Back of the Yards

About the Book

The story is a sensitive, hard-hitting, sometimes tragic, sometimes funny accounting of the trials and tribulations of growing up in Chicago's inner city, in the shadows of Comisky (White Sox) Park. It follows Charlie through his first encounter with sex, gang war problems, coping with tragedy and trying to survive the day to day trauma of big city life.

The neighborhood is blue collar.  Charlie's parents emigrated from Poland before he was born.  His parents did not make it past a fifth grade education and both worked in a factory setting.  Charlie lives in a predominantly Polish neighborhood on 49th Street.  The neighborhood was tagged the Back of the Yards because it is just south of the Chicago stockyards.  When the winds shift to the north the smell of the stockyards in Charlie's neighborhood is pungent.  From the west the vinegar works takes over with their nose biting aromas.  There are ethnic lines drawn through the south side of Chicago.  North of 43rd Street is mostly Mexican; further north it becomes Italian and Irish; east of Halsted is black.  Charlie's neighborhood is a mixture of Polish, Slovak, Lithuanian and a few Irish emigrants.  Some of the residents are second generation.  None are third generation.

Charlie's grammar school and high school, St. Stanislaus, is Catholic.  Polish is taught as a second language and the strict Catholic teachings and its taboos are dominant in Charlie's young life.  He dreads Confession each week and especially Father Charles who loves to pry into his life and tends to give a hefty Penance after Confession.  

Charlie is tolerated by the other kids of his age until he enters high school.  He is a benchwarmer for the neighborhood softball team and rarely gets to play in a real game.  When he does get to play it is usually in right field or catcher.  Kevin O'Brien is his only really friend until something happens that propels him into the limelight of the neighborhood.  The story is covered in all the major Chicago newspapers including the local paper, The Back Of The Yards Journal.  

The story is fiction, as is Charlie Wykowski. The neighborhood, and many events surrounding the theme of the book, are real and did happen.

Good reading to you!

About the Author

Robert has authored a book published by Prentice-Hall and has also authored 16 articles published in various trade magazines. He has written plays and radio scripts produced by local drama groups, and has written several short stories. Robert has a Master of Science degree from Lesley College in Cambridge, Massachusetts and a Bachelor degree from De Paul University in Chicago.