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Walking Chicago's Coast
A 63-Mile Journey to the Indiana Dunes
by Michael McColly
This title was previously available on NetGalley and is now archived.
Pub Date
Sep 15 2025
| Archive Date
Sep 01 2025
Description
Blending travelogue, memoir, and environmental reportage, Walking Chicago's Coast takes readers on an urban journey. Michael McColly begins his walk at his far North Side Chicago apartment and proceeds for two long days along the shore of Lake Michigan to the Indiana Dunes National Park. As he walks, McColly reflects on the layers of history, the constructed magnificence, and the troubling divides in this polyglot mecca of the Midwest.
From its descriptions of grand parks and architecture to packed sandy beaches to polluted neighborhoods called "sacrifice zones" along industrial waterways and rivers, Walking Chicago's Coast shows how such urban hiking lets one contemplate a city's grandeur and history, confront environmental and social realities, and trigger emotions and memories. Through Superfund sites, brownfields, scrapyards, and industrial ruins, McColly discovers the remarkable patterns of urban nature and the surprising beauty along his path.
Blending travelogue, memoir, and environmental reportage, Walking Chicago's Coast takes readers on an urban journey. Michael McColly begins his walk at his far North Side Chicago apartment and...
Description
Blending travelogue, memoir, and environmental reportage, Walking Chicago's Coast takes readers on an urban journey. Michael McColly begins his walk at his far North Side Chicago apartment and proceeds for two long days along the shore of Lake Michigan to the Indiana Dunes National Park. As he walks, McColly reflects on the layers of history, the constructed magnificence, and the troubling divides in this polyglot mecca of the Midwest.
From its descriptions of grand parks and architecture to packed sandy beaches to polluted neighborhoods called "sacrifice zones" along industrial waterways and rivers, Walking Chicago's Coast shows how such urban hiking lets one contemplate a city's grandeur and history, confront environmental and social realities, and trigger emotions and memories. Through Superfund sites, brownfields, scrapyards, and industrial ruins, McColly discovers the remarkable patterns of urban nature and the surprising beauty along his path.
A Note From the Publisher
Author Bio: Michael McColly's essays have appeared in The New York Times, the Boston Review, and The Sun magazine. He is the author of the Lambda Literary Award–winning memoir The After-Death Room, chronicling his journey reporting on AIDS activism in Africa, Asia, and the United States.
Author Bio: Michael McColly's essays have appeared in The New York Times, the Boston Review, and The Sun magazine. He is the author of the Lambda Literary Award–winning memoir The After-Death...
A Note From the Publisher
Author Bio: Michael McColly's essays have appeared in The New York Times, the Boston Review, and The Sun magazine. He is the author of the Lambda Literary Award–winning memoir The After-Death Room, chronicling his journey reporting on AIDS activism in Africa, Asia, and the United States.
Advance Praise
"Michael McColly, in his beautiful new book, adds something new to the walking/thinking/essaying gesture: genuine feeling. Walking Chicago's Coast is a rhapsody of grief and appreciation." —David Shields, author of Reality Hunger
"McColly shows us the glories and flaws of a great city, its economic and racial divisions, and its devastated outskirts. He also shows us people working to mend communities and restore degraded lands."
—Scott Russell Sanders, author of The Way of Imagination
"McColly's improbable pilgrimage along Chicago's coast testifies to walking's transformative powers. This is a work of great wisdom, tenderness, and defiance destined to be a classic of urban literature."
—Rob Nixon, author of Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor
"Michael McColly, in his beautiful new book, adds something new to the walking/thinking/essaying gesture: genuine feeling. Walking Chicago's Coast is a rhapsody of grief and appreciation." —David...
Advance Praise
"Michael McColly, in his beautiful new book, adds something new to the walking/thinking/essaying gesture: genuine feeling. Walking Chicago's Coast is a rhapsody of grief and appreciation." —David Shields, author of Reality Hunger
"McColly shows us the glories and flaws of a great city, its economic and racial divisions, and its devastated outskirts. He also shows us people working to mend communities and restore degraded lands."
—Scott Russell Sanders, author of The Way of Imagination
"McColly's improbable pilgrimage along Chicago's coast testifies to walking's transformative powers. This is a work of great wisdom, tenderness, and defiance destined to be a classic of urban literature."
—Rob Nixon, author of Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor
Marketing Plan
- Seeking reviews in national and local media, focusing on Chicago-based newspapers, radio shows, podcasts, etc.
- Local book events and other author promotion.
- Excerpts in Chicago-based travel blogs and magazines.
- Seeking reviews in national and local media, focusing on Chicago-based newspapers, radio shows, podcasts, etc.
- Local book events and other author promotion.
- Excerpts in Chicago-based travel blogs and...
Marketing Plan
- Seeking reviews in national and local media, focusing on Chicago-based newspapers, radio shows, podcasts, etc.
- Local book events and other author promotion.
- Excerpts in Chicago-based travel blogs and magazines.
