Al Capone and the 1933 World's Fair
The End of the Gangster Era in Chicago
1 of 1 copy available
William Elliott Hazelgrove provides the exciting and sprawling history behind the 1933 World's Fair, the last of the golden age. He reveals the story of the six millionaire businessmen, dubbed The Secret Six, who beat Al Capone at his own game, ending the gangster era as prohibition was repealed. The story of an intriguing woman, Sally Rand, who embodied the World's Fair with her own rags to riches story and brought sex into the open. The story of Rufus and Charles Dawes, who gave the fair a theme and then found financing in the worst economic times the country had ever experienced. The story of the most corrupt mayor of Chicago, William Thompson, who owed his election to Al Capone; and the mayor who followed him, Anton Cermak, who was murdered months before the fair was opened by an assassin many said was hired by Al Capone.
But most of all, it's a story about a city fighting for survival in the darkest of times; and a shining light of hope called A Century of Progress.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
October 16, 2017 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9781541491007
- File size: 259236 KB
- Duration: 09:00:04
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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August 28, 2017
Hazelgrove (Forging a President: How the Wild West Created Teddy Roosevelt) adds little insight to the life and legacy of Al Capone in this superfluous history of the end of the notorious mobster’s career in the lead-up to the 1933 World’s Fair in Chicago. The book is a thinly sourced account that attempts the same equation as Erik Larson’s Devil in the White City by integrating a social history of a world’s fair with a true-crime story. Unfortunately, Hazelgrove’s account is weakened by fictionalized perspectives and the use of sources that he himself takes with a grain of salt, as when he describes the last thoughts of a murder victim who did not speak with anyone after his face was shot off. Later, he uses a quotation from Capone about a biography of Napoleon, but then writes that “it’s hard to believe Al Capone said any of this.” Most strikingly, Hazelgrove provides no sources whatsoever for the chapters that follow the point of view of burlesque dancer Sally Rand. Given the numerous written accounts on the subject of Al Capone in Chicago, readers are better off skipping this one in favor of a more authoritative account, such as John Binder’s Al Capone’s Beer Wars: A Complete History of Organized Crime in Chicago During Prohibition.
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