Book excerpt: "Certain cities are icons in literature and in our popular imagination. But cities grow. Demographics change. And the stories that used to define a place somehow no longer fit. Chicago is one of those places. While it may no longer be the city of broad shoulders, it's a big tent and contains as many interpretations as people who live there. Author and editor Vincent Francone does a fabulous job of finding the stories and the people who define Chicago now. And guess what? No two takes are the same. And some may surprise you." -- from Amazon website.