Robert Spinney’s City of Big Shoulders: A History of Chicago is a must-read for any urban historian.  Appropriately using the first line of a Carl Sandburg poem that serves as an ode to the world’s pig butchery as his title, Spinney speaks towards the duality of Chicago: it was nasty, dirty, crime-ridden and it’s streets ran with blood, but at the same time it was still one of the most opulent and exciting cities in the United States. Spinney focuses on the immigration patterns in the city—Irish, Italian, Greek--and how each immigrant group added a layer to the city's neighborhoods.

It’s fascinating to compare his immigration narrative to the way the city is laid out today.  You can still visit Greektown for a gyro or stop at the Polish Village for sausage.  This kind of neighborhood organization is what makes a history like Spinney’s so interesting and relevant to anyone who loves Chicago—you can see what it was and what it’s become.