"As Others See Chicago consists of writings culled from over a thousand men and women who visited the city and commented on the best and worst it had to offer from the skyscrapers to the stockyards. Originally compiled by Bessie Louise Pierce, the first major historian of Chicago, and featuring her own commentary, the volume brings together the impressions of visitors to Chicago over two and a half centuries, from the early years of westward expansion to the height of the Great Depression. In addition to writings from better known personalities such as Rudyard Kipling and Waldo Frank, the book collects the opinions of missionaries aristocrats, journalists, and politicians observers who were perfectly placed to comment on the development of the city, its inhabitants, and well known events that would one day define Chicago history, such as the Great Fire of 1871 and the 1893 World's Fair."--BOOK JACKET.