The third coast : when Chicago built the American dream / Thomas Dyja.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Part One. Pre-1945 -- The Brick Is Another Teacher -- We Were Part of Them -- Washed Up on a Favorable Shore -- The Ideal World of Mr. Hutchins -- Part Two. 1945-1949 -- The Chaos of Our Conceptions -- Believers in the City -- A Discovered Beauty -- Until My Change Comes -- A Local Youth in Love -- Let Me Do One by Myself -- A Fresh Time -- The Balance of Power -- This Program Came to You from Chicago -- A City of Slightbrows -- Part Three. 1950-1954 -- Stand Up and Be Counted -- Living Separate Lives -- Nobody Knows My Name -- The Lonely Crowd -- Convention Summer -- Playwrights and Playboys -- Chicagsky Temp -- Part Four. 1955 -- A Family Man for a Family City -- The Blues Have a Baby -- American Hungers -- Theater Without Heroes -- What Kind of World Do We Live In? -- We Like It This Way -- Part Five. 1956-1960 -- Chicago Dynamic -- Beta People for a Beta World -- Gaining a Moon and Losing Ourselves -- Will Somebody Please Listen to Me Today! -- The Realm of the Unreal -- Epilogue: In Chicago for My Forever.

Much of what defined the nation as it grew into a superpower was produced in Chicago. Before air travel overtook trains, nearly every coast-to coast journey included a stop there, and this flow of people and commodities made it America's central clearinghouse, laboratory, and factory. And even as Chicago led the way in creating mass-market culture, its artists pushed back in their own distinct voices. Chicago native Thomas Dyja re-creates the story of the city in its postwar prime and explains its profound impact on modern America.