Joan, white Catholic child of upper-middle-class Yankees living in
the heart of Dixie, just wants to belong. C.J.,
still a child herself when she goes to work
cleaning white folks’ houses, sees life as one
big challenge to stay safe. And Zach, an
idealistic Jewish law student at the University
of Chicago, thinks differences don’t matter and
expects everyone to live as he does.
From 1954 to 2002, these very different people experience Jim Crow;
the Great Migration; the civil rights,
anti-Vietnam War, and women’s movements; and
twenty-first-century conflicts surrounding voter
registration and the global economy.
Ultimately, as their lives intersect in miraculous ways, Joan, C.J.,
and Zach find that change has little to do with
where we live or what we’ve been taught. Rather,
change begins when we see ourselves in someone
else who appears to be different.
The Fog Machine is a story of possibilities and choices as family, societal, and
political values collide with individual fears
and relationships to predestine our prejudice,
yet enable us to change.
“History we should all know, delivered
with tension and tenderness,
disappointment and discovery, while deftly
blurring the line between fiction and
non-fiction and capturing Chicago as it
was and is.”
—Kristy Sweigard, member of
Chicago-area (LaGrange) Book Group
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From the hills of Mississippi to the shores of
Lake Michigan, there’s ample opportunity to rise
above the norm and every reason under the sun
not to.
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