"Mayors Richard M. Daley and Rahm Emanuel have touted and promoted Chicago as a "world class city." The skyscrapers kissing the clouds, the billion-dollar Millennium Park, Michelin-rated restaurants, pristine lake views, fabulous shopping, vibrant theater scene, downtown flower beds and stellar architecture tell one story. Yet, swept under the rug is the stench of segregation that compromises Chicago. The Manhattan Institute dubs Chicago as one of...

Eve L. Ewing knows Chicago Public Schools from the inside: as a student, then a teacher, and now a scholar who studies them. And that perspective has shown her that public schools are not buildings full of failures-they're an integral part of their neighborhoods, at the heart of their communities, storehouses of history and memory that bring people together. Never was that role more apparent than in 2013 when Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced an unprecedented...

"For 70 years, on 70 acres stood a Chicago public housing community known as Cabrini Green. Home to thousands, misunderstood by millions, Cabrini Green once towered over Chicago's most valuable neighborhoods. A looming reminder of inequality and poverty, Cabrini's high-rises were demolished and an African-American community cleared to make room for another social experiment: mixed-income neighborhoods. 70 acres in Chicago documents this upheaval,...