Sez Who and Sez Me

Chicago columnist Mike Royko (1932-1997) was practically an addiction for many of his newspaper readers. Royko could be funny, satiric, sympathetic, self-deprecating, angry and irreverent - often in the same column. He believed in fair play, and stood up for the abused citizen and the little guy. Some say that Royko defined Chicago as the voice of the average man; middle class but burdened by taxes, job stress, family pressures, plus worries about health and crime. Sometimes Royko invoked his alter ego Slats Grobnik to make strong points, and he often poked fun at blowhard politicians and arrogant bureaucrats. I particularly enjoyed his columns about an 83-year old man who refused to exit a bus until the driver refunded his quarter, his successful attack on the Veteran's Administration for brushing off a disabled veteran, and his amusing reply to an angry letter from Frank Sinatra. This particular compilation is of daily columns he wrote for the Chicago Daily News and Chicago Sun-Times from 1973-1982. Readers might like several other Royko books, including "One More Time," "Slats Grobnik and Other Friends," and "Dr. Kookie, You're Right!"

This is a very funny and thought-provoking collection of newspaper columns from Royko, Chicago's great everyman. Includes such classics as: how to cure a hangover; an amusing rebuttal to a threatening letter from Frank Sinatra; and the story of a guy who climbed onto a stopped flatbed freightcar in order to get to his commuter train, only to have the freight train start into motion and carry him almost all the way to Iowa.

I rememeber when Mike Royko died Terry Gross of National Public Radio replayed an interview she did with Mike and he told a wonderful story about one of his best friends, Studs Terkel -- the man who wrote the Intro to this book.As Mike tells it: it seems as though one day Studs was walking home and he was mugged. And the guy doing the mugging all of a sudden RECOGNIZES Studs Terkel! And Studs being an oral historian, par excellence, starts talking to the guy! One could only imagine the inquisitiveness of someone like Studs Terkel. ... "Where are you from?" ... "How did you come to be a mugger?" ... "Could you describe the alienation that drove you to a life of crime?"I can't remember if Mike said that Studs pulled out his ubiquitous tape recorder, but it must have been quite a moment.Mike Royko and Studs Terkel -- two American originals! Two boats on the River of Redeeming Grace.

What's not to love? I discovered Mike Royko's column when I was only nine years old (I was a precocious child), and enjoyed his columns even after I left the Chicago area. I think I snickered through every single one of these compiled columns. His biting satire and insider's view of the Second City kept me hooked for years. And I certainly applaud his dig on Rupert Murdoch. It takes courage to stand up to the Corporate Giant. My only question: he was only 69 when he died?? Good heavens, I thought this man was about 80!!

Mike Royko died on my 37th birthday of a brain aneurysm, at age 64. His was journalism in the finest tradition - and this anthology of articles proves it well. Mike Royko was a journalist's journalist, and a guard dog of the common man and his liberty. His anthology shows us that it's possible to be both hardbitten and gruff without losing compassion, possible to be humorous yet cynical in the same breath, and possible to guard the freedoms of all who your written word reaches without becoming corrupted by the power that guardianship creates. This book is the legacy of a Guard Dog who protected the reputation of the Fourth Estate and the common man's rights with unfailing vigor, unswerving courage and indefatigable tenacity. Royko's breed of Guard Dog is dying out; but we can take comfort that his legacy to the common man - the articles and Pulitzer-Prize-winning style evident in this work - are eternal, and live on.