i had never heard of Anthony Overton, so I requested this book so I could learn about someone. It was a great read and I learned a lot about him. You could tell that the author did their research.

"The Merchant Prince of Black Chicago" is a highly informative and interesting look at Anthony Overton. It can occasionally read rather textbook so it does have its dull moments. But, all in all, its a very interesting book to read about someone I didn't know anything about previously.

This meticulously researched and authoritative biography of Anthony Overton, who became one of the most successful African American entrepreneurs of the early 20th century is of great interest but occasionally made for some dull reading. It's one thing to learn about Overton’s life, his family, his businesses and their ups and downs and his successes and failures but quite another to delve in detail into the financial aspects of said businesses, and there were moments when my attention wandered. It must have been a tricky biography to write as very little personal documentation survives, no letters or diaries, and so the author has chosen to explore African American business in its more general aspects rather than concentrate wholly on his subject.  Understandable and worthwhile but this approach doesn’t always make for riveting reading. Nevertheless, I feel that this is an important book, opening up as it does a perhaps under-explored aspect of American business and African American life of that era in particular, and it’s a book I heartily recommend to anyone interested in the time, place and personalities.