{"product_id":"the-pit-a-story-of-chicago","title":"The Pit: A Story of Chicago","description":"\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAugust 25, 2026 \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eFinancial ambition, a tortured marriage, and an American city on the rise are brilliantly depicted in Frank Norris’ 1903 masterpiece. Curtis Jadwin is obsessed with speculating on the market, manipulating it so he can control the nation’s wheat supply. He neglects his wife, Laura, who seeks refuge in the arts, and in particular one artist, Sheldon Corthell. The Jadwin’s wealth buys them a mansion on Lincoln Park with an art gallery that strangers gawk at, but inside they struggle. And is Jadwin’s gambling sustainable, or is there a bear market in his future?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eCurtis and Laura play out this American Dream scenario in the streets of Chicago, where they attend the opera at the Auditorium Building, visit the new art museum on the lake, and, from the comfort of their carriage, watch the trains and grain elevators. At the Board of Trade, in the pit, men yell and knock against each other, performing the theater of capitalism in front of an always crowded visitor’s gallery.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eFew novels depict the struggles of marriage, the world of finance, or the rise of Chicago from the flatlands of the Midwest, as viscerally as this novel, originally published in 1903. Norris’s novel may immerse readers in a historic setting, but its punishing and profound themes are anything but dated.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eWith an introduction by Whet Moser. Part of the \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.arcadiapublishing.com\/collections\/belt-revivals?srsltid=AfmBOoq3RQjBLVT6_Tb6QXzNoDia4vpJ_OiTXzVvhc0DuAEf3IOhLSyr\"\u003eBelt Revivals \u003c\/a\u003eseries. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eFrank Norris\u003c\/b\u003e was a novelist, journalist, and book editor. Born in Chicago in 1870, he worked as a journalist for newspapers, a war correspondent for McClures during the Spanish-American war, and an influential editor at Doubleday \u0026amp; Page. He was a prolific author, publishing ten novels before his premature death at age of 32. \u003ci\u003eThe Pit \u003c\/i\u003ewas the second book in a planned trilogy, “The Epic of Wheat,” which began with the 1901 \u003ci\u003eThe Octopus. \u003c\/i\u003eNorris’ commitment to naturalism, and depicting the ills of Gilded Age capitalist greed, and the wreckage it created for workers, were hugely influential during the Progressive Era and remain so today.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhet Moser \u003c\/strong\u003eis a briefings editor at \u003cem\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/em\u003e. A graduate of Deep Springs College and the University of Chicago, he has worked at the \u003cem\u003eChicago Reader\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eChicago \u003c\/em\u003emagazine. He lives in Chicago.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Belt Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42601474883682,"sku":null,"price":20.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2361\/8717\/files\/ThePit.jpg?v=1772552559","url":"https:\/\/beltpublishing.com\/products\/the-pit-a-story-of-chicago","provider":"Belt Publishing","version":"1.0","type":"link"}