A Pickpocket's Tale: The Underworld of Nineteenth-Century New York (New York: W. W. Norton, 2006), 460 pgs. (an alternate selection of Book-of the-Month Club, the History Book Club, and the Quality Paperback Book Club; a Chicago Tribune Best Book of 2006", and recipient of the 2004 Dixon Ryan Fox Prize).
Millennium Park: Creating a Chicago Landmark (Chicago: University of Chicago Press and Chicago Historical Society, 2006), 442 pages, 361 color plates, 145 halftones, 12 maps (named a "Best Book of 2006" by the Chicago Tribune and the San Francisco Chronicle).
City of Eros: New York City, Prostitution and the Commercialization of Sex, 1790-1920 (New York: W.W. Norton, 1992; paperback, 1994), 462 pgs. (recipient of the Allan Nevins Prize and the Dixon Ryan Fox Prize).
"Urban History: A Glass Half Full or Half Empty? Comments on Clay McShane's 'The State of the Art in North American Urban History,'" Journal of Urban History, vol. 32, no. 4 (May, 2006), 602-05.
"Making History: Interviews with Andrew McKenna and Ray Meyer," Chicago History, vol. 34, no. 2 (Spring 2006), 60-720.
"Staging the Criminal: In the Tenderloin, Freak Drama, and the Criminal Celebrity," Prospects: An Annual of American Culture Studies vol. 30 (2005), 285-307.
"Making History: Interviews with Carol Marin and James J. O'Connor,' Chicago History, vol. 34, no. 1 (Fall 2005), 52-64..
"The Patron and the Artist: Interviews with Stanley Freehling and Richard Hunt," Chicago History, vol. 33, no. 3 (Spring 2005), 52-65.
"Archaeologists in the Brothel: 'Sin City,' Historical Archaeology and Prostitution," Historical Archaeology, vol. 39, no. 1 (2005), 133-41.
"Chicago Natives: Interviews with Edward A. Brennan and Carole Simpson," Chicago History, vol. 33, no. 1 (Summer 2004), 58-72.
"Street-Rats and Gutter-Snipes: Child Pickpockets and Street Culture in New York City, 1850-1900," Journal of Social History, vol. 37, no. 4 (Summer 2004), 853-820. (recipient of Best Article Award by the Society for the History of Children and Youth, 2005).
"East Coast Transplants: Interviews with Henry B. Betts and Robert V. Remini," Chicago History, vol. 32, no. 3 (Winter 2004), 48-630.
"Introduction: New Perspectives on Crime and Punishment in the American City," and "America's Greatest Criminal Barracks': The Tombs and the Experience of Criminal Justice in New York City, 1838-1897," Journal of Urban History, vol. 29, no. 5 (July 2003), 519-24, 525-540.
"Scorsese's Gangs of New York: Why Myth Matters," Journal of Urban History, vol. 29, no. 5 (July 2003), 620-30.
"Architects of Chicago Culture: Interviews with Ramsey Lewis and Walter Netsch," Chicago History, vol. 32, no. 1 (Summer 2003), 56-72.
"Writing Crime in Chicago: An Interview with Sara Paretsky," Chicago History, vol. 31, no. 3 (Spring 2003), 56-65.
"Introduction: Urban History, Arnold Hirsch, and the Second Ghetto Thesis," Journal of Urban History, vol. 29, no. 3 (March 2003), 233-37.
"Civic Entrepreneurs of Chicago: Interviews with Richard L. Thomas and Arturo Velasquez, Sr.," Chicago History, vol. 31, no. 2 (Fall 2002), 54-72.
"William Warfield: Ambassador of Music," Chicago History, vol. 31, no. 1 (Summer 2002), 58-72.
"The Making of the American Upper Class," Reviews in American History, vol. 30, no. 3 (June 2002), 279-287.
"The Space Age in Chicago - Interviews with James Lovell and John Nichols," Chicago History, vol. 30, no. 3 (Winter 2002), 54-65.
"Philanthropists as Civic Activists - Interviews with Irving Harris and Cindy Pritzker," Chicago History, vol. 30, no. 2 (Fall 2001), 60-72.
