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If you’d like to learn more about the Chicago Fire– or anything else described in the book– there are a lot of ways to read up on it further.

Below are some resources you can find online or at your local library. Even these are just a the tip of the iceberg compared to how much has been written on the subject:

WEBSITES:

• The Great Chicago Fire and the Web of Memory
  Arguably the ultimate Chicago Fire website, run by the Chicago History Museum and Northwestern University. This site includes eyewitness accounts, photographs, newspaper articles, and more.

• Chicago: City of the Century
  The companion site to the 2003 documentary (which in turn was based on Donald L. Miller’s book; both the film and the book are listed below). This site gives a detailed window into Chicago in the nineteenth century. It includes maps, biographies, and even a trivia challenge.

FILMS:

• Chicago: City of the Century (2003)
  An excellent documentary about Chicago in the nineteenth century. It also has a very good companion website (listed above) and was based on Donald L. Miller’s book (listed below).

• Lincoln (2012)
  Steven Spielberg’s Oscar-winning film about Abraham Lincoln and the abolition of slavery. It has nothing directly to do with the Chicago Fire, but it paints a vivid portrait of the era. It also features key characters like Robert Lincoln (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), Mary Todd Lincoln (Sally Field), and John Hay (Joseph Cross). The film is based on Doris Kearns Goodwin’s book Team of Rivals, which is listed below.

• In Old Chicago (1937)
  The only major motion picture about the Great Chicago Fire. The story is heavily fictionalized, so it’s in no way historically accurate. (It was trying to duplicate the success of the 1936 film San Francisco, which had recreated the San Francisco Earthquake.) Even so, it’s still an interesting product of its time.

BOOKS:

• Bales, Richard F. The Great Chicago Fire and the Myth of Mrs. O’Leary’s Cow. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co., 2002.
  The most groundbreaking Chicago Fire book in decades. Bales has changed the way we think of the Chicago Fire. He researched the origin of the fire in exhausting detail, and he debunked a lot of the myths and legends that had built up around the fire. In response to his work, the Chicago City Council passed a resolution absolving Mrs. O’Leary and her family from any responsibility.

• Miller, Donald L. City of the Century: The Epic of Chicago and the Making of America. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996.
  A history of Chicago from its founding to the 1893 World’s Fair. This book keeps its focus on the 19th century, and it shows how ambitious and hard-nosed the city’s founders really were. It was later made into a documentary, which is listed above.

• Cromie, Robert Allen. The Great Chicago Fire. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1958.
  A well-known history of the Chicago Fire. This book has gone through several printings, and the illustrated versions are quite good, albeit with some factual mistakes here and there.

• Goodwin, Doris Kearns. Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2005.
  This book focuses on Abraham Lincoln’s Cabinet and his handling of the Civil War. It also shows Lincoln’s human side and the inner workings of his family. This book served as the basis of Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln (listed above).

• Baker, Jean H. Mary Todd Lincoln: A Biography. New York: Norton, 1987.
  Every biography of Mary Lincoln is different; she was such a multifaceted person that no two writers have come to the same conclusions about her. But this is a good, well-balanced account of her life.

• Neely, Mark E. The Insanity File: The Case of Mary Todd Lincoln. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1986.
  The Insanity File lay hidden for decades after Robert Lincoln’s death. This book uses it to piece together the events leading up to Mary Lincoln’s commitment.

• Schreiner, Samuel Agnew. The Trials of Mrs. Lincoln. New York: D.I. Fine, 1987.
  A detailed look at Mary Lincoln’s insanity trial, and the treatment of mental illness in the late 19th century.

• Turner, Justin, ed. Mary Todd Lincoln: Her Life and Letters. New York: Knopf, 1972.
  A collection of Mary Lincoln’s letters to friends and family. This is a must-read for anyone who wants to learn about her; however, it’s not the final word on the subject, since it was published before the discovery of the Insanity File.

• Asbury, Herbert. Gem of the Prairie: An Informal History of the Chicago Underworld. New York: Knopf, 1940.
  A look at the prostitution, the corruption, and the poverty in 19th- and early 20th-century Chicago. From the author of Gangs of New York, this book was later reissued under the title Gangs of Chicago.

• Gess, Denise, and William Lutz. Firestorm at Peshtigo: A Town, Its People, and the Deadliest Fire in American History. New York: Henry Holt, 2002.
  Peshtigo, Wisconsin, burned on the same night as Chicago. In fact, the fire in Peshtigo was the much bigger and deadlier than the one in Chicago. This book chronicles it in terrifying detail.

• Sawislak, Karen. Smoldering City: Chicagoans and the Great Fire, 1871-1874. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995.
  This book focuses on the Chicago Fire’s aftermath: the humanitarian efforts, the infighting among various groups, and the city’s eventual rebuilding.
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