Forrest Claypool has served as the Chief Executive Officer of the Chicago Park District (1993-1998), the Chicago Transit Authority (2011-2015), and the Chicago Public Schools (2015-2017). He was the chief-of-staff to Mayor Richard M. Daley in his first and third terms.

"Claypool takes us behind the curtain at City Hall to show how and why so much actually got done during Rich Daley's twenty-two years in office. Not 'gets done, ' for Daley-style coalition building and vote counting have become lost arts of late, too often replaced by virtue signaling and showoff crusading. Instead RMD cut subtle deals with GOP governors and presidents, with labor leaders and minority contractors, even tacitly with the Mob. Claypool's is a warts-and-all account, with duds like Daley's closing of Meigs Field or parking meter give-away getting as much attention as his triumphs. Consider a reborn Navy Pier, expanded airport and convention trade, street beautification, Millennium Park and, most impressive of all, his federally funded replacement of blighted and inhumane public housing high-rises. Rarely have we been guided so engagingly through a time and place when a major American city actually worked."--John McCarron, urban affairs columnist, Chicago Tribune

"If you love politics and cities, Forrest Claypool's book is a terrific read, full of behind-the-scenes stories and insights into the career and mayoralty of Richard M. Daley, who revived a metropolis ready to grow again. Claypool's insider account brings to life Chicago's bare-knuckles ward politics, and how Daley wielded power so effectively for so long, and the lessons for today's urban leaders."--John Norquist, former mayor of Milwaukee and author of The Wealth of Cities

Publisher: 3 Fields Books

Pub date: 2024-09-10

Length: 352 pages