Editing Nelson Algren (section)

== Algren and Chicago Polonia ==
Algren described [[Ashland Avenue]] as figuratively connecting Chicago to [[Warsaw]] in Poland.<ref name="ShayP118">Shay, Art. ''Nelson Algren's Chicago'', University of Illinois Press 1988, p. 118</ref> His own life involved [[Poles in Chicago|the Polish community of Chicago]] in many ways, including his first wife Amanda Kontowicz. His friend [[Art Shay]] wrote about Algren, who while gambling, listened to old Polish love songs sung by an elderly waitress.<ref name="ShayP119">Shay, p. 119</ref> The city's [[Polish Downtown (Chicago)|Polish Downtown]], where he lived for years, played a significant part in his literary output. Polish bars that Algren frequented in his gambling, such as the Bit of Poland on [[Milwaukee Avenue (Chicago)|Milwaukee Avenue]], figured in such writings as ''[[Never Come Morning]]'' and ''The Man With the Golden Arm''.<ref name="ShayP118"/>

His novel ''Never Come Morning'' was published several years after the [[invasion of Poland]] by [[Nazi Germany]] and the [[Soviet Union]], a period when Poles, like Jews, were labeled an inferior race by [[Nazism|Nazi ideology]].<ref name="Reader" /> Chicago's [[Polish-American]] leaders thought ''Never Come Morning'' played on these [[anti-polonism|anti-Polish stereotypes]], and launched a sustained campaign against the book through the Polish press, the [[Polish Roman Catholic Union of America]], and other Polish-American institutions. Articles appeared in the local Polish newspapers and letters were sent to Mayor [[Edward Joseph Kelly|Ed Kelly]], the [[Chicago Public Library]], and Algren's publisher, [[Harper & Brothers]]. The general tone of the campaign is suggested by a ''Zgoda'' editorial that attacked his character and mental state, saw readers who got free copies as victims of a Nazi-financed plot, and said the novel proved a deep desire to harm ethnic Poles on Algren's part. The [[Polish American Council]] sent a copy of a resolution condemning the novel to the FBI. Algren and his publisher defended against these accusations, with the author telling a library meeting that the book was about the effects of poverty, regardless of national background. The mayor had the novel removed from the [[Chicago Public Library]] system, and it apparently remained absent for at least 20 years.<ref name="Reader" /> At least two later efforts to commemorate Algren in Polish Downtown echoed the attacks on the novels.

Shortly after his death in 1981, his last Chicago residence at 1958 West Evergreen Street was noted by Chicago journalist [[Mike Royko]]. The walk-up apartment just east of Damen Avenue in the former Polish Downtown neighborhood of [[West Town, Chicago|West Town]] was in an area that had been dominated by Polish immigrants and was once one of Chicago's toughest and most crowded neighborhoods. The renaming of Evergreen Street to Algren Street caused controversy and was almost immediately reversed.<ref>Lévy, Bernard-Henri. [https://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200505/levy In the Footsteps of Tocqueville], ''The Atlantic Monthly'', May 2005</ref>

In 1998, Algren enthusiasts instigated the renaming after Algren of the [[Polonia Triangle|Polish Triangle]] in what had been the center of the Polish Downtown. Replacing the plaza's traditional name, the director of the [[Polish Museum of America]] predicted, would obliterate the history of Chicago ethnic Poles and insult ethnic Polish institutions and local businesses. In the end a compromise was reached where the Triangle kept its older name and a newly installed fountain was named after Algren and inscribed with a quotation about the city's working people protecting its essence, from Algren's essay "[[Chicago: City on the Make]]".<ref name="Reader" />