You’re invited:
The Midland Authors presents
Clout City
Dominic A. Pacyga discusses his new book,
in conversation with Dick Simpson.
Tuesday, October 14, 2025, 7 p.m.
UIC Richard J. Daley Library,
Room I-470, 801 S. Morgan St., Chicago
Doors open at 6 p.m., with snacks and soft drinks.
Free and open to all.
Dominic A. Pacyga and Dick Simpson will discuss Pacyga’s new book, Clout City: The Rise and Fall of the Chicago Political Machine. Pacyga is widely recognized as a leading scholar of Chicago’s political history. Copies of his book will be available for purchase and signing after the presentation.
Pacyga is professor emeritus of history in the Department of Humanities, History, and Social Sciences at Columbia College Chicago. He is the author of several books, including, most recently, American Warsaw: The Rise, Fall, and Rebirth of Polish Chicago, also from the University of Chicago Press.
In politics, clout is essential. Too often, it determines whether insider access is granted or denied, favors are given or withheld, and payoffs are made or received. But Chicago clout, as we know it today, is even more potent than that—it’s the absolute currency of asocial, cultural, and political order that is self-reinforcing and self-dealing. Or, at least, it was. In Clout City, Pacyga reveals how cultural, ethnic, and religious forces created this distinctive system—and ultimately led to its collapse. Pacyga’s tour of the city’s multilayered past is an indispensable guide to its present and future.
Simpson, a professor of political science at the University of Illinois at Chicago, is a former Chicago alderman and a former president of Midland Authors. He is also author or coauthor of more than 20 books on political action, ethics, and politics.
On the same day as our discussion about Pacyga’s Clout City, the UIC Library is hosting a special event from 3 to 5 p.m.: CITY2000 25th Anniversary Celebration. In 2000, Gary Comer, founder o fLand’s End, funded a landmark project to photograph and document the city of Chicago. The program will feature a panel discussion on the significance of this project. Photographs from the collection will be available for use the books Midland Authors members write. For more information about the CITY 2000 collection, please visit: https://scalar-prod.lib.uic.edu/city2000/introduction?path=index. While the event is free you need to register at this link: https://web.cvent.com/event/e9852832-44f2-4d3b-a209-751ef84419a6/summary?environment=P2