Historian Neil Harris, author of The Chicagoan: A Lost Magazine of the Jazz Age, will speak at the Harold Washington Library Center next Wednesday, December 10.
The Chicagoan (“a book you’ll want to own, a coffee-table book nicer and better made than most coffee tables,” said Matt Weiland in the NYTBR) will be available for purchase and signing afterward.
The Harold Washington Library Center is at 400 S. State Street in Chicago—right next to the “L” and just a hop, skip, and a jump from commuter train lines. The lecture is in the Cindy Pritzker Auditorium at 6 PM and is free and open to the public. If you’re interested in Chicago history, the Jazz Age, or need a gift for somebody who is, Harris’s talk is not to be missed!
If you’re not in Chicago, you can listen to this interview he did for last week’s installment of the Book Show on Australia’s ABC National Radio. In the interview, Harris joins host Ramona Koval to discuss how he discovered a set of Chicagoan magazines deep in the stacks of the University of Chicago’s Regenstein library, and how the story of the magazine’s rise and fall opens a window into one of the most vibrant and fascinating era’s in Chicago history.
Also read our interview with the author and see a gallery of covers and illustrations from the magazine.