Joseph Gustaitis

Author and Historian

New in 2026!

Chicago's Art Deco Skyscrapers

With stunning photography and abundant historical details, this book is a treasure trove that will delight any fan of architecture, Chicago, or the Art Deco era.

Chicago is America’s premier showcase for both historic and modern architecture. Even so, many of its finest buildings remain little known to visitors, and even to Chicagoans. In Chicago’s Art Deco Skyscrapers, I showcase nearly two dozen Art Deco towers that were built during the exhilarating years of the Jazz Age, from 1927 to 1933. These skyscrapers exemplify a state of mind from the time—an optimistic, forward-looking aesthetic that has been called the “last of the total styles,” as well as the first American style that spread across the globe. In the time between the Great War and the Great Depression, cities and their architects embraced industrial modernity and the exciting new possibilities of scale. Exploring places like the Board of Trade Building, the Merchandise Mart, and the Carbide & Carbon tower, I tell the stories of their creation, the architects and developers, construction and financing, zoning and engineering, and much more.

With stunning aerial photography by Ian McClellan, this book also includes color photos of the buildings’ features, vintage images, a travel map, and in-depth historical information. Chicago’s Art Deco Skyscrapers is both a guidebook to these remarkable structures as well as a history of the upbeat era that created them.

Chicago Transformed

World War I has been called "the war that changed everything," and it had a profound effect on Chicago. Between 1913 and 1919, a period that has not been adequately documented in histories of the city, Chicago transitioned from a 19th-century city to the metropolis it is today. Chicago Transformed describes the changes brought by the Great War and shows how they endure in the cultural, ethnic, and political landscape of the Windy City. Russell P. Strange Memorial Book of the Year Award, Illinois State Historical Society.

Chicago in 50 Objects

History is written in small things just as much as large ones. My third Chicago book uses 50 carefully chosen artifacts to chronicle Chicago's triumphs and tragedies. Here you'll find a relic of the Great Chicago Fire, Michael Jordan's jersey, the guns used in the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, Jane Addams's Nobel Prize, Nelson Algren's typewriter, a set of knives from the stockyards, a Potawatomi war club, a Cracker Jack canister, an Illinois Central timetable from 1912, and a memento of Abraham Lincoln's Chicago funeral procession.

1893: Chicago's Greatest Year

The "White City" Columbian Exposition was the great event of the year in Chicago, but 1893 witnessed a surprising number of milestones in the city's history. The Field Museum, the Art Institute, and the Museum of Science and Industry all trace their origins to 1893; three Chicago authors practically invented urban literature; the Chicago hot dog was born. Sears, Roebuck was incorporated; William Wrigley invented Juicy Fruit gum; the Cubs opened a new ball park, and a new church was built for the first Black Roman Catholic priest in America. These stories, and more, are told in Chicago's Greatest Year, 1893. Superior Achievement Award, Illinois State Historical Society.

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