The Newberry Library and The Pattis Family Foundation are pleased to announce the winner of the third annual $25,000 Pattis Family Foundation Chicago Book Award. Thomas Leslie, author of Chicago Skyscrapers 1934-1986: How Technology, Politics, Finance, & Race Reshaped the City, will receive the award, which celebrates works that transform public understanding of Chicago, its history, and its people.
The presentation of the 2024 Pattis Family Foundation Chicago Book Award takes place at a free, public event at the Newberry Library on Saturday, September 14, where both recipients will be recognized, and Thomas Leslie will discuss Chicago Skyscrapers. The event will also serve as a celebration of the power of storytelling and the city of Chicago, with a lineup of speakers sharing their own Chicago stories.
“Thomas Leslie’s book is a wonderful example of a work that helps readers better understand Chicago,” said Astrida Orle Tantillo, President and Librarian of the Newberry. “At first glance it is a book about architecture—a topic of great interest to many Chicagoans. Chicago Skyscrapers is much more than that, however. It tells a compelling story about the politics, technology, and personalities behind the construction of some of Chicago’s most iconic buildings and helps us better appreciate the history of how our city grew.”
The Pattis Family Foundation Chicago Book Award is open to writers working in a variety of genres, including history, biography, social sciences, poetry, drama, graphic novels, and fiction—all relating to Chicago. Toya Wolfe received the 2023 Pattis Award for Last Summer on State Street, and Dawn Turner received the inaugural award in 2022 for Three Girls from Bronzeville.
“I’m incredibly honored and grateful to have Chicago Skyscrapers 1934-1986 receive The Pattis Family Foundation Chicago Book Award,” Leslie said. “The books that have received this award previously have helped me understand our city better, in all of its richness and complexity. I’ve always thought that architecture is one of the ways that people and cities tell their stories. I’m thrilled to have the book recognized for bringing these to light.”
Leslie spent seven years as an architect with Norman Foster and Partners in London. He is now a professor of architecture at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Leslie is the author of Louis I. Kahn: Building Art, Building Science; Chicago Skyscrapers, 1871-1934; and Beauty’s Rigor: Patterns of Production in the Work of Pier Luigi Nervi.
In addition to awarding Thomas Leslie, the juried panel also recognizes John William Nelson as the shortlist award recipient for authoring Muddy Ground: Native Peoples, Chicago’s Portage, and the Transformation of the Continent. Nelson will receive an award of $2,500.
The jury announced in May a shortlist of twelve worthy titles that reflects the diversity of genres, writers, and stories that make up submissions for the 2024 Pattis Family Foundation Chicago Book Award.
Mark Pattis of The Pattis Family Foundation commented: “With the selection of Chicago Skyscrapers 1934-1986 as this year’s award recipient, the Newberry Library continues the tradition of selecting a book that broadens the understanding of our city, its history, and its people. Our congratulations to Mr. Leslie and the other authors recognized by the selection committee. We are delighted to see so many different works about Chicago recognized and are grateful to the Newberry and the members of the selection committee for their dedication to the selection process.”