SLCL Presents Historian Scott W. Berg on the Great Chicago Fire 

St. Louis County Library Foundation’s Westfall Politics & History Series presents historian Scott W. Berg for a discussion and signing of “The Burning of the World: The Great Chicago Fire and the War for a City’s Soul.”

The event will take place on Wednesday, October 4, at 7:00 p.m. at the Daniel Boone Branch of the St. Louis County Library, 300 Clarkson Road, Ellisville, MO 63011.

The program is free and open to the public. Books will be available for purchase at the event from The Novel Neighbor.

In October of 1871, Chicagoans knew they were due for the “big one”—a massive, uncontrollable fire that would decimate the city. There hadn’t been a meaningful rain since July, and several big blazes had nearly outstripped the fire department’s scant resources. When Kate Leary’s barn caught fire, so began a catastrophe that would forever change the soul of the city.

Leary was a diligent, hardworking Irish woman, no more responsible for the fire than anyone else in the city. But the conflagration that spread from her property quickly overtook the neighborhood, and before too long the floating embers had spread to the far reaches of the city. Over the course of the next forty-eight hours, Chicago saw the most destructive disaster the United States had ever endured, and Leary would be its scapegoat.

Out of the ashes rose not just new skyscrapers, but also a new political order. The city’s elite saw an opportunity to rebuild on their terms. But the city’s working class recognized a naked power grab. As quickly as the firefight ended, another battle for the future of the city began between the town’s business elites and the poor and immigrant working class.

An enrapturing account of the fire’s devastating path and an eye-opening look at its aftermath, “The Burning of the World” tells the story of one of the most infamous calamities in history and the powerful transformation that followed.

Scott W. Berg holds a BA in architecture from the University of Minnesota and an MFA in creative writing from George Mason University, where he now teaches writing and literature. He is the author of “Grand Avenues: The Story of Pierre Charles L’Enfant, the French Visionary Who Designed Washington, D.C.” and “38 Nooses: Lincoln, Little Crow, and the Beginning of the Frontier's End.”

Program sites are accessible. With at least two weeks' notice, accommodations will be made for persons with disabilities. Call 314-994-3300 or contact us.