NaNo Research
There is a ton of information of the Chicago of the 1930s. Sadly, this is forty years before our stalwart hero is alive. There doesn’t seem to be all that much info about ’70s Chicago. I guess I could just take the ’60s, subtract some repression and add some polyester and I would more or less have it.
I’ve obtained so far, a few books for NaNo:
Chicago: A Historical Guide to the Neighborhoods, produced by the Chicago Historical Society in 1979. This was written right around when a lot of the novel is taking place, so that should be very helpful. I know absolutely nothing about how Chicago is laid out or where people live or anything. It seems like a lot of films, for example, of Chicago focus a lot of the architecture and what not, but don’t really talk about the geography or neighborhoods. It’s very different from stories set in New York, where the burroughs are very well known.
New York, Chicago, Los Angeles: America’s Global Cities, by Janet Abu-Lughod. This is kind of a sociologist’s view of these big cities. It’s looking at the big picture and large events. Looks like it’s a good mix of history, politics, and cultural demographic information.
I have a third book about Chicago that’s a history book (don’t have it handy at the moment).
Startlingly handy little tidbit I discovered: Chicago’s first and only female mayor was elected during this era. That dovetails very nicely with some of my themes. I’ll need to look up some more stuff on this lady.
Needed still: Greek gods, women in police history, Chicago public school system
The more I’m looking at all this, the longer I think I’m going to spend on Kelly’s childhood.