"United States Urban History: Theoretical Graveyard or Interpretive Heaven?" in Hans Krabbendam, Marja Roholl, Tity de Vries, eds., The American Metropolis: Image and Inspiration (Amsterdam, The Netherlands: VU University Press, 2001), 13-26.
"Robert W. Galvin" in Morgen Witzel, ed., Biographical Dictionary of Management (Bristol, England: Thoemmes Press, 2001).
"Chicago Intellect - An Interview with Garry Wills," Chicago History, vol. 30, no. 1 (Summer, 2001), 64-72.
"Emissaries of Culture - Interviews with Eppie Lederer and Lois Weisberg," Chicago History, vol. 29, no. 3 (Spring 2001), 52-65.
"Chicago Fortunes - Interviews with Lester Crown and John H. Johnson," Chicago History, vol. 29, no. 2 Fall 2000), 58-720.
"Corporate Consciences - Interviews with John H. Bryan and Newton Minow," Chicago History, vol. 29, no. 1 (Summer 2000), 54-65.
"Creating a Dance - Interviews with Bruce Graham and Maria Tallchief," Chicago History, vol. 28, no. 3 (Spring 2000), 54-65.
"Urbanization," in William L. Barney, ed., Blackwell Companion to Nineteenth-Century American History (Oxford, England: Blackwell Publishers, 2001), 152-163.
"Stars of Chicago - Interviews with Etta Moten Barnett and Sid Luckman," Chicago History, vol. 28, no. 2 (Winter 2000), 60-72.
"Wisconsin's Finest - Interviews with William Cronon, Abner Mikva and Patrick Ryan," Chicago History, vol. 28, no. 1 (Summer 1999), 54-72.
"Prostitutes in History: From Parables of Pornography to Metaphors of Modernity," American Historical Review, vol. 104, no. 1 (Feb. 1999), 117-41.
"America's Heart," Atlantic Monthly, vol. 283, no. 2 (Feb. 1999), 95-98.
"White Cities, Linguistic Turns, and Disneylands: Recent Paradigms in Urban History," Reviews in American History, vol. 26, no. 1 (March 1998), 175-203; reprinted in Louis P. Masur, ed., The Challenge of American History (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, 1999).
"Tom Hyer" in American National Biography, John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes, eds. (New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1999), vol. 11, pp. 616-617.
"New York City," "Prostitution" and "Redlight Districts" in American Cities and Suburbs: An Encyclopedia, Neil Larry Shumsky, ed. (Santa Barbara, CA.: ABC-Clio, 1998), vol. 2, pp. 529-536, 587-589, 629-630.
"From Wrigley Field to Outer Space - Interviews with Ernie Banks and Mae Jemison," Chicago History, vol. 27, no. 3 (Fall/Winter 1998-99), 54-65.
"Urban Migrants - Interviews with Milton Friedman, John Swearingen and Mary Ward Wolkonsky," Chicago History, vol. 27, no. 2 (Summer 1998), 56-72.
"Ecumenicism and Philanthropy in Chicago - Interviews with William B. Graham and Kenneth B. Smith" and "Ardis Krainik: In Memorium," Chicago History, vol. 27, no. 1 (Spring 1998), 56-70.
"A Chicago School of Literature - An Interview with Gwendolyn Brooks and Studs Terkel," Chicago History, vol. 26, no. 1 (Spring 1997), 62-72.
"Prostitution in Nineteenth-Century New York: Victorian Gender Ideology," in Mapping America's Past: A Historical Atlas, John A. Garraty and Mark Carnes, eds. (New York: Henry Holt Reference, 1996), 140-41.
"From Soubrette Row to Show World: The Contested Sexualities of Times Square, 1880-1995" in Ephan Glenn Colter, Wayne Hoffman, Eva Pendleton, Alison Redick and David Serlin, eds., Policing Public Sex: Queer Politics and the Future of AIDS Activism (Boston: South End Press, 1996), 263-294.
"Writing Law and History in Chicago - Interviews with Abraham Lincoln Marovitz and John Hope Franklin," Chicago History, vol. 25, no. 3 (Fall 1996), 60-72.
"Quarks, Neutrinos and Virtual Perfection - Interviews with Robert W. Galvin and Leon M. Lederman," Chicago History, vol. 25, no. 2 (Summer 1996), 56-72.
