A People's History of Chicago - by Kevin Coval (Paperback)

About the Book

Named "Best Chicago Poet" by The Chicago Reader, Kevin Coval channels Howard Zinn to celebrate the Windy City's hidden history.

Book Synopsis

Named "Best Chicago Poet" by The Chicago Reader, Kevin Coval channels Howard Zinn to celebrate the Windy City's hidden history.

Review Quotes

"Kevin Coval made me understand what it is to be a poet, what it is to be an artist and what it is to serve the people."
-Chance the Rapper

"...incantatory spoken-word assailing notions of racial purity"
-New York Times

"Kevin Coval has given us a gift, a collection of heartfelt, piercing poems, stories really, about America's city."
-Alex Kotlowitz author of There Are No Children Here

"This vibrant, dynamic collection of vignettes exposes the naked truth of our fair city."
-Karen Lewis, president of the Chicago Teacher's Union

"The spine of this book of the People's History of Chicago is the people's resistance and struggle for justice and a fair shake. Coval is in the Chicago Tradition - fire, earth, and endless blues."
-Angela Jackson, author of Where I Must Go, winner of the American Book Award

About the Author

Kevin Coval is a poet and community builder. As the artistic director of Young Chicago Authors, founder of Louder Than A Bomb: The Chicago Youth Poetry Festival, and professor at the University of Illinois-Chicago--where he teaches hip-hop aesthetics--he's mentored thousands of young writers, artists and musicians.

He is the author and editor of ten books, including The BreakBeat Poets: New American Poetry in the Age of Hip-Hop and Schtick, and co-author of the play, This is Modern Art. His work has appeared in Poetry Magazine, The Drunken Boat, Chicago Tribune, CNN, Fake Shore Drive, Huffington Post, and four seasons of HBO's Def Poetry Jam.