Available Editions
| EDITION |
Paperback |
| ISBN |
9781501783142 |
| PRICE |
$19.95 (USD)
|
| PAGES |
186
|
Available on NetGalley
NetGalley Reader (PDF)
NetGalley Shelf App (PDF)
Send to Kindle (PDF)
Download (PDF)
Additional Information
Available Editions
| EDITION |
Paperback |
| ISBN |
9781501783142 |
| PRICE |
$19.95 (USD)
|
| PAGES |
186
|
Available on NetGalley
NetGalley Reader (PDF)
NetGalley Shelf App (PDF)
Send to Kindle (PDF)
Download (PDF)
Average rating from 3 members
Featured Reviews
Colleen M, Reviewer
5 stars
5 stars
5 stars
5 stars
5 stars
If I were a teacher, I would
- assign reading any 20 pages of this book, Walking Chicago’s Coast by Michael McColly
- having student walk 45 minutes in any direction from their home
- write a report about what they have observed
- do research on at least one thing they have observed and weave that into their report
This book was so well written and interesting. I thought that the author would be walking strictly at the coastline around from Chicago to Indiana Dunes. Probably not possible, he walked through neighborhoods and crossed major thoroughfares.
Michael McColly was a college professor and Peace Corps worker in Senegal. This book is very well written and insightful. Michael McColly walked a tremendous amount in Africa but was 50 some years old when he decide to take this 60 mile (ish) walk and immerse himself in his immediate area and record his observations.
I’m definitely biased, being from the Midwest and having a brother who lives in the Chicago Loop, but I think this book will be eye opening to anybody reading this book. We all overlook the details of what is around us as we are zooming around in our automobiles, oblivious to our surroundings.
Several pictures throughout Walking Chicago's Coast: A 63-Mile Journey to the Indiana Dunes.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Cornell University Press for approving my request to read the advance review copy of Walking Chicago’s Coast in exchange for an honest review. 186 pages, Sept 15, 2025 publication date.
Was surprised though; walking from the state park to the beach there is a marker “At Le Petit Fort, near this site, a battle was fought on December 5, 1780 between American forces under the command of Lt. Thomas Brady and Jean Baptise Hamelin and British forces under command of Dahreau de Quindre.” Resulting in a British victory and the only Revolutionary War battle fought in Northwest Indiana. I really expected to read about it in this book, oh well. Ther are only so many paths taken. 😊 (We just happened to have camping at the Indiana Dunes State Park already scheduled and I made sure to go by the marker and take a picture. Indiana Dunes State Park really is first class!)
Also another advance reviewer criticized (and stopped reading) because of the author's description of some women on his journey. I don't even remember reading what she described; probably 5 words over 186 pages that struck her objectionably. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, one of my opinions is that I don't think it is fair to review a book that you did not finish.
5 stars
5 stars
5 stars
5 stars
5 stars
Featured Reviews
Colleen M, Reviewer
5 stars
5 stars
5 stars
5 stars
5 stars
If I were a teacher, I would
- assign reading any 20 pages of this book, Walking Chicago’s Coast by Michael McColly
- having student walk 45 minutes in any direction from their home
- write a report about what they have observed
- do research on at least one thing they have observed and weave that into their report
This book was so well written and interesting. I thought that the author would be walking strictly at the coastline around from Chicago to Indiana Dunes. Probably not possible, he walked through neighborhoods and crossed major thoroughfares.
Michael McColly was a college professor and Peace Corps worker in Senegal. This book is very well written and insightful. Michael McColly walked a tremendous amount in Africa but was 50 some years old when he decide to take this 60 mile (ish) walk and immerse himself in his immediate area and record his observations.
I’m definitely biased, being from the Midwest and having a brother who lives in the Chicago Loop, but I think this book will be eye opening to anybody reading this book. We all overlook the details of what is around us as we are zooming around in our automobiles, oblivious to our surroundings.
Several pictures throughout Walking Chicago's Coast: A 63-Mile Journey to the Indiana Dunes.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Cornell University Press for approving my request to read the advance review copy of Walking Chicago’s Coast in exchange for an honest review. 186 pages, Sept 15, 2025 publication date.
Was surprised though; walking from the state park to the beach there is a marker “At Le Petit Fort, near this site, a battle was fought on December 5, 1780 between American forces under the command of Lt. Thomas Brady and Jean Baptise Hamelin and British forces under command of Dahreau de Quindre.” Resulting in a British victory and the only Revolutionary War battle fought in Northwest Indiana. I really expected to read about it in this book, oh well. Ther are only so many paths taken. 😊 (We just happened to have camping at the Indiana Dunes State Park already scheduled and I made sure to go by the marker and take a picture. Indiana Dunes State Park really is first class!)
Also another advance reviewer criticized (and stopped reading) because of the author's description of some women on his journey. I don't even remember reading what she described; probably 5 words over 186 pages that struck her objectionably. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, one of my opinions is that I don't think it is fair to review a book that you did not finish.
5 stars
5 stars
5 stars
5 stars
5 stars