"Prostitution" and "Anthony Comstock" in The Encyclopedia of New York City, Kenneth T. Jackson, ed. (New Haven: Yale Univ. Press, 1995), 271, 946-48.
"Doing Time and Studying Crime at the Newberry," Origins: A Newsletter of the Scholl Center at the Newberry Library, vol. 11, no. 1 (Spring 1995), 6-7.
"Prostitutes in the Archives: Problems and Possibilities in Documenting the History of Sexuality," American Archivist, vol. 57, no. 3 (Summer 1994), 514-27.
"The Hearts of Nineteenth-Century Men: Bigamy and Working-Class Marriage in New York City, 1800-1890," Prospects: An Annual of American Cultural Studies, vol. 19 (1994), 135-58.
"A Pickpocket's Tale: The Autobiography of George Appo," The Missouri Review, vol. 16, no. 2 (1993), 34-77.
"Unsafe Pleasures," Seaport: New York's History Magazine, vol. 27, no. 2 (Fall 1993), 26-33.
"New History, New York," excerpt of City of Eros in Columbia Magazine, vol. 18, no. 1 (Fall, 1992), 56.
"Policing of Sexuality" in Inventing Times Square: Commerce and Culture at the Crossroads of the World, 1880-1939, William Taylor, ed. (New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1991), 297-314, 410-17.
"Sex and Space: Another Look at the Urban Red-Light District," Proceedings of the Fourth National Conference on American Planning History/Fifth International Conference of the Planning History Group, Laurence C. Gerckens, comp. (Hilliard, Ohio: Society for American City and Regional Planning History, 1991), 768-94.
"Prostitution" in The Reader's Companion to American History, Eric Foner and John A. Garraty, eds. (Boston: Houghton-Mifflin, 1991), 875-77 (a Book-of-the-Month Club and History Book Club selection).
"A History of Public Land Disposition in New York City" in Restoring the Balance: Planning and the Disposition of City-Owned Land (New York: Municipal Art Society, 1989), 6-12, i-vi.
"The Urban Geography of Commercial Sex: Prostitution in New York City, 1790-1860," Journal of Urban History, vol. 13, no. 4 (Aug., 1987), 371-393; reprinted in Crime and Justice in American History, Eric Monkkonen, ed. (Westport, Conn.: Meckler, 1990), vol. 8, pp. 239-61; and Charles O. Jackson, ed., The Other Americans: Sexual Variance in the National Past (Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 1996).
"Strumpets and Misogynists: Brothel 'Riots' and the Transformation of Prostitution in Antebellum New York City," New York History, vol. 68, no. 1 (Jan., 1987), 44-65; reprinted in Crime and Justice in American History, Eric Monkkonen, ed. (Westport, Conn.: Meckler, 1990), vol. 8, pp. 217-38; reprintedHistory of Women in America, Nancy F. Cott, ed. (Westport, Conn: Meckler, 1991), vol. 9; reprinted in Raymond A. Mohl, ed., The Making of Urban America, second edition (Wilmington, Del.: Scholarly Resources, 1997), 37-51.
"The Moral Origins of Political Surveillance: The Preventive Society in New York City, 1867-1918," American Quarterly, vol. 38, no. 4 (Fall, 1986), 637-52; reprinted in Crime and Justice in American History, Eric Monkkonen, ed. (Westport, Conn.: Meckler, 1990), vol. 10.
"The Empire State Comes of Age," with Mark Kaminsky in Insight Guides: New York, 3 editions (New York: APA Productions, 1986, 1991, 1996), 34-45.
"The 'Mob' and the New York City Building Trades: Organized Crime and Local 282, International Brotherhood of Teamsters" with Peter Levy (New York State Organized Crime Task Force, confidential report, 1986).
"Historical Introduction to New York City," Columbia Guide to New York City, 2 editions (New York: Columbia University, 1983, 1984), 15-26.
BOOK REVIEWS
"Fatal Beauty: The true tale of the case of the murdered shopgirl," Washington Post Book World, 29 Oct. 2006 [review of Daniel Stashower, The Beautiful Cigar Girl: Mary Rogers, Edgar Allan Poe and the Invention of Murder (New York: Dutton, 2006).].
