Free Chicago: 50 Years of the Reader

By Christopher Hass

Free Chicago: 50 Years of the Reader is an oversized coffee table book that tells the incredible story of the nation's longest surviving free city paper.

In Chicago in 1971, a group of friends gathered around a dining room table to assemble the first issue of a new, "alternative" newspaper. It was designed for an audience that was young, urban, and hip--and they gave it away for free. In the process, they created a new model of journalism that gave birth to an entire industry: the alt-weekly.

Free Chicago: 50 Years of the Reader is a rich, visual tour of the first five decades of the Chicago Reader, drawn from the archives of more than 2,500 issues, supplemented with interviews and essays, as well as never-before-seen notes, manuscripts, and production materials.

The Reader's striking design, irreverent voice, and innovative long-form journalism became a model and inspiration for an explosion of free city papers that launched across the country. Free Chicago covers every era of the Reader, from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows, along with all the near-deaths and last-minute saves that have kept the Reader alive for more than 50 years.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0GJCK5WJM
• ISBN13: 9798218515577
• Release Date: March 2026
• Publisher: University of Illinois Press
• Length: 300 Pages