Tom's Store

Advance Praise!

“Tom Tresser, public citizen to his core, has gone to extraordinary lengths to document his role in leading a coalition of activists to oppose Chicago’s Olympic Games bid. Tirelessly, he has crafted a riveting story of the uphill battle to bring daylight and transparency to public policy, asking vital questions about an enormous event with dubious benefits for Chicagoans. The narrative is part David vs Goliath, part Saul Alinksy, and part Tresser’s own dog-with-a-bone persistence. Placing the events in context and with detail, Tresser reasserts throughout a “public interest” over private and public-private interests, a central political battle in our neoliberal age.”

D. Bradford Hunt, Professor and Chair

Department of History, Loyola University Chicago. Co-author of Planning Chicago

"Tom Tresser has completed a remarkable book, meticulously documenting every step of No Games Chicago's successful campaign to stop the Olympic juggernaut from taking over the city. The book will serve as a key guide for future anti-Olympic organizations, providing practical strategies for effective resistance."

Helen Jefferson Lenskyj, Professor Emerita, University of Toronto, Author of Inside the Olympic Industry (2000), Olympic Industry Resistance (2008), The Olympic Games (2020)

"Citizens and taxpayers can fight back against these costly, wasteful Olympic bids when they get organized and marshal the facts. No Games Chicago gave us a template -- figuratively and literally -- for our success at doing so in Boston."

Chris Dempsey, Co-Founder, No Boston Olympics

"No Games Chicago is a good book to get and read to stop the locomotive of Chicago corruption and wanton spending of tax dollars on wasteful public projects. Chicago needs more activist coalitions to participate in such contemporary efforts as saving the bus station, scrapping the Bear's new stadium, and preserving the Maxwell Street Market." - Professor Steve Balkin, Roosevelt University

"Tom Tresser, one of the principal members of the resistance in Chicago to the summer 2016 Games bid, and his colleagues learned from other cities, including Vancouver, and clearly recognized that to stop the machine, they had to take the offensive and go to Lausanne, Switzerland and let the IOC know just how much grief they would get if they brought the Olympic circus to their city. They did, and the Chicago bid, which had been leading the other cities aiming for 2016 got wiped out in the first round of voting. Tresser’s story, Nobody Sent Us, is an inspiring one, teaching us clearly that Olympic bids can be stopped in their tracks if people only have the will. Resistance people in Boston, Tromsó (Norway), Calgary, and elsewhere used the success of No Games Chicago as an inspiration: the IOC (and local developers) can be beaten. It is a lesson that has had continuing impact on Games bids ever since. Tresser’s story is an important one that should be read by any group contemplating taking on the IOC’s greed machine. The take home message: start early during pre Games IOC deliberations, be aggressive and get in the IOC’s face, and finally take some risks if you want to save your city. Dr. Chris Shaw, co-leader of Vancouver anti-Games organizing, author of Five Ring Circus – Myths & Realities of the Olympic Games

"What was more notable about the case of the Chicago bid for the 2016 Olympics, however, was the creation of the No Games Chicago opposition. While the concerns of NGC were firmly rooted in mitigating the impact of the 2016 Olympics on their neighborhoods and their city, the creation of NGC was also something more. This org anization not only opposed the Chicago bid because its members feared. the negative consequences of holding a mega-event, but this grassroots group blazed a new trail by explicitly raising issues about the IOC, the host city contract, and the promises of the local bid committee. The actions of NGC to raise difficult questions about Olympic finances and who would pay helped to shift the conversation about the nature of the Chicago bid. Furthermore, NGC also developed innovative oppositional tactics, such as attending IOC meetings in protest, and developed connections to activists in other cities such as Vancouver, London, and Rio de Janeiro. As such, No Games Chicago marked an important transition in Olympic opposition."

Greg Andranovich & Matthew Burbank, from Contesting the Olympics in America Cities – Chicago 2016, Boston 2024, Los Angeles 2028

"In sports, grassroots activists are often up against powerful sports associations and their political allies. These struggles determine the future of cities, communities, and sports itself. The good news is: sometimes, the grassroots win. 'No Games Chicago' tells one of these stories."
Gabriel Kuhn, Playing as if the World Mattered: An Illustrated History of Activism in Sports

"What is dissent? The types of answers to such a question are debatable and can range from the highly academic to imaginative abstractions. But what is neither debatable, academic or abstract are the irreparable harms to the lives and spaces of the most vulnerable communities and neighborhoods in Chicago that was diverted (or at least delayed for the next fight) by the efforts of those engaged in No Games Chicago that are on full display within this book. So from just reading a few pages, the question that we should ask ourselves is not "what is dissent?" but what can come from it?
Prof. Rasul Mowatt, Department Head & Professor, Department of Parks, Recreation & Tourism Management, North Carolina State University

"No Games Chicago is the gripping story of the only organized group to fight the idiotic idea of a Chicago Olympic bid. It is the essential record of this important episode in Chicago history. That effort also seeded more than one reform effort in the city. Essential history well told."

Ed Bachrach, Co-author of The New Chicago Way: Lessons from Other Big Cities

The never before told story of No Games Chicago!

The 2016 Olympics hosted by Rio cost $24 billion!

We Did the Impossible!

Advance Praise!

The never before told story of No Games Chicago!

The 2016 Olympics hosted by Rio cost $24 billion!

We Did the Impossible!

Advance Praise!

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