Reviewed Timothy B. Spears, Chicago Dreaming: Midwesterners and the City, 1871-1919 in Business History Review, vol. 80, no. 2 (Summer 2006), 362-64.
Reviewed Michael Barton and Jessica Dorman, eds., Harrisburg's Old Eighth Ward in Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies, forthcoming.
"The Irish-America Paradox," Chicago Tribune Book Review, 1 April 2001, Sect. 14, p. 1 [review of Maureen Dezell, Irish America: Coming Into Clover - The Evolution of a People and a Culture (New York: Doubleday, 2001); and Charles Fanning, ed., New Perspectives on the Irish Diaspora (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2000)].
Reviewed Melvin G. Holli, The American Mayor: The Best and the Worst Big-City Leaders in Chicago Tribune Book Review, Sunday, 19 March 2000, Sect. 14, p.4.
"A Compelling Portrait of New York's Favorite Beau," Chicago Tribune Book Review, Sunday, 26 Dec. 1999, Sect. 14, p. 1, 7 [review of Herbert Mitgang, Once Upon a Time in New York].
Reviewed Nicola Beisel, Imperiled Innocents: Anthony Comstock and Family Reproduction in Victorian America in American Historical Review, vol. 103, no. 3 (June 1998), 610-611.
Reviewed Kevin J. Mumford, Interzones: Black/White Sex Districts in Chicago and New York in the Early Twentieth Century, in Culturefront: A Magazine for the Humanities, Winter 1997-98, vol. 6, no. 4, pp. 184-85.
Reviewed Michael Holleran, "Boston's 'Sacred Sky Line': From Prohibiting to Sculpting Skyscrapers, 1891-1928," Journal of Urban History, vol. 22, no. 5 (July 1996), in Mid-America, vol. 79, no. 1 (Winter 1997), 111-12.
Reviewed Amy Gilman Srebnick, The Mysterious Death of Mary Rogers: Sex and Culture in Nineteenth-Century New York in The Historian, vol. 59, no. 2 (Winter 1997), 444-45.
Reviewed Alan Lessoff, The Nation and Its City: Politics, "Corruption," and Progress in Washington, D.C., 1861-1902 inJournal of Interdisciplinary History, vol. 27, no. 1 (Summer 1996), 157-59.
Reviewed Lynn Hunt, ed., The Invention of Pornography: Obscenity and the Origins of Modernity, 1500-1800 in Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, vol. 32, no. 2 (July 1996), 31-33.
Reviewed Eric Homberger, Scenes from the Life of a City in American Historical Review, vol. 101, no. 2 (April 1996), 563-64.
Reviewed Kevin White, The Emergence of Male Heterosexuality in Modern America in Journal of American History, vol. 80, no. 4 (March 1994), 1496-97.
Reviewed John C. Burnham, Bad Habits: Drinking, Smoking, Taking Drugs, Gambling, Sexual Misbehavior, and Swearing in American History in New York History, vol. 74, no. 4 (Oct. 1993), 441-43.
Reviewed Lawrence H. Fuchs, The American Kaleidoscope: Race, Ethnicity, and the Civic Culture in Ethnohistory, vol. 39, no. 4 (Fall 1992), 559-61.
Reviewed Gerald H. Gamm, The Making of New Deal Democrats: Voting Behavior and Realignment in Boston, 1920-1940 in Ethnohistory, vol. 37, no. 3 (Spring 1991), 529-31.
Reviewed Robert W. Snyder, The Voice of the City: Vaudeville and Popular Culture in New York in American Historical Review, vol. 96, no. 1 (Feb., 1991), 276-77.
Reviewed Thomas Bender, New York Intellect: A History of Intellectual Life in New York City, from 1750 to the Beginnings of Our Own Time in Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, vol. 25, no. 2 (April, 1989), 170-71.
Contributor on American Urban and Twentieth-Century History in American Studies: An Annotated Bibliography, 1984-1988, Jack Salzman, ed. (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1990).
Contributor on American Urban and Irish-American History in American Studies: An Annotated Bibliography, Jack Salzman, ed. (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1986).
ORAL HISTORY INTERVIEWS (all deposited in the collections of the Chicago History Museum)
Robert W. Galvin, former Chairman of Motorola, Inc., 24 Oct. 1995.
