A not-so-surprising coincidence, is it, that a significant number of you quoted the classic opening line from Charles Dickens’ “A Tale of Two Cities” as your “best opening line from the (imagined) memoirs of Richard M. Daley” for the eighteenth annual Best of Chicago? Of course most of you also cited the other half of that line, “it was the worst of times,” as well.
Though we started Newcity in 1986, before his arrival, we’ve never published a Best of Chicago without a Mayor Daley. And certainly it’s been a tale of two cities under his leadership, with some magnificent bests and troubling worsts. But we’re still having a hard time imagining Chicago without him so, this final year of Daley’s Chicago, we’ve dedicated a few questions to considering both his legacy and also the prospects for the future leadership of Chicago.
We’ve covered 190 topics in this edition, of which you’ve voted on seventy-five. Sometimes we agree with you; often we do not. We’re sure you’ll have something to say about that and invite you to share your thoughts on this site. While you’re here, be sure to visit our archives of these past several years; we try not to repeat most categories for five years at a time, which means you could explore our version of the city for years without running out of fresh ideas.
And we’ll see you again next year, the first under the reign of Mayor ______ . Strange, isn’t it?
Best of Chicago was written by Nicole Briese, Emerson Dameron, Jenn Danko, Jason Foumberg, Selena Fragassi, John Greenfield, Brian Hieggelke, Veronia Hinke, Sarah Louise Klose, Tom Lynch, Michael Nagrant, Ray Pride, Kristine Sherred, Jonas Simon, John Wawrzaszek, David Wicik and David Witter
With additional contributions by Jaime Calder, Janina Ciezadlo, John Alex Colon, Jan Hieggelke, Jeff Huebner, Hugh Iglarsh and Damien James
Editor's Letter: February 2023 Thinking about this Best of Chicago, we decided to concentrate on icons, those enduring people, places and things that have been present with us for most, if not all of our journey, and that will live on for a long time to come.
Editor's Letter: August 2022 The Printers Row Lit Fest is alive and well and living in September. We created the Lit 50, the first of our Leaders of Culture lists, as a way to establish a written manifestation of the community that was starting to form and congregate around the book fair.
