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The Third Coast by Tom Dyja at Metropolitan Planning Council - Urban Think and Drink

Metropolitan Planning Council
Chicago, IL

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The Third Coast by Tom Dyja at Metropolitan Planning Council - Urban Think and Drink

You doubtlessly noted the recent controversy about Chicago's place in the world via the recent New York Times book review and the intense reaction of all Chicagoans to this "intellectual throw-down".

Now is your chance to meet the author whose book is at the center of the controversy. Thomas Dyja provides a fascinating perspective on the period between World War II and 1960 when Chicago transformed the cultural and urban landscape locally and nationally. It was a remarkable era and provides a lens through which we can consider Chicago's subsequent evolution as well as its future on the world stage.

Much of American culture was made in Chicago, and to understand the country you have to understand its "third coast." So argues Chicago-born-and-raised writer Tom Dyja. His illuminating The Third Coast: When Chicago Built the American Dream, argues that after the Second World War the Windy City functioned as the center of the nation - not just geographically, but also in terms of culture, politics, and business. Innovations such as Mies van der Rohe's glass and steel architecture, Hugh Hefner's Playboy, Chuck Berry's rock and roll, and McDonald's innovative fast food defined modern consumer America. He also describes the end of Chicago's golden era as the election of Richard J. Daley launched a frenzy of new building that came at the expense of the city's creativity and diversity.

"America," says Dyja, "is a better place when Chicago holds it together." With The Third Coast, Dyja restores Chicago to the central place it once held in the national ethos in a captivating and dazzling alternate history of the American Century.

Thomas Dyja is the author of three novels and two works of non-fiction. A native of Chicago's Northwest Side, he was called a "real Chicago boy" by Studs Terkel.

MPC's Peter Skosey will be interviewing Mr. Dyja about his book as well as drawing out perspectives from you, our fellow Chicagoans. This will definitely be a thought-provoking, entertaining and challenging discussion. Bring your brain!

The reception will begin at 5PM, with Dyja's presentation at 5:30PM, followed by discussion and book signing.