Bill and Lori Granger. Lords of the Last Machine: The Story of Politics in Chicago. New York: Random House, 1987. Pp. 242. $18.95.

Bill and Lori Granger set the stage for their study of the complexities of Chicago's political machine by summarizing politics in the second city with a quote from Chicago Tribune editor Dick Ciccone: ''Politics is about money.'' Fortunately for the reader, the book goes beyond this simplistic, but accurate, description. The book provides a brief but rich history of Chicago politics since the 1880s. Beginning with the Republican father-and-son team of the Harrison family (Carter I and II), who each served five times as mayor of Chicago between 1879 and 1915, the authors trace the circuitous path to power that made both Republicans and Democrats political bosses of the city from 1879 until the 1980s.

The familiar stories of Hinky Dink Kenna, Bathhouse Coughlin, Big Bill Thompson and Richard J. Daley are mixed with less familiar histories of early machine innovators like George Brennan and Roger Sullivan. The authors remind us that the Irish-dominated machine recognized the political necessity of being an equal opportunity employer. The cooperation of many ethnic groups was necessary to assure the electoral success of the machine. Thus, power brokers in Chicago history include West Side bohemian Anton Cermac, Jewish boss Jack Arvey, Croatian Edward Vrdolyak, Italian Vito Marzullo, Pole Dan Rostenkowski and black Congressman Bill Dawson, who was instrumental in launching Richard J. Daley's political career.

While their personalities and exploits dominate the book, its value ultimately rests in its thoughtful insights. Two areas of analysis are of particular interest.

The first is the book's examination of the historical tension that has always existed between the city's white and black communities. The authors discuss this history perceptively and frankly, beginning with the race riots of 1919, continuing with the riots during the spring of 1968, and conluding with the 1983 mayoral campaign, when one of the last of the machine lords, Edward Vrdolyak, shouted angrily, "Don't make any mistake — this is about race!" To understand contemporary Chicago politics is, in effect, to understand the politics of race. Paradoxically, however, the authors accurately point out, "It is impossible to write of racial hatred because it is not the stuff of words, not intellectual, but it is in the bone."

Second, the authors also place into context, 10 years after his death, the greatest lord of the machine, Mayor Richard J. Daley. His intelligence and political brilliance, as well as his love of the city, are balanced with an incisive analysis of "the city that worked" under Daley, an effect often achieved with mirrors. Multiple tax districts and state support of the city's welfare system and charity hospital, which helped keep city taxes down, combined with Daley's uncanny ability to draw on expanding federal subsidies during his reign, contributed to his miracle worker image. According to the Grangers, "people who should have known better really thought he was God" — and he wasn't. Daley did not have answers to a number of serious questions facing Chicago. For example, he had no solutions to the middle-class white flight from the city and he never chose to confront black-white tensions in Chicago. The "Boss," who was so successful in resolving many of Chicago's short-term problems, was, after all, mortal — a reality often lost in the myth of the man and the city.

Likewise, Lords of the Last Machine has its shortcomings. Its brevity, while making it more accessible to general readers, accounts for the book's lack of depth when compared to the writings, for example, of Milton Rakove or Paul Green. Footnotes are erratic (some quotes are footnoted, others aren't), and at times irrelevant to the story (the citation, for example, of a book analyzing the impoverished Irish diet and its consequences in 1847). It is also regrettable that the publication couldn't have been delayed until after the 1987 mayoral elections or the September 1987 announcement (somewhat predictable) by former Cook County Democratic party leader Edward Vrdolyak that he was joining the Republican party. One can only hope that the Grangers will write more on the demise of the machine during the Bilandic, Byrne and Washington administrations.

Given these few limitations, Lords of the Last Machine is an entertaining and readable book. Bill and Lori Granger have written a brief but thoughtful review of the history of the Chicago machine. It is, with few exceptions, a balanced picture — an effort to separate myth from reality.

Alan R. Gitelson is professor of political science and chairman of the Department of Political Science at Loyola University of Chicago. His books include American Political Parties: Stability and Change: American Politics; and Public Policy and Economic Institutions.