Chicago Geography

I have this letter in today's New York Times Book Review:

Where Were We?

To the Editor:

Blake Bailey’s fine review of Mary Wisniewski’s “Algren: A Life” (Nov. 13) is marred by his unfamiliarity with Chicago. Nobody here would refer to Gary, Ind., as “across the lake.” It is around the lake.

STEVEN LUBET

CHICAGO

The writer is the director of the Bartlit Center for Trial Advocacy at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law.

I also got a nice note from the editor.

Comments

[Captain Hruska Carswell, Continuance King]

Picky, picky. I concur. I once read a book on the redevelopment of Chicago's Dearborn Park. After I read a passage where the author wrote Michigan Street, rather than the proper Michigan Avenue, I tossed the book aside for the Half-Priced Book pile. The book lost credibility...it was as if an "outsider" wrote the thing.