Clout City - by Dominic a Pacyga (Hardcover)

About the Book

"In politics, clout is the Chicago Way: insider access granted or denied, favors given or withheld, payoffs made or received. But Chicago clout is more than that. It's the absolute currency of a social, cultural, and political order that is self-reinforcing, self-dealing, and ultimately self-sealing in its contempt for anything outside of it. Or at least, it was. Here, Dominic A. Pacyga reveals how cultural, ethnic, and religious forces created this distinctive system-and ultimately led to its collapse. Tracing clout's origins in the Irish Catholic neighborhood of Bridgeport, Pacyga shows how communal ties can be a force for good and also the deepest wellspring of corruption"-- Provided by publisher.

Book Synopsis

Unearths the religious and cultural roots of a powerful political machine that empowered some everyday Chicagoans but ruled all of the city for decades.

In politics, clout is essential. Too often, it determines whether insider access is granted or denied, favors are given or withheld, and payoffs are made or received. But Chicago clout, as we know it today, is even more potent than that--it's the absolute currency of a social, cultural, and political order that is self-reinforcing and self-dealing. Or, at least, it was.

In Clout City, award-winning historian Dominic A. Pacyga reveals how cultural, ethnic, and religious forces created this distinctive system--and ultimately led to its collapse. Tracing clout's origins in the Irish Catholic-dominated working-class neighborhood of Bridgeport, shaped by De La Salle Institute and home to the legendary Daley family, Pacyga shows how communal ties can be a force for good and also the deepest wellspring of corruption. He maps Chicago's unique politics to its remarkable history, from the Great Fire of 1871 through its rise and decline as an industrial center to its emergence as a global city in the early twenty-first century. With deep research and firsthand experience from a lifetime in the city, Pacyga argues that Chicago's politics is understood best as a mixture of cultural and religious influences and more worldly pursuits, exploring how both Jewish and Catholic communalism played central roles in the creation and sustenance of the Chicago machine.

Chicago's politics today aren't as defined by its distinctive brand of clout. But they are shaped by clout's decline and the ghost of the machine. Pacyga's tour of the city's multilayered past is an indispensable guide to its present and future.

Review Quotes

"A compelling account of the emergence of Chicago's fabled political machine in the city's late nineteenth-century immigrant neighborhoods. Clout City is a vital resource for anyone interested in both Chicago's political and social history and the history of American urban politics."-- "Robert Lewis, author of Chicago's Industrial Decline"

"A unique blend of the best recent scholarship combined with streetwise insights garnered from years of engagement with the politics and people of Chicago. Clout City convincingly ties the Democratic political machine to the unique social, cultural, and economic circumstances of the twentieth-century city. If you want to understand the politics of contemporary Chicago, you must read this book."-- "Theodore Karamanski, coeditor of Civil War Chicago"

"No one knows Chicago's colorful history better than Pacyga, whose Clout City affirms his mastery of the subject. In this highly readable book, he presents a new interpretation of the Windy City's vaunted political machine that emphasizes the centrality of religious and cultural influences in forging this political leviathan. His argument will nudge historians and political scientists into viewing the famed Democratic organization with fresh eyes."-- "Roger Biles, author of Illinois: A History of the Land and Its People"

"Pacyga brilliantly summons his unequaled knowledge of the texture of Chicago life to locate this tumultuous history of political power past and present in the city's always dynamic and often contested religious and cultural values. A truly revelatory study not just of Chicago politics but also of Chicago itself."-- "Carl S. Smith, author of Chicago's Great Fire"

"Pacyga tells the compelling story of the communal, social, cultural, and political forces responsible for the rise and fall of the Chicago Political Machine. He proves again that he is the preeminent Chicago political historian. This is ever more important as the post-machine era unfolds."-- "Dick Simpson, emeritus, University of Illinois Chicago and former Chicago alderperson"

About the Author

Dominic A. Pacyga is professor emeritus of history in the Department of Humanities, History, and Social Sciences at Columbia College Chicago. He is the author of several books, including, most recently, American Warsaw: The Rise, Fall, and Rebirth of Polish Chicago, also from the University of Chicago Press.