I had never heard of this book before, let alone seen a copy, until I came across a nice, clean remaindered copy in a St Cloud, MN used bookstore. At about 150 pp (including the "Foreword" he added to the book publication of these 3 essays on his life in Chicago, first published in the "New Yorker")I read it in 2 quick evenings.

Liebling lived in Chicago for about a year, 1949-50 (he never says why) and I hope he never went back after these essays were published. Because any true son of Chicago would have punched him in the nose. The Chicago he writes about is not the Chicago of today, and it actually sounds a lot like the NYC of the 1970's through the '90's - a desolate wasteland filled w/ the poor in an almost Dickensian city.

But it was fun to hear the names of some of the places which still had some aplomb when I was growing up in the metro area in the '60's and '70's. The Pump Room, the College Inn, the Ambassador Hotels, columnist Kup. And his stories of Colonel McCormick, a Chicago strip club visit, and his attack on Hutchinson and the U of Chicago (not "the U of C" - the real, and older, one is out on the West Coast) exhibits much of the wit Libeling is known for in his journalistic writing.

A "must read" for any Chicago resident - and before you get too pissed off, remember that he is writing about a city 60 years ago. He is accurate - and a LOT has changed. This collection is not included in the LOA volume of Libeling's writings. "New Yorker" illustrator Saul Steinberg does not add much to the book.