumph by Ben Joravsky - 1995
Arthur Agee, William Gates and their friends grew up laying hoops on the courts of Chicago's roughest neighborhoods where they dreamed of the NBA. Sheer talent and potential to go all the way set these two teenagers apart. Award-winning journalist Joravsky tracked the young men for five years as they struggled to play the kind of basketball that could earn them college scholarships and perhaps even a place in the pros.

796.357 ASI
Eight Men Out: The Black Sox and the 1919 World Series by Eliot Asinof - 1963
In this timeless classic, Asinof recounts the story of the fantastic scandal in which eight Chicago White Sox players arranged with the nation's leading gamblers to throw the series in Cincinnati. He examines the motives of the players and the American underworld that managed the fix. More than just a baseball story, it is a compelling slice of American history in the aftermath of World War I.

977.311 BAL
The Great Chicago Fire and the Myth of Mrs. O'Leary's Cow by Richard F. Bales - 2002
In this detailed and very readable account, Bales debunks the time-worn O'Leary myth as well as the city commissioner's report at the time which stated the fire's cause could not be determined. The author's research into land records and transcripts of the 1871 investigation reveals a bungled inquiry aimed at preserving reputations rather than pressing for answers. A fascinating version of the facts of the fire, the book also provides insight into the politics and social mood of the period.

977.311 COW
To Sleep with the Angels: The Story of a Fire by David Cowan - 1996
Cowan, an independent journalist in the Chicago area, and co-author John Kuenster, formerly from the Chicago Daily News, fashion a gripping story from the events surrounding the tragic 1958 fire that swept through Chicago's Our Lady of the Angels elementary school. The fire, which left 92 children and three nuns dead, had profound effects on surviving students, parents, the neighborhood, and the city of Chicago.

977.311 HAT
Tinder Box: The Iroquois Theatre Disaster, 1903 by Anthony P. Hatch - 2003
The Iroquois disaster remains the worst theater fire in American history. The author became interested in the fire when he came across a book in his father's possession published in 1904 to raise money for the families of the victims. Hatch uses interviews and correspondence from survivors of the fire which lend a special poignancy to the story of this devastating tragedy.

977.311 KOT
Never a City So Real: A Walk in Chicago by Alex Kotlowitz - 2004
Kotlowitz, a native New Yorker, has made Chicago his home for twenty years. While New York is obsessed with status, the author portrays Chicago as a place without pretense where people are taken for who they are, not what they have achieved. Consequently he seeks the city's soul in the lives of its robust characters. He affectionately infuses his sketches with captivating insights into the city's history and culture.

Biography BUKOWSKI, D.
Pictures of Home by Douglas Bukowski - 2004
Bukowski's book is an honest, affectionate, unsentimental account of urban working class life. He traces the humble beginnings of his Polish-American clan settling on Chicago's ethnic South Side, supporting themselves through hard work and enterprise. His impressions of city and family are filled with clever observations engaging the heart and intellect.

Biography COHEN, R.
Lake Effect by Rich Cohen - 2002
Growing up in a wealthy North Shore suburb Cohen's most interesting friend was reckless, fatherless, lower-class kid Jamie Drew. He had so much charm even the teachers called him Drew-licious. Through the high school years of parties, Cubs games, summer nights on the beach and forbidden forays to blues clubs on the South Side, the two formed an inseparable bond. This is a bittersweet coming-of-age story that bores to the essence of friendship, exploring how it survives even as it changes.

Prepared by Janet Cole, December 2004