Chicago: Myth, Memory, and Reform

This essay argues that Chicago’s exceptional status in American history stems from both its urban history and civic mythology. It explores how Chicago is an important case study for examining intertwined histories of labor, urban geography, and social reform and identifies opportunities for scholars to better integrate gender, age, and sexuality in the study of Chicago’s cultural landscape. This essay questions celebratory narratives of Chicago’s progressive reform movement by highlighting how the prohibitionist impulse of many urban reformers created political contradictions in the modern state.