Chicago Divided: The Making of a Black Mayor

In April 1983, Harold Washington became the first black mayor of Chicago. His victory came at the end of a rancorous campaign that attracted national media coverage and left Chicago "a city divided against itself." Chicago Divided sensitively reconstructs the developments that led to Chicago's 1983 political season. Investigating the election and its background, Kleppner taps a formidable array of sources—including newspapers, court cases, public opinion polls, and voting returns—to analyze the causes and consequences of Chicago's electoral revolution.