Suggested reading from Chicago Review Press
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How Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot Led and Lost a City in Crisis
By Gregory Royal Pratt
BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY
264 Pages, 6 x 9
Formats: Cloth, PDF, EPUB
Cloth, $28.99 (US $28.99) (CA $38.99)
ISBN 9781641605991
Rights: WOR
Chicago Review Press (Apr 2024)
eBook Editions Available
Will it work on my eReader?Overview
“Gregory Pratt had a rare front-row seat to the passions, problems, peculiarities, hopes, disappointments, shenanigans, and pettiness in the drama and farce that was Lori Lightfoot’s uneasy tenure on the fifth floor at City Hall. What he delivers on these pages takes us backstage to give us a powerful, incisive portrait of the woman, the details of her mayoralty, and the many players who shared the stage.” —Rick Kogan, Chicago Tribune reporter and author of A Chicago Tavern
Reviews
“Gregory Pratt is a smart, tenacious reporter in the best tradition of old-fashioned City Hall journalism. The City Is Up for Grabs is a must-read for anyone who cares about Chicago and the future of America’s greatest cities.” —McKay Coppins, staff writer at the Atlantic and author of Romney: A Reckoning
“Deep and rich—an enormously enlightening history of Chicago’s four-year kakistocracy. Gregory Pratt takes us with him on the trail, inside Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s meetings, and around the city she’d promised to reform. Real politics, no fluff.” —David Weigel, politics reporter at Semafor and author of The Show That Never Ends
“Vividly told and authoritative, Pratt’s gripping narrative captures history as it unfolds in a great American city. We know how the saga will end, but it begins with so much promise that we read in disbelief.” —Elizabeth Taylor, coauthor of American Pharoah: Mayor Richard J. Daley; His Battle for Chicago and the Nation
“The City Is Up for Grabs provides an intriguing and detailed accounting of an important time of transition in Chicago government and politics. Pratt takes readers on a journey through the twists and turns of a historic mayoral election, a global pandemic, and a time of intense disagreement over the future of the city. The book props open the door to the proverbial ‘smoke-filled room’ and provides an up-close glimpse of the people and moments who shaped this chapter of Chicago’s history.”—Becky Vevea, Chalkbeat Chicago bureau chief and former City Hall reporter for WBEZ
“From rising crime to a deadly pandemic to deep financial stress, US cities have faced enormous challenges in recent years. Chicago, one of the nation’s great cities, has been particularly vulnerable. Rich with detail, Greg Pratt’s fine book exposes the unraveling of a mayor as her city falls into crisis. This is political reporting at its best.” —Bruce Dold, former publisher and editor, Chicago Tribune
“The City Is Up for Grabs is an incredible behind-the-scenes look from the top at one of the most consequential periods in Chicago’s history. Some moments read as network-level dramas combined with a city-politics setting unlike anywhere else in the United States. Glad I read this sitting down.” —Omar Jimenez, Emmy award–winning CNN correspondent
Author Biography
Gregory Royal Pratt covered every day of Mayor Lori Lightfoot's term and was deeply sourced in city hall, as well as in the other offices of local, state, and national politics that shaped the mayor's administration. A Chicago native, Pratt has won several national awards for his political reporting and he is a regular commentator about the city on local and national media, including appearances on CNN and NPR.