Signature Event: Running Tour of Brown in the Windy City
Featured Book
Brown in the Windy City: Mexicans and Puerto Ricans in Postwar Chicago
"Like other industrial cities in the postwar period, Chicago underwent the dramatic population shifts that radically changed the complexion of the urban north. As African American populations grew and white communities declined throughout the 1960s and ?70s, Mexicans and Puerto Ricans migrated to the city, adding a complex layer to local racial dynamics. Brown in the Windy City is the first history to examine the migration and settlement of Mexicans and Puerto Ricans in the postwar era. Here, Lilia Fernandez reveals how the two populations arrived in Chicago in the midst of tremendous social and economic change and, in the midst of declining industrial employment and massive urban renewal projects, managed to carve out a geographic and racial place in one of America?s great cities. Over the course of these three decades, through their experiences in the city?s central neighborhoods, Fern?ndez demonstrates how Mexicans and Puerto Ricans collectively articulated a distinct racial position in Chicago, one that was flexible and fluid, neither black nor white."--Publisher's description.
This book will be available for purchase at the event.
About This Event
Run or bike with author Dr. Lilia Fernández inspired her book, Brown in the Windy City: Mexicans and Puerto Ricans in Postwar Chicago.
About the event:
Join Read & Run Chicago, the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant & Refugee Rights (ICIRR), and Dr. Lilia Fernández at Pilsen Community Books ((1531 W 18th) on Sunday, October 25 at 10:00 AM for a 4-mile running tour or biking tour (s/o BFF Bikes!) of Brown in the Windy City: Mexicans and Puerto Ricans in Postwar Chicago as part of our Fall 2026 Signature Events Season, “Chicago Between the Lines.”
After the route, enjoy snacks, social time, and book sales at Pilsen Community Books.
A portion of tickets sales will be donated to ICIRR.
About the Venue
Read & Run Chicago
Read & Run Chicago is a community organization managed under Read & Run Tours. We host year-round community programming and events that use movement and stories to explore the city—including our iconic signature event, the running tours based on Chicago books—all while supporting local libraries, independent bookstores, and other small businesses.
Visit Lit Org pageMore at Pilsen Community Books
Troop Movements: Tejasvi Nagaraja in conversation with Gabriel Winant
Join us as we welcome Tejasvi Nagaraja and Gabriel Winant to the store for an conversation about Nagaraja's book Troop Movements: Labor, Race, and Global Freedom Struggles in America's World War II , the story of how the mass mobilization for World War II catalyzed the national and international political movements and conflicts of the postwar period. In the popular imagination, World War II is perceived as the last great moment of national consensus, when the United States was united around the collective purpose of battling a clear enemy whose aim was global dominance. The government led an unprecedented mobilization, building an international military force through which the country soon became the preeminent world power. In the context of this mobilization, the military brought together disparate sectors of workers, all of whom were enmeshed in struggles over workers’ rights and civil rights in the wake of the Great Depression and New Deal. In Troop Movements , Tejasvi Nagaraja explains how this mobilization for world war—involving soldiers and defense workers—provided an opportunity for entangled experiences and alliances across race, class, and global concerns. In the process, this anti-fascist mobilization and the reactions to it catalyzed the national and international political movements and conflicts of the postwar period. Many of these diverse war workers, Nagaraja contends, led a “greatest generation” of labor, Black freedom, and anti-imperial social struggles, which linked racial and economic and international issues. Their struggles took place from Pennsylvania to Panama, Georgia to Germany, Michigan to Manila. Synthesizing diverse sources—from the US Army and UK Colonial Office archives to labor unions’ and civil rights organizations’ records—Nagaraja reconstructs this story of top-down and bottom-up movements. To understand the entwined history of labor unions and big corporations, Jim Crow and civil rights, US empire and the military industrial complex, he argues, their entanglement during World War II must be accounted for. Troop Movements traces the origins of postwar America’s domestic and foreign politics to this crucible of worldwide war, with a mass workforce at its heart. Tejasvi Nagaraja is a history professor at Cornell University. His new book is Troop Movements: Labor, Race, and Global Freedom Struggles in America’s World War II . Gabriel Winant is a history professor at the University of Chicago. He is author of The Next Shift: The Fall of Industry and the Rise of Health Care in Rust Belt America .
Booked! A comedy showcase
Booked! A Stand Up Comedy Show - it's gonna be a night full of hilarious jokes and good vibes! Bringing you the best comedy around! BYOB Welcome to Booked! A Stand-Up Comedy Show at Pilsen Community Books! Tuesday, Oct 27th, 2026 at 8 pm Doors at 7:45 PM. Join us for a night of hilarious stand-up comedy featuring some of the funniest comedians in town. Don't miss out on this epic event filled with laughter and good vibes. See you there! BYOB!
Shawn Gude in conversation with Alderman Anthony Quezada presents AMERICAN SOCIALIST: THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF EUGENE V. DEBS
Former Jacobin editor Shawn Gude presents a stunning portrait of Eugene V. Debs, the railroad worker turned radical visionary whose leadership during the Gilded Age inspired the working class to fight back against the power of the rich—and speaks to our own Gilded Age, when the ultra-wealthy again rule America’s political and economic life. Shawn Gude in conversation with Alderman Anthony Quezada presents American Socialist: The Life and Legacy of Eugene V. Debs . There was a time, a little more than 100 years ago, when some 1,200 Socialists held elected office across the United States. Ministers in Oklahoma preached the gospel of “Christian socialism” at revival-style gatherings come summertime. And Eugene V. Debs—part working-class agitator, part radical prophet—received nearly a million votes when he ran for president from behind bars. Before Bernie Sanders, before Zohran Mamdani, Eugene Debs was America’s favorite socialist—part working-class agitator, part radical prophet. Rousing, poignant, and intimately human, American Socialist is a striking portrait of one man’s radicalization—and of the country he radicalized in turn. Gude reads from and discusses the book with democratic socialist alderman Anthony Quezada before an audience Q&A and signing. Shawn Gude is a former editor at Jacobin and the author of American Socialist: The Life and Legacy of Eugene V. Debs. He was born and raised in Iowa. Alderman Anthony Quezada is a lifelong Chicagoan, community organizer, and public servant. He served for more than six years as the 35th Ward Neighborhood Services Director before being elected to the Cook County Board of Commissioners in 2022, becoming the first democratic socialist elected to the Board. In 2025, he was appointed Alderman of Chicago’s 35th Ward, where he has focused on delivering funding for affordable housing, strengthening tenant protections, and protecting our immigrant neighbors from ICE. Anthony is an endorsed Chicago Democratic Socialists of America candidate for Alderman in the February 23, 2027 election.