Carl Smith discusses his new book: Chicago's Great Fire

A MIDWEST ADDRESS Author Literary Lunchbreak Virtual Event, co-sponsored with Bookends & Beginnings.

About the Book

Despite it being one of the most cataclysmic disasters in US history, remarkably, no carefully researched popular history of the Great Chicago Fire has been written. But now, approaching the 150th anniversary, eminent Chicago historian Carl Smith is publishing Chicago's Great Fire: The Destruction and Resurrection of an Iconic American City.  Building the story around memorable characters, both known to history and unknown—including the likes of General Philip Sheridan and Robert Todd Lincoln—Carl Smith documents how between October 8–10, 1871, much of Chicago was destroyed and close to one of every three Chicago residents was left homeless. But this story of devastation destruction ultimately became one of equally remarkable renewal, as Chicago quickly rose back up from the ashes, thanks to local determination and the world’s generosity and faith in Chicago’s future.

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Carl Smith is Franklyn Bliss Snyder Professor of English and American Studies and Professor of History, Emeritus, at Northwestern University. His many previous books include The Plan of Chicago: Daniel Burnham and the Remaking of the American City, which was the Fall 2009 One Book One Chicago selection.

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