Chicago, Satan's Sanctum

Behind the prosperity and astonishing growth of one of America's greatest cities, L. O. Curon saw another Chicago-a city where crime, vice, political influence, and official corruption flourished beneath the surface.Chicago, Satan's Sanctum is a fierce examination of the darker side of urban life, turning its attention to the relationships between criminals, saloons, gambling houses, corrupt politicians, compromised police officers, and the institutions charged with enforcing the law. Curon portrays a municipal government in which bribery and political influence allow vice to prosper, while reform efforts struggle against entrenched interests and public indifference.Moving through allegations of police corruption, political manipulation, blackmail, illegal drinking establishments, gambling, prostitution, criminal organizations, and failures of civic administration, Curon presents a deeply critical portrait of Chicago at the end of the nineteenth century. Part social exposé and part impassioned demand for municipal reform, Chicago, Satan's Sanctum preserves a striking contemporary account of the anxieties surrounding crime, corruption, morality, and political power in a rapidly expanding American metropolis.