Besides recounting the exemplary life of Monsignor John Joseph Egan, An Alley in Chicago briefs us on the firebrand priests and lay people who radiated the power and élan that made Catholics across the country look to the heartland, to Chicago's Catholic moment. They sought leadership in marriage education, in neighborhood empowerment, in urban ministries, in ecuminism, in race relations, in community organizing, from these indefatigable Chicago leaders-and they got it.