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You Were Never In Chicago (2012)

by Neil Steinberg(Favorite Author)

3.62 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

0226772055 (ISBN13: 9780226772059)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

University of Chicago Press

review 1: don't know what to make of some of the goodreads reviews here. samarov, did neil steinberg run over your dog or something? both of your books were published in the same U of C press series (Chicago Visions and Revisions) -- what's not to like?a newsman's memoir par excellance; lively; eminently quotable (¨Candor is for children, amateurs and artists. Chicago was built by enemies working together, at least in part. The professionals do it so smoothly that you can know exactly what's going on and still not mind.¨); downright touching at points (ch 7 on the Russian Baths). these are classic yarns -- (ostensibly) factual stories that take on mythic proportions when gathered together. they lovingly capture a Chicago that exists only in memory, and the experience of readi... moreng Steinberg in print is not unlike pulling up a barstool at your favorite neighborhood haunt while an esteemed old-timer is holding court.There are some sentences that betray a...generational? tin ear (see p. 174) that I could have done without, but as a whole, You Were Never in CHicago was time very well invested.
review 2: Steinberg is an excellent writer and--especially as a recent transplant to the city--I really enjoyed his descriptions of Chicago and what it means to be a "Chicagoan." However, I did not realize that this book would be more of a memoir of the author instead of a cultural history of the city. I wouldn't have minded a memoir so much if Steinberg just weren't so unlikable. Maybe it's just his writing style but he comes off as very pompous and arrogant and I found it off-putting and almost didn't finish the book because of his many "humble-brags" ... or just outright brags. He also spends too much time trying to justify using his Chicago connections to get his brother a job with Cook County. He uses that experience to almost justify all the nepotism and cronyism in Chicago. ugh.There are some lovely passages about the city and about what makes living in Chicago so wonderful. It was interesting to pair this book with "The Third Coast" by Thomas Dyja: Steinberg's book being more of a fluffy love letter to Chicago and Dyja's being a more scholarly cultural history of the city. less

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