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An urban neighborhood remakes itself every day--and unmakes itself, too. Houses and stores and streets define it in one way. But it's also people--the people who make it their home, some eagerly, others grudgingly. A neighborhood can thrive or it can decline, and neighbors move in and move out. Sometimes they stay but withdraw behind fences and burglar alarms. If a neighborhood becomes no longer a place of sociability and street life, but of privacy indoors and fearful distrust outdoors, is it still a neighborhood?

In the late 1960s and 1970s Carlo Rotella grew up in Chicago's South Shore neighborhood--a place of neat bungalow blocks and desolate commercial strips, and sharp, sometimes painful social contrasts. In the decades since, the hollowing out of the middle class has left residents confronting--or avoiding--each other across an expanding gap that makes it ever harder for them to recognize each other as neighbors. Rotella tells the stories that reveal how that happened--stories of deindustrialization and street life; stories of gorgeous apartments with vistas onto Lake Michigan and of Section 8 housing vouchers held by the poor. At every turn, South Shore is a study in contrasts, shaped and reshaped over the past half-century by individual stories and larger waves of change that make it an exemplar of many American urban neighborhoods. Talking with current and former residents and looking carefully at the interactions of race and class, persistence and change, Rotella explores the tension between residents' deep investment of feeling and resources in the physical landscape of South Shore and their hesitation to make a similar commitment to the community of neighbors living there.

Blending journalism, memoir, and archival research, The World Is Always Coming to an End uses the story of one American neighborhood to challenge our assumptions about what neighborhoods are, and to think anew about what they might be if we can bridge gaps and commit anew to the people who share them with us. Tomorrow is another ending.

Chicagoans united in their World War II effort against the Axis powers. They signed up for military service, rallied to the call for increased wartime production, and aided the war effort through the rationing of food and gasoline. From fast growing victory gardens to mini-monuments to local servicemen-Chicago, the "City of Neighborhoods," saw all of its geographic parts vie for recognition and honor in a ethnic mosaic of patriotism.

The war years ushered in changing times for Chicago. The city became an important military center as thousands of troops trained or passed through en route to the war fronts, while Chicago's civilian population engaged in manufacturing war materials. As defense plants sprang up all over Chicago, African-American tenant farmers, who migrated from the South, and women replaced the male labor force.

By the author of Mighty Fitz, the dramatic account of the sinking of the Carl D. Bradley on Lake Michigan, published on the fiftieth anniversary of the wreck.

At approximately 5:30 P.M. on November 18, 1958, the Carl D. Bradley, a 623-foot limestone carrier caught in one of the most violent storms in Lake Michigan history, snapped in two and sank within minutes. Four of the thirty-five man crew escaped to a small raft, where they hung on in total darkness, braving massive waves and frigid temperatures. As the storm raged on, a search-and-rescue mission hunted for survivors, while the frantic citizens of nearby Rogers City, the tiny Michigan hometown to twenty-six members of the Bradley crew, anxiously awaited word of their loved ones' fates.

In Wreck of the Carl D., Michael Schumacher reconstructs, in dramatic detail, the tragic accident, the perilous search-and-rescue mission, and the chilling aftermath for the small town so intimately affected by the tragedy. A fitting tribute to a powerful ship, the men who died aboard it, and the town that still mourns its loss, Schumacher's compelling follow up to Mighty Fitz is a wonderful addition to the literature of the Great Lakes and maritime history.

Relive the Chicago Cubs? historic 1945 season, the last time the team won a pennant. Charles N. Billington paints an evolving portrait of the season and its players, and chronicles the effects of World War II on the wider national scene during this unique period in baseball history. This fast-paced narrative includes statistical analysis, interviews, inning-by-inning accounts of key games, highlights of winning streaks and road trips, and a discussion of how and why the team quickly unravels. Featuring the photography of critically-acclaimed baseball historian and portrait photographer, George Brace.

Writers of the Black Chicago Renaissance comprehensively explores the contours and content of the Black Chicago Renaissance, a creative movement that emerged from the crucible of rigid segregation in Chicago's "Black Belt" from the 1930s through the 1960s. Heavily influenced by the Harlem Renaissance and the Chicago Renaissance of white writers, its participants were invested in political activism and social change as much as literature, art, and aesthetics. The revolutionary writing of this era produced some of the first great accolades for African American literature and set up much of the important writing that came to fruition in the Black Arts Movement.

The volume covers a vast collection of subjects, including many important writers such as Richard Wright, Gwendolyn Brooks, and Lorraine Hansberry as well as cultural products such as black newspapers, music, and theater. The book includes individual entries by experts on each subject; a discography and filmography that highlight important writers, musicians, films, and cultural presentations; and an introduction that relates the Harlem Renaissance, the White Chicago Renaissance, the Black Chicago Renaissance, and the Black Arts Movement.

Contributors are Robert Butler, Robert H. Cataliotti, Maryemma Graham, James C. Hall, James L. Hill, Michael Hill, Lovalerie King, Lawrence Jackson, Angelene Jamison-Hall, Keith Leonard, Lisbeth Lipari, Bill V. Mullen, Patrick Naick, William R. Nash, Charlene Regester, Kimberly Ruffin, Elizabeth Schultz, Joyce Hope Scott, James Smethurst, Kimberly M. Stanley, Kathryn Waddell Takara, Steven C. Tracy, Zoe Trodd, Alan Wald, Jamal Eric Watson, Donyel Hobbs Williams, Stephen Caldwell Wright, and Richard Yarborough.

Ben Tanzer's third novel is an adventure in being a grown up, in facing relationships and jobs, friendships and parenthood. A true exploration of what it means to live in our world, saturated with pop culture in the midst of real life struggles.

Chicago Restaurants covers over 1,150 restaurants in and around Chicago, plus Milwaukee. This handy guide contains Zagat Survey's trusted ratings and reviews for area restaurants based on the opinions of diners like you. The trademark reviews and corresponding ratings for Food, D?cor, Service and Cost are organized alphabetically in a user-friendly format. Use the indexes arranged by cuisine, neighborhood and special features like In Places, Winning Wine Lists, or Romantic Places to find the perfect restaurant for any occasion.

Chicago Restaurants covers over 1,150 restaurants in and around Chicago, plus Milwaukee. This handy guide contains Zagat Survey's trusted ratings and reviews for area restaurants based on the opinions of diners like you. The trademark reviews and corresponding ratings for Food, D?cor, Service and Cost are organized alphabetically in a user-friendly format. Use the indexes arranged by cuisine, neighborhood and special features like In Places, Winning Wine Lists, or Romantic Places to find the perfect restaurant for any occasion.