The
final work of the acclaimed Chicago Trilogy, this collection of
nonfiction tales reveals Sandburg's "city of the big shoulders,"
concrete and neon; uptown and downtown; State Street, Michigan Avenue;
the river, the lake; the matter-of-factness and poetry of Chicago
people-from Mike Royko describing his neighborhood to the observations
of newspaper vendors, from Studs Terkel interviewing jazz great
Dave Brubeck to dinner with Petros in Greek Town. Written with a
keen eye, Norbert Blei's stories evoke a vanished Chicago, a city
of gritty and colorful neighborhoods and their gritty and colorful
characters. It is, as he writes, a "love letter to a city that
has meant so much to me."
Former
City News Bureau employee Norbert Blei fled his native Chicago
when the cost of living got too high, taking up permanent residence
in the tourist mecca of Door County, Wisconsin. His published
works draw on his experiences in both locations. "Door
Way" and "Door to Door" are illustrated collections
of nonfiction character sketches of his Door County neighbors,
while "The Ghost of Sandburg's Phizzog and Other Stories"
is a collection of short stories about Chicagoans.
Late
in 1994, writer Norbert Blei (Ellison Bay, Wisconsin) launched
his own small press, Cross+Roads Press, dedicated primarily
to publishing first chapbooks (small paperbacks, 5 1ó2 x 8 1ó2
inches) for writers of record (with previous publication of
poetry, short stories, novel excerpts, etc.) who still await
their first book in print. The press was established in the
honored tradition of helping other writers gain a literary foothold.
