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book: Dirty Waters
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Dirty Waters

Confessions of Chicago's Last Harbor Boss
Language: English
Published/Copyright: 2016

About this book

A wry, no-holds-barred memoir of Nelson’s time controlling some of Chicago's most beautiful spots while facing some of its ugliest traditions.

In 1987, the city of Chicago hired a former radical college chaplain to clean up rampant corruption on the waterfront. R. J. Nelson thought he was used to the darker side of the law—he had been followed by federal agents and wiretapped due to his antiwar stances in the sixties—but nothing could prepare him for the wretched bog that constituted the world of a Harbor Boss. Dirty Waters is the wry, no-holds-barred memoir of Nelson’s time controlling some of the city’s most beautiful spots while facing some of its ugliest traditions. Nelson takes us through Chicago's beloved “blue spaces” and deep into the city’s political morass, revealing the different moralities underlining three mayoral administrations and navigating the gritty mechanisms of the city’s political machine. Ultimately, Dirty Waters is a tale of morality, of what it takes to be a force for good in the world and what struggles come from trying to stay ethically afloat in a sea of corruption. 
 

Author / Editor information

R. J. Nelson is a former Superintendent of Special Services and Director of Harbors and Marine Services for the Chicago Park District, positions he held from 1987 to 1994. He is also the retired CEO of the Hammond Indiana Port Authority. His other positions included vice president of Grebe Shipyard in Chicago, administrator at the University of Chicago, and chaplain at Cornell University. He lives in the South Shore neighborhood of Chicago.

Reviews

“A joy to read. Nelson’s achievements are undeniable, detailed with good if rough humor. He declared war on the age-old system of gratuities and outright bribes that had maintained the Harbor’s operations in harmony with the citywide culture of ‘where’s mine?’ The results of this campaign are recounted in a feisty, highly entertaining fashion.”
— James T. Fisher, Fordham University

“Dirty Waters is an insider’s account of what has become known as the ‘Chicago Way,’ the corruption at the very heart of the city’s political machine. This book is an honest, fascinating, and often startling story of how politics, bribery, and just plain ineptitude often plagued the ‘City that Works.’”
— Dominic A. Pacyga, author of Slaughterhouse: Chicago's Union Stock Yard and the World It Made

“Dirty Waters is a revealing insider’s tale of a Harold Washington–era reformer battling for change. It tells the stories behind the headlines of the ‘Last Harbor Boss’ of the Chicago Park District. It is written for those who want to know how government really works and how a former protestor, college chaplain, and college administrator opened up the green space and blue space of Chicago and made a cumbersome bureaucracy work for us. Students, scholars, and citizens will read it avidly and celebrate the often unsung heroes of reform.”
— Dick Simpson, professor of political science at University of Illinois at Chicago and former Chicago alderman

“Fascinating.”
— Library Journal

“Is it the water in Lake Michigan that makes Chicago such a politically corrupt city? That might sound like an outlandish theory, but R. J. Nelson’s Dirty Waters: Confessions of Chicago’s Last Harbor Boss makes a compelling case. . . . There’s a certain Chicagoness to Nelson’s storytelling that’s highly entertaining—the book reads like a series of anecdotes being told by a lifelong resident of the city.”
— Chicago Reader

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    Frontmatter

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    CONTENTS

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    Acknowledgments

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    Dawn City

    1
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    Harbors as Neighborhoods

    25
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    Harbor Rats

    40
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    A Boat Slip and Fall

    60
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    Feet Wet

    71
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    Harold

    78
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    Rainbows and Riots

    97
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    Indictments

    115
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    April Fools

    127
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    Harbor Fire

    133
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    Sand Traps

    138
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    Wulky

    150
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    Moving on Up

    160
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    Fog Bowl

    167
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    D- Day

    176
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    Batman

    179
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    Paul McCartney

    193
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    Golf Dome from Hell

    206
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    MBE/WBE

    212
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    “Lakefront’s Small Wonder”

    216
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    A Coast Guard Station Restored

    220
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    A Reporter Falls Overboard

    227
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    Tagline Contest

    233
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    Daley’s Underground River

    237
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    A Tale of Two Conventions

    242
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    From Malcolm X to Muhammad Ali

    253
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    So Sad, Too Bad

    260
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    Glatt

    270
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    Afterglow

    275
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    Filan Report

    280
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    Basement Dreams

    284
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    Afterword

    295
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    Notes

    303
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Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
December 16, 2020
eBook ISBN:
9780226334523
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
View content
https://doi.org/10.7208/9780226334523
eBook ISBN: 9780226334523
Audience(s) for this book
For an expert adult audience, including professional development and academic research
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