The Book Prize Index

The Chicagoan: A Lost Magazine of the Jazz Age

Neil Harris

"While browsing the stacks of the Regenstein Library at the University of Chicago some years ago, noted historian Neil Harris made a surprising discovery: a group of nine plainly bound volumes whose unassuming spines bore the name The Chicagoan." "Here Harris brings this lost magazine of the Jazz Age back to life. Harris's substantial introductory essay here sets the stage, exploring the ambitions, tastes, and prejudices of Chicagoans during the 1920s and 30s. The author then lets the Chicagoan speak for itself in lavish full-color segments that reproduce its many elements: from covers, cartoons, and editorials to reviews, features - and even one issue reprinted in its entirety." "Recalling a vivid moment in the life of the Windy City, the Chicagoan is a forgotten treasure, offered here for a whole new age to enjoy."--BOOK JACKET.

HistoryHistory · high confidenceHistory92 signalsSociety & Culture11 signalsArts & Criticism11 signalsLlm Classifier: History -> HistoryGoogle Books: History -> HistoryKeyword Classifier: Arts & Criticism -> Arts & CriticismScience & DiscoveryEssays & Cultural CriticismHousing, Cities & Urban Life

Award History

1 wins · 1 total

AwardYearResultCategory / Notes
PROSE Award for Media and Cultural Studies2008WinnerOfficial source
View all award history (1)
Experimental book profileGenerated by GPT-5.4 nano · may contain inaccuracies

This is an unverified interpretation of the catalog description, offered as an opt-in discovery experiment—not as bibliographic fact.

  1. 01 Central figures

    None extracted with sufficient confidence.

  2. 02 Central places

    None extracted with sufficient confidence.

    These suggestions did not meet the normal display threshold and are more likely to be wrong.

    • Chicago65%
    • Regenstein Library at the University of Chicago45%

  3. 03 Suggested argument

    No argument inferred with sufficient confidence.

    This suggestion did not meet the normal display threshold and is more likely to be wrong.

    The Chicagoan magazine can be brought back to life, with its ambitions, tastes, and prejudices in 1920s–30s Chicago illuminated by Harris’s introduction and reproductions of the magazine itself.

    Model confidence 44%

  4. 04 Reading orientation

    45 / 100 academic

    Trade / academic crossover

    An estimate of intended readership and scholarly apparatus—not quality or importance.

Confidence percentages are the model's own estimates. Profile confidence: 62%.