FABULOUS CHICAGO

A running record of Chicagoland happenings from the dispossession of the Indians, in 1835, to the tribulations of Jane Byrne, as of last year--first published in 1953 and now extensively updated. Dedmon, a long-time Chicago newspaper executive and stalwart of the Chicago Historical Society, sees the Second City as a spectacle: here--in the brief, new chapters--is the Daley era, the architectural efflorescence, the incursion of Martin Luther King, the local world of sports, the popular arts and the fine arts. . . and post-Daley politics. On the tumultous '68 Democratic convention, Dedmon attempts to strike a balance that not everyone will buy (the term ""police riot"" was an exaggeration; Daley actually did ""fear for his safety""); but he has quotes to back up his position. And that, in any case, is a minor aspect of a book filled with nostalgia bait--from the recent past, on Kukla, Fran, and Ollie, Mies van der Rohe, and Bill Veeck alike.