The Third City

"Scholars of cities have long recognized the importance of Chicago--the 'American' city--embodying something of every epoch of U.S. urbanism. In his book The Third City political scientist Larry Bennett, too, places Chicago in the enduring pantheon of these American urbanism(s). As such, this study takes its place along side the very best on the American city. Just as discussions of Chicago by such luminaries as Mike Royko, Milton Rakove, Arnold Hirsch, and Adam Cohen and Elizabeth Taylor have added indelibly to our understanding of the American city, so too does this contribution by Larry Bennett give us at once a glimpse of the past and, even more important, a fully realized sense of the present and our urban future. In a broad-ranging and highly original treatment of Chicago, Bennett places this city, its past, present and future, very clearly at the forefront of what it takes to understand American cities and the literature concerned with their analysis."

--David C. Perry, University of Illinois at Chicago

"Chicago is a city that has produced so many grand narratives spun by boosters, writers, planners, and politicians that a historical work, whatever its quality, might easily get lost. That will not happen with this marvelous book. There is a genius to Larry Bennett's method. He has sifted through the many interpretations of Chicago to produce his own highly original account of how, over the course of a century, the city has managed to arrive at its latest experiment with a uniquely American brand of urbanism."

--Dennis R. Judd, University of Illinois at Chicago

"Larry Bennett's The Third City provides a first-rate account of the ways that the second Mayor Daley has transformed the image of Chicago. Both succinct and wide-ranging, the book strikes an exemplary balance between nuanced observation of the city's political history and deft evaluation of diverse urban development theories that attempt to explain Chicago's trajectory. The result is an engagingly written, ceaselessly questioning, fair-minded tale of urban reinvention. For those wondering how and why Chicago has been able to move past the 'second city' Rust Belt decline that has paralyzed so many other former industrial powerhouses, this book is a great place to seek answers."

--Lawrence J. Vale, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

"Larry Bennett's ability to convey the essence as well as the particularities--and peculiarities--of twenty-first-century Chicago is truly impressive. That he is also a most engaging writer makes The Third City not only accessible but pleasurable as well."

--Robert A. Beauregard, Columbia University
"The Third City brings together a lifetime of observation, reading, and discussion about Chicago, theories of urban
life, and the relationship between the two. . . .Bennett should be applauded for advancing our understanding of this great city and for challenging us to move urban theory from the past to the future."-- "Perspectives on Politics"
"Bennett is deep down a Chicagoan and it shows in this book. On the other hand, he is a clear-eyed and objective academic who uses the city not only as the object of his academic affections but also as a lens with which to assess a full range of the urban literature as both tool and critical subject. In short, The Third City is a rich and critical mix of urban study, academic literature, and Chicago experience."-- "Journal of Urban Affairs"