{"product_id":"big-bill-of-chicago","title":"Big Bill Of Chicago","description":"\u003cp\u003eWinner of 2006 Illinois State Historical Society Book Award-Certificate of Excellence\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTo some he was a humanitarian and builder. Others scorned him as a fake and friend of gangsters with \"the carcass of a rhinoceros and the brain of a baboon.\" This rollicking history traces the rise of William Hale \"Big Bill\" Thompson, Chicago's famous reform mayor, from his upper class roots to his years as a teenaged cowboy, from his fame as a star athlete to the years as a master politician in a world where the ward boss ruled and whiskey for the voters cost a quarter a shot. Big Bill of Chicago profiles the whole brawling arena of city politics from the turn of the century to the Prohibition Era. It is a primer in the way American politics worked-and works-and a map along the countless winding ways even the dirtiest deal can lead to something great.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northwestern University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51341224182067,"sku":"9780810123199","price":19.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0843\/1108\/1267\/files\/9780810123199.jpg?v=1744303294","url":"https:\/\/slantoflightbooks.com\/products\/big-bill-of-chicago","provider":"Slant of Light Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}