Preface. Introduction. Interlude: Chicago, october 21 1892. Porkpackers and poetry: From Chicago to Chicago; La belle jasminatrice; In a station of the metro; A brave little song; Porckpachers. Interlude: Ohio and Chicago, 1912. Stink of Chicago: Sherwood Anderson at the Armory show; French and the Arthurs; Bliss; Peoria and Paris; Little chirdren of the arts. Interlude; Paris, may-june 1929. Hemingway´s readers: Good ladies; Naughty people; Chicago style; The sun also rises; Lady midwest. Interlude: Chicago, november 7, 1934. Stein comes to Chicago: La stein; Wives; Understanding and enjoying; City fo words; GReatness; Mortimer and maude. Interlude: Chicago, fall 1941. White city, black metropolis: A voice like hers; Without finger bowls; Open and Raw; I found it fun; Fair fable. Conclusion. Appendix: makers and modernism. Notes. Selected bibliography. Acknowledgmentes. Index.

This remarkable cultural history celebrates the great Midwestern city of Chicago for its centrality to the modernist movement. Author Liesl Olson traces Chicago’s cultural development from the 1893 World’s Fair through mid-century, illuminating how Chicago writers revolutionized literary forms during the first half of the twentieth century, a period of sweeping aesthetic transformations all over the world. From Harriet Monroe, Carl Sandburg, and Ernest Hemingway to Richard Wright and Gwendolyn Brooks, Olson’s enthralling study bridges the gap between two distinct and equally vital Chicago-based artistic “renaissance” moments: the primarily white renaissance of the early teens, and the creative ferment of Bronzeville. Stories of the famous and iconoclastic are interwoven with accounts of lesser-known yet influential figures in Chicago, many of whom were women. Olson argues for the importance of Chicago’s editors, bookstore owners, tastemakers, and ordinary citizens who helped nurture Chicago’s unique culture of artistic experimentation.