Terrence J. McDonald is the Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of History at the University of Michigan, where he was formerly the dean of the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts. He is the author of The Parameters of Urban Fiscal Policy: Socioeconomic Change and Political Culture in San Francisco, 1860–1906.

Progressive reform has long been a lightning rod for historians. Was “Saint Jane” Addams the compassionate, selfless crusader her admirers portray or an ethnocentric agent of social control? Was her nemesis Johnny Powers, boss of Chicago’s Nineteenth Ward, a corrupt grifter or a pioneer of social services eventually, if poorly, provided by the welfare state? Terry McDonald’s meticulous research, even-handed judgments, and lively prose explode all such Manichean renderings. An unprecedentedly detailed, nuanced, and multi-dimensional portrait of public life in Chicago, Nearly Neighbors is an indispensable study of the inescapability of political conflict.

• PrefaceIntroduction: Hull House Has a VisitorChapter One: The Death and Life of Frank Lawler . . . and the AlternativeChapter Two: The Perils of Little Preparation: Comprehending the Neighborhood and Vice VersaChapter Three: Working the Ward, 1888–95Chapter Four: Nativism Comes to Chicago: The School Fight, 1888–93Chapter Five: Reform on the Move, 1893–96Chapter Six: The Educational Campaign Against Johnny Powers (and for Jane Addams), 1896Chapter Seven: The Last Campaign, 1898Chapter Eight: The Reckonings . . . and AfterAcknowledgmentsNotesBibliographyIndex

Terrence J. McDonald is the Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of History at the University of Michigan, where he was formerly the dean of the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts. He is the author of The Parameters of Urban Fiscal Policy: Socioeconomic Change and Political Culture in San Francisco, 1860–1906.

Progressive reform has long been a lightning rod for historians. Was “Saint Jane” Addams the compassionate, selfless crusader her admirers portray or an ethnocentric agent of social control? Was her nemesis Johnny Powers, boss of Chicago’s Nineteenth Ward, a corrupt grifter or a pioneer of social services eventually, if poorly, provided by the welfare state? Terry McDonald’s meticulous research, even-handed judgments, and lively prose explode all such Manichean renderings. An unprecedentedly detailed, nuanced, and multi-dimensional portrait of public life in Chicago, Nearly Neighbors is an indispensable study of the inescapability of political conflict.

• PrefaceIntroduction: Hull House Has a VisitorChapter One: The Death and Life of Frank Lawler . . . and the AlternativeChapter Two: The Perils of Little Preparation: Comprehending the Neighborhood and Vice VersaChapter Three: Working the Ward, 1888–95Chapter Four: Nativism Comes to Chicago: The School Fight, 1888–93Chapter Five: Reform on the Move, 1893–96Chapter Six: The Educational Campaign Against Johnny Powers (and for Jane Addams), 1896Chapter Seven: The Last Campaign, 1898Chapter Eight: The Reckonings . . . and AfterAcknowledgmentsNotesBibliographyIndex

Terrence J. McDonald is the Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of History at the University of Michigan, where he was formerly the dean of the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts. He is the author of The Parameters of Urban Fiscal Policy: Socioeconomic Change and Political Culture in San Francisco, 1860–1906.

Progressive reform has long been a lightning rod for historians. Was “Saint Jane” Addams the compassionate, selfless crusader her admirers portray or an ethnocentric agent of social control? Was her nemesis Johnny Powers, boss of Chicago’s Nineteenth Ward, a corrupt grifter or a pioneer of social services eventually, if poorly, provided by the welfare state? Terry McDonald’s meticulous research, even-handed judgments, and lively prose explode all such Manichean renderings. An unprecedentedly detailed, nuanced, and multi-dimensional portrait of public life in Chicago, Nearly Neighbors is an indispensable study of the inescapability of political conflict.

• PrefaceIntroduction: Hull House Has a VisitorChapter One: The Death and Life of Frank Lawler . . . and the AlternativeChapter Two: The Perils of Little Preparation: Comprehending the Neighborhood and Vice VersaChapter Three: Working the Ward, 1888–95Chapter Four: Nativism Comes to Chicago: The School Fight, 1888–93Chapter Five: Reform on the Move, 1893–96Chapter Six: The Educational Campaign Against Johnny Powers (and for Jane Addams), 1896Chapter Seven: The Last Campaign, 1898Chapter Eight: The Reckonings . . . and AfterAcknowledgmentsNotesBibliographyIndex