With the incisive pen of a newspaperman and the compassionate soul of a poet, Mike Royko was a Chicago institution who became, in Jimmy Breslin's words, "the best journalist of his time." Culled from 7500 columns and spanning four decades, from his early days to his last dispatch, the writings in this collection reflect a radically changing America as seen by a man whose keen sense of justice and humor never faltered. Faithful readers will find their...
Baltimore had its sage in H.L. Mencken. San Francisco had Herb Caen. Chicago surely owes a debt of gratitude to the late, great Mike Royko for his faithful reproductions of the comical tragedians - or is it tragic comedians? - who trod the stage of the City Hall and Cook County Courthouse. To laugh or not to laugh, that was always the Hamlet-like question that begged an answer at the end of every column Royko wrote. Royko...
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This book is a treat for Royko fans, and anybody curious about life in Chicago. Our city's greatest columnist, Mike Royko (1933-97) could be funny, bitter, sentimental, and self-deprecating, all in the same column. His use of alter ego Slats Grobnik was masterful. In plain English, Royko took on smug politicians, lazy bureaucrats, hypocrites, crooks and status seekers. He sympathized with underdogs, minorities and tavern...
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This is a book I'll go back to over and over. Everytime I need a lift, I pull it off the shelf and read through a couple of columns. Royko could be abrasive--most people either loved him or hated him. There was no neutral ground. He never backed down from an argument . He attacked pretension and phoniness like a pit bull. For anyone who has ever felt beaten down and stepped on by bureaucracy or red tape, pick up this...
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Mike Royko was the best American newspaper columnist ever. Like Johnny Carson did for late night television, Royko DEFINED what it means to be a columnist. Even if you do not reside in Chicago, your heart cannot help but be moved by the columns in which he tried to help the little people against whatever force (bureaucratic, criminal or otherwise) that was trying to trample them. Sometimes humorous, sometimes disdainful,...
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What amazes me about Royko is that his writing was able to penetrate the consciousness of three generations of readers. Studs Terkel, the classic old-time Chicogoan and a very accomplished writer in his own right, writes the forward to this book. Terkel has looked at Royko as the standard by which all writers from Chicago have measured themselves for the past thirty years. Nobody captured the spirit of the city in which...
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