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Book Club Thu Oct 08 2009
Lords of the Levee Discussion Questions
Our October meeting is coming up this Monday, Oct. 12. Below you will find some sample questions for our discussion.
1. How has Lords of the Levee changed your perspective of early 20th century Chicago?
2. How well do authors Wendt and Kogan convey the setting of this period in Chicago's history?
3. How would you describe John Coughlin and Michael Kenna?
4. How well did you understand the events in the book? How do Coughlin and Kenna fit into Chicago's history? Have they had any lasting impact on the city? On history?
5. What did you learn from reading Lords of the Levee that you didn't know before about this time period? What events in the book stand out the most for you?
6. How would you describe the writing style?
7. The authors use a lot of dialect in the speech of the characters. What did you think of the dialogue in the book?
8. How do the authors feel about their subject? Are they biased?
9. How does Lords of the Levee compare to other books we have read for the book club, especially Boss by Mike Royko and Sin in the Second City by Karen Abbott?
Emily / October 13, 2009 12:58 PM
During the discussion of "Lords of the Levee" last night, I said that Theodore Dreiser's novel based on the life of Charles T. Yerkes was titled "The Titan". To be more thorough: Dreiser wrote his "Trilogy of Desire" based on Yerkes. The three books in the series were "The Financier", "The Titan", and "The Stoic".