Chicago: City on the Move
By Michael Williams, Richard Cahan and Bruce Moffatt, foreword by Stuart Dybek Cityfiles Press, 256 pages, $39.95
Ever since Sister Carrie disembarked from the train, clutching her yellow snap purse and her sister’s address, the imagery of Chicago’s public transportation has helped shape the city’s place in the world. The black-and-white photos from CTA archives, the intelligent captions and oral histories, and the insights from the likes of Ben Hecht and Aleksandar Hemon in “Chicago: City on the Move” are extraordinary — sharp and forceful. But truly astonishing is the range captured in this social history of the city — from a highly energized passenger and a conductor arguing on a train (staged for an employee training film) to a supervisor at his post on the quiet night shift.