Chicago

Chicago, the “Windy City.” A city that has been glorified and vilified by historians and fictional writers alike is a city like all cities, with stories to tell. One such story from the period during and after WWII is the great cities housing battle between tenant and landlord. In the Journal of American History, Laura McEnaney chronicles the back and forth battle between tenants struggling to make rent payments and landlords and owners trying to make a profit on Chicago’s east-west running Elm Street. The stories she uncovered during her research are both fascinating and maddening. From the single young woman living in a make-shift room of a basement to the families living in an apartment who challenged the overcharging of their landlord each story throws off the myth that everyone in America was working hard toward the same goal, victory. When in reality people are people and some people will take advantage of a situation even if the situation is war. I would love to visit this area of Chicago walk the same streets and see the same buildings as the people who lived in them and made the cities history.