Description: "The Thompson years get a shrewd and debunking examination. Bukowski challenges the notion that Thompson was just a blustering villain with a wild streak. Wielding a sardonic wit, he explores Thompson's showman brand of populist image-making and the city that ate it up and asked for more. . . . Thompson boozed and boodled and paraded on his horse while the Chicago Tribune and the old Daily News speared him from on high and he baited them from below." M. W. Newman, The Chicago Tribune "Bukowski's well-researched biography of Thompson seeks to remove him from the realm of folklore and to understand him as a real political actor." Alan Ware, Urban History "An excellent book, written in a lively style with a contemporary resonance. A first rate meditation on the image and reality of 'Big Bill' in the context of actual and mythological Chicago political history." Steven P. Erie, author of Rainbow's End: Irish-Americans and the Dilemma of Urban Machine Politics "Written with a flair and a gentle sardonicism that makes it fun to read, Big Bill Thompson ... is a significant contribution to the literature of urban history and politics." Roger W. Biles, author of The South and the New

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