Prof. Leon M. Lederman, Nobel Prize Winning Physicist and former Director of Fermi National Laboratory, Batavia, Ill., 25 Oct. 1995.
Hon. Abraham Lincoln Marovitz, U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of Illinois, 28 Nov. 1995.
Studs Terkel, Pulitzer-prize winning author and radio talk show host, 19 Dec. 1995.
Prof. John Hope Franklin, James B. Duke Professor Emeritus, Duke University, 17 Feb. 1996.
Rev. Dr. Kenneth B. Smith, Jr., President of Chicago Theological Seminary, 5 March 1997.
William B. Graham, former President, former chief executive officer and senior chairman of Baxter Travenol Laboratories, Deerfield, Ill., 11 March 1997.
Ernie Banks, former Chicago Cub baseball player and Hall-of-Fame member, 13 Sept. 1997.
Mary Ward Wolkonsky, civic reformer, 4 November 1997.
Milton Friedman, Nobel Prize winning economist and author, 8 November 1997.
John Swearingen, former President and chief executive officer of Standard Oil of Indiana (Amoco), 25 November 1997.
Mae Jemison, president of the Jemison Group and former NASA astronaut, 26 March 1998.
Patrick G. Ryan, president and chief executive officer, AON Corp., 30 April 1998.
Sid Luckman, former Chicago Bear and Hall-of-Fame football player, 13 May 1998.
William Cronon, historian and author, 14 May 1998.
Abner J. Mikva, former Congressman, federal appeals court judge and general counsel to the U.S. president, 7 July 1998.
Etta Moten Barnett, concert singer, Broadway and Hollywood actress, journalist and civic activist, 12 November 1998.
Maria Tallchief, prima ballerina, New York City Ballet, 20 April 1999.
Newton Minow, attorney and chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, 1961-1964, 29 April 1999.
John Bryan, chief executive officer, Sara Lee Corp., 5 May 1999.
Bruce Graham, architect and former partner in Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, 5 May 1999.
John H. Johnson, founder, president and CEO, Johnson Publishing Corp., 28 April 2000.
Eppie Lederer (Ann Landers), advice columnist, 2 May 2000.
Lester Crown, philanthropist and financier, 12 May 2000.
Lois Weisberg, commissioner, Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, 22 May 2000.
Garry Wills, Pulitzer-prize winning writer and syndicated columnist, 24 May 2000.
Irving B. Harris, businessman and philanthropist, 4 May 2001.
John H. Nichols, former CEO, Illinois Tool Works, 7 May 2001.
Capt. James A. Lovell, astronaut and business executive, 8 May 2001.
Cindy Pritzker, philanthropist and civic activist, 9 May 2001.
William Warfield, concert singer and actor, 24 May 2001.
Arturo Velasquez, Sr., businessman and community activist, 19 April 2002.
Richard L. Thomas, former CEO, First National Bank of Chicago and philanthropist, 1 May 2002.
Walter Netsch, architect and former partner in Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, 2 May 2002.
Sara Paretsky, novelist, 3 June 2002.
Ramsey Lewis, musician, composer, and radio personality, 18 June 2002.
Dr. Henry Betts, physiatrist and former CEO of the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, 14 April 2003.
Prof. Robert V. Remini, historian, 25 April 2003.
Carole Simpson, Journalist and television news anchor, 15 May 2003.
Edward A. Brennan, former CEO of Sears, 20 June 2003.
Stanley Freehling, philanthropist, 5 April 2004.
Carol Marin, journalist and television anchor, 7 Apirl 2004.
James O'Connor, former CEO of Commonwealth Edison, 26 April 2004.
Richard Hunt, sculptor and artist, 24 April 2004.
Ray Meyer, DePaul University and Hall of Fame Basketball Coach, 29 April 2005.
Ronne Hartfield, arts and museum consultant, 4 May 2005.
Andrew McKenna, CEO of Schwarz Paper Co., 6 May 2005.
Helmut Jahn, architect, 25 May 2005.
Martin Koldyke, investment banker and educational reformer, 25 April 2006.
Sister Rosemary Connelly, founder of Misericordia, 4 May 2006.
Edgar Jannotta, former managing director of William Blair & Co., 9 May 2006.
Dick Butkus, former Chicago Bear and college and professional football Hall of Fame member, 12 May 2006.