This book is an examination of the image of Chicago in American popular culture between the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 and Chicago's 1968 Democratic National Convention.

Introduction
1. 'Do You Wonder Chicago Burned?': The Great Chicago Fire and the Launching of Chicago's National Reputation
2. 'The New City of the New World': FIN-de-Siecle Chicago and Its Fairs
3. 'Turbulent Mistress of the West': Popular Images of Chicago in the Progressive Era
4. 'All the World is Waiting for the Sunrise': A Century of Progress and the Public Image of Chicago
5. Sordid City: Chicago and the Reworking of Reality in American Popular Culture
6. The End of the Myth: Chicago in the Tumultuous 1960s