( Combining the incisive pen of a newspaperman and the co...)
Combining the incisive pen of a newspaperman and the compassionate soul of a poet, Mike Royko became a Chicago institutionin Jimmy Breslins words, "the best journalist of his time." Early Royko: Up Against It in Chicago will restore to print the legendary columnists earliest writings, which chronicle 1960s Chicago with the moral vision, ironic sense, and razor-sharp voice that would remain Roykos trademark. This collection of early columns from the Chicago Daily News ranges from witty social commentary to politically astute satire. Some of the pieces are falling-down funny and others are tenderly nostalgic, but all display Roykos unrivaled skill at using humor to tell truth to power. From machine politicians and gangsters to professional athletes, from well-heeled Chicagoans to down-and-out hoodlums, no one escapes Roykos penetrating gazeand resounding judgment. Early Royko features a memorable collection of characters, including such well-known figures as Hugh Hefner, Mayor Richard J. Daley, and Dr. Martin Luther King. But these boldfaced names are juxtaposed with Roykos beloved lesser knowns from the streets of Chicago: Mrs. Peak, Sylvester "Two-Gun Pete" Washington, and Fats Boylermaker, who gained fame for leaning against a corner light pole from 2 a.m. Saturday until noon Sunday, when his neighborhood tavern reopened for business. Accompanied by a foreword from Rick Kogan, this new edition will delight Roykos most ardent fans and capture the hearts of a new generation of readers. As Kogan writes, Early Royko "will remind us how a remarkable relationship beganChicago and Royko, Royko and Chicagoand how it endures."
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0226730778/?tag=2022091-20
( Mike Royko: The Chicago Tribune Collection 1984?1997 is...)
Mike Royko: The Chicago Tribune Collection 1984?1997 is an expansive new volume of the longtime Chicago news legends work. Encompassing thousands of his columns, all of which originally appeared in the Chicago Tribune, this is the first collection of Royko work to solely cover his time at the Tribune. Covering politics, culture, sports, and more, Royko brings his trademark sarcasm and cantankerous wit to a complete compendium of his last 14 years as a newspaper man. Organized chronologically, these columns display Royko's talent for crafting fictional conversations that reveal the truth of the small-minded in our society. From cagey political points to hysterical take-downs of "meatball" sports fans, Royko's writing was beloved and anticipated anxiously by his fans. In plain language, he "tells it like it is" on subjects relevant to modern society. In addition to his columns, the book features Royko's obituary and articles written about him after his death, telling the tale of his life and success. This ultimate collection is a must-read for Royko fans, longtime Chicago Tribune readers, and Chicagoans who love the city's rich history of dedicated and insightful journalism.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00PSSEMLM/?tag=2022091-20
(In this collection of New York Times best-selling author ...)
In this collection of New York Times best-selling author Michael Levin's journalism and blog pieces, he's funny, angry, delighted, outraged, frustrated, and relieved, sometimes all at the same time. If you read only one book this year, maybe you should read something more useful. But with Levin, you'll have fun on every page.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0006BWB0A/?tag=2022091-20
( With the incisive pen of a newspaperman and the compass...)
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 old favorites and develop new ones, while the uninitiated have the enviable good fortune of experiencing this true American voice for the first time. "A treasure trove lies between these covers. Royko was in a class by himself. He was a true original."Ann Landers "The joy of One More Time is Royko in his own words."Mary Eileen O'Connell, New York Times Book Review "Reading a collection of Royko's columns is even more of a pleasure than encountering them one by one, and that is a large remark for he rarely wrote a piece that failed to wake you up with his hard-earned moral wit. Three cheers for Royko!"Norman Mailer "Powerful, punchy, amazingly contemporary."Neil A. Grauer, Cleveland Plain Dealer "This crackling collection of his own favorite columns as well as those beloved by his fans reminds us just how much we miss the gruff, compassionate voice of Mike Royko."Jane Sumner, Dallas Morning News "A marvelous road map through four decades of America."Elizabeth Taylor, Chicago Tribune Books "Royko was an expert at finding universal truths in parochial situations, as well as in the larger issueswar and peace, justice and injustice, wealth and povertyhe examined. Think of One More Time as one man's pungent commentary on life in these United States over the last few decades."Booklist "Royko was one of the most respected and admired people in the business, by readers and colleagues alike. . . . Savor his sketches while you can."Jonathan Yardley, Washington Post Book World "Book collections of columns aren't presumed to be worth reading. This one is, whether or not you care about newspapering or Chicago."Neil Morgan, San Diego Union-Tribune "A treasure house for journalism students, for would-be writers, for students of writing styles, for people who just like to laugh at the absurdity of the human condition or, as Studs Terkel said, for those who will later seek to learn what it was really like in the 20th century."Georgie Anne Geyer, Washington Times "Full of astonishments, and the greatest of these is Royko's technical mastery as a writer."Hendrik Hertzberg, New Yorker "A great tribute to an American original, a contrarian blessed with a sense of irony and a way with words."Bob Minzesheimer, USA Today "In this posthumous collection of his columns, journalist Royko displays the breezy wit that made him so beloved in the Windy City."People
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0226730727/?tag=2022091-20
( In 1999, the University of Chicago Press published a co...)
In 1999, the University of Chicago Press published a collection of Mike Royko's columns, entitled One More Time: The Best of Mike Royko. The response was immediate and overwhelming—readers almost instantly began asking when the second volume of Royko columns would appear. With more than a hundred vintage Royko columns and a foreword by Roger Ebert, For the Love of Mike was the answer. Royko, a nationally syndicated Pulitzer Prize winner, wrote for three major Chicago newspapers in the course of his 34 years as a daily columnist. Chosen from more than 7,000 columns, For the Love of Mike brings back more than a hundred vintage Royko pieces-most of which have not appeared since their initial publication-for readers across the country to enjoy. This second collection includes Royko's riffs on the consequences of accepting a White House dinner invitation (not surprisingly, he turned it down); his explanation of the notorious Ex-Cub Factor in World Series play; and his befuddlement at a private screening of Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, to which he was invited by his pal Ebert, the screenplay's author. The new collection also illuminates Royko's favorite themes, topics he returned to again and again: his skewering of cultural trends, his love of Chicago, and his rage against injustice. By turns acerbic, hilarious, and deeply moving, Royko remains a writer of wit and passion who represents the best of urban journalism. "To read these columns again is to have Mike back again, nudging, chuckling, wincing, deflating pomposity, sticking up for the little guy, defending good ideas against small-minded people," writes Roger Ebert in his foreword to the book. For the Love of Mike does indeed bring Mike back again, and until a Chicago newspaper takes up Ebert's suggestion that it begin reprinting each of Royko's columns, one a day, this collection will more than satisfy Royko's loyal readers.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0226730743/?tag=2022091-20
( Street-smart, wickedly funny, piercingly perceptive, an...)
Street-smart, wickedly funny, piercingly perceptive, and eloquent enough to win a Pulitzer Prize, Mike Royko continues to have legions of devoted fans who still wonder what Royko would have said about some outrageous piece of news. One thing he hardly ever wrote or talked about, though, was his private life, especially the time he shared with his first wife, Carol. She was the love of his life, and her premature death at the age of forty-four shook him to his soul. Mikes unforgettable public tribute to Carol was a heart-wrenching column written on what would have been her forty-fifth birthday, November Farewell. His most famous and requested piece, it was the end of an untold story. Royko in Love offers that storys moving and utterly beguiling beginning in letters that Mick Royko, then a young airman, wrote to his childhood sