IT IS DIFFICULT TO AVOID THE CONCLUSION that of Chicago's broad range of ethnic groups, the Irish played a central role in shaping the city. They generated and held tenaciously to political power for generations, and for much of that time, they led the city's most important institutions—the police and fire departments, most of the city's unions, and the Catholic Church. Irish Catholic lay teachers and nuns taught and socialized many of the city's children, and as they moved up in the social structure, the Irish were found disproportionately among the city's most influential lawyers and businessmen. But to focus on the Irish in isolation from other groups in Chicago's history is a mistake. They made this place in consort, competition, and conflict with the city's many other peoples. Here, I argue for the essential inter-ethnic character of Chicago's story by drawing our attention to race relations and labor organization,...
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