A fascinating history of Chicago¡¯s innovative and invaluable contributions to American literature and art from the late nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century. This remarkable cultural history celebrates the great Midwestern city of Chicago for its centrality to the modernist movement. Author Liesl Olson traces Chicago¡¯s cultural development from the 1893 World¡¯s Fair through mid-century, illuminating how Chicago writers revolutionized literary forms during the first half of the twentieth century, a period of sweeping aesthetic transformations all over the world. From Harriet Monroe, Carl Sandburg, and Ernest Hemingway to Richard Wright and Gwendolyn Brooks, Olson¡¯s enthralling study bridges the gap between two distinct and equally vital Chicago-based artistic ¡°renaissance¡± moments: the primarily white renaissance of the early teens and the creative ferment of Bronzeville. Stories of the famous and iconoclastic are interwoven with accounts of lesser-known yet influential figures in Chicago, many of whom were women. Olson argues for the importance of Chicago¡¯s editors, bookstore owners, tastemakers, and ordinary citizens who helped nurture Chicago¡¯s unique culture of artistic experimentation. Format: Hardcover Dimensions: 6.12 x 9.25 in, Pages: 400 Illustrations: 88 b-w illus.

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