{"id":2742,"date":"2008-06-09T23:06:40","date_gmt":"2008-06-09T23:06:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zenpundit.com\/?p=2742"},"modified":"2008-06-09T23:08:48","modified_gmt":"2008-06-09T23:08:48","slug":"welcome-rezko-watch-readers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/?p=2742","title":{"rendered":"Welcome Rezko Watch Readers!"},"content":{"rendered":"

A big thank you to blogfriend Pundita<\/a><\/strong> for sending\u00a0Rezko Watch readers\u00a0<\/a>my way!<\/p>\n

Generally, local poltics\u00a0are not my primary interest but for Rezko Watch<\/em><\/strong> <\/a>readers outside of Illinois who are interested in the background of Chicago’s unique brand of politics, they\u00a0might want to\u00a0check out\u00a0the following sources:<\/p>\n

American Pharaoh: Mayor Richard J. Daley – His Battle for Chicago and the Nation<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0by Adam Cohen, Elizabeth Taylor<\/strong><\/p>\n

An excellent, highly detailed,\u00a0social and political history both of the city of Chicago as well as the rise to power of\u00a0the first, legendary, Mayor Daley,\u00a0and his iron fisted rule over the Democratic Machine. The Shakman Decrees <\/a>have changed he rules of the game\u00a0 in the city of Chicago but the current Mayor, Richard M. Daley<\/strong> has adapted and is, in some ways, even more powerful than his larger than life father.<\/p>\n

Boss: Richard J. Daley of Chicago<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0by Mike Royko<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

This book is a shorter but far more colorful and grittier\u00a0read. Penned by the late Chicago Tribune<\/em><\/strong> columnist Mike Royko, it is filled with a\u00a0cast of infamous Chicago characters\u00a0such as\u00a0Ed Kelly<\/strong>, Tony Accardo<\/strong>, Paddy Bauler<\/strong>, Cardinal Cody<\/strong>, William Dawson<\/strong>, John D’ Arco<\/strong>, Tom Keane<\/strong>, Charlie Swibel<\/strong>, Benjamin Adamowski<\/strong> and Saul Alinsky<\/strong>. Incidentally, Mayor Daley reportedly hated Royko for writing this book.<\/p>\n

Chicago: City on the Make: 50th Anniversary Edition, Newly Annotated<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0by Nelson Algren<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

One of Chicago’s great writers, as well as a friend of Royko’s,\u00a0Algren painted a bitter picture of the Machine at the zenith of it’s power and corruption.<\/p>\n

For contemporary coverage of the underworld of Chicago politics, I recommend former City Hall beat reporter turned columnist for The Chicago Tribune<\/em>, <\/strong>John Kass<\/strong><\/a>. <\/strong>Kass is well versed in the current array of ward heelers, mobbed-up businessmen,\u00a0buffoonish aldermen,\u00a0ex-gangster disciples, crooked cops, shadowy fixers and Outfit soldiers under the latest Federal investigations (it’s a lot to keep track of).<\/p>\n

” Chicago ain’t ready for reform!”\u00a0 –<\/em> Alderman Paddy Bauler, 1955.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A big thank you to blogfriend Pundita for sending\u00a0Rezko Watch readers\u00a0my way! Generally, local poltics\u00a0are not my primary interest but for Rezko Watch readers outside of Illinois who are interested in the background of Chicago’s unique brand of politics, they\u00a0might want to\u00a0check out\u00a0the following sources: American Pharaoh: Mayor Richard J. Daley – His Battle for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[188,232,360,531,321,181,185,187,441],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-188","category-20th-century","category-21st-century","category-barack-obama","category-blogosphere","category-chicago","category-democratic-party","category-politics","category-pundita"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2742","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2742"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2742\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}