Andys a bartender in North Austin in the late 1970s. For years hes been slinging beers to corrupt cops and fat Zenith employees but given the neighborhoods ongoing decline and his own serious health issues hes starting to wonder how long it can go on. Hes serving workers from a dying factory in a dying neighborhood he sees crime on the riseand he decides to become a criminal himself. North and Central perfectly evokes Chicago in the epic winter of 7879the bleak season of blizzards and disco and John Wayne Gacycapturing the city in microcosm through the denizens of one bluecollar watering hole. If Springsteen and Bukowski had teamed up to write a story about a Chicago bar theyd have been hard pressed to do better than this its an antiCheers a bittersweet story about a place where everybody knows your nickname and theyre tired of you coming around because youre a degenerate. But its more than just a static portrait its a gripping and moving story destined to earn its own place among the classics of Chicago literature.