{"product_id":"chicago-noir-the-classics-9781617752940","title":"Chicago Noir: The Classics","description":"\"In this superior entry in Akashic's noir series, Meno offers nearly a century of Chicago crime fiction... Familiar bylines abound: Max Allan Collins, Richard Wright, Nelson Algren, Sherwood Anderson, Fredric Brown, Patricia Highsmith (with an excerpt from her novel \u003cem\u003eThe Price of Salt\u003c\/em\u003e), Stewart M. Kaminsky, Sara Paretsky. Others may be less familiar to mystery specialists, but all turn in impressive performances.\" --\u003cem\u003ePublishers Weekly, \u003c\/em\u003e Starred Review\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \"Richard Wright, Nelson Algren, and Sandra Cisneros are not crime-fiction writers, and yet their Chicago certainly embodies the individual-crushing ethos endemic to noir. Meno also includes stories from writers who could easily have been overlooked (Percy Spurlark Parker, Hugh Holton) to ensure that diverse voices, and neighborhoods, are represented. Add in smart and essential choices from Fredric Brown, Sara Paretsky, and Stuart Kaminsky, and you have not an anthology not for crime-fiction purists, perhaps, but a thought-provoking document all the same.\" --\u003cem\u003eBooklist\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cp\u003eAlthough Los Angeles may be considered the most quintessentially \"noir\" American city, this volume reveals that pound-for-pound, Chicago has historically been able to stand up to any other metropolis in the noir arena.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eClassic reprints from: Harry Stephen Keeler, Sherwood Anderson, Max Allan Collins, Richard Wright, Nelson Algren, Fredric Brown, Patricia Highsmith, Barry Gifford, Stuart M. Kaminsky, Libby Fischer Hellmann, Sara Paretsky, Percy Spurlark Parker, Sandra Cisneros, Hugh Holton, and Stuart Dybek.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFrom the introduction by Joe Meno: \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e More corrupt than New York, less glamorous than LA, Chicago has more murders per capita than any other city its size. With its sleek skyscrapers bisecting the fading sky like an unspoken threat, Chicago is the closest metropolis to the mythical city of shadows as first described in the work of Chandler, Hammett, and Cain. Only in Chicago do instituted color lines offer generation after generation of poverty and violence, only in Chicago do the majority of governors do prison time, only in Chicago do the dead actually vote twice.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Chicago--more than the metropolis that gave the world Al Capone, the Saint Valentine's Day Massacre, the death of John Dillinger, the crimes of Leopold and Loeb, the horrors of John Wayne Gacy, the unprecedented institutional corruption of so many recent public officials, more than the birthplace of Raymond Chandler--is a city of darkness. This darkness is not an act of over-imagination. It's the unadulterated truth. It's a pointed though necessary reminder of the grave tragedies of the past and the failed possibilities of the present. Fifty years in the future, I hope these stories are read only as fiction, as somewhat distant fantasy. Here's hoping for some light.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eJoe Meno\u003c\/b\u003e is a fiction writer and playwright who lives in Chicago. He is the winner of the Nelson Algren Literary Award, a Pushcart Prize, the Great Lakes Book Award, and a finalist for the Story Prize. He is the editor of \u003ci\u003eChicago Noir: The Classics\u003c\/i\u003e and the author of two short story collections and multiple novels including the best sellers \u003ci\u003eHairstyles of the Damned\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Boy Detective Fails\u003c\/i\u003e; \u003ci\u003eOffice Girl\u003c\/i\u003e; and his latest novel, \u003ci\u003eMarvel and a Wonder\u003c\/i\u003e. He is a professor in the Department of Creative Writing at Columbia College Chicago.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Akashic Books, Ltd.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50493026074898,"sku":"9781617752940","price":17.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_174d19fd-7248-4a22-b751-f1e0ffae02bc.jpg?v=1730622730","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/chicago-noir-the-classics-9781617752940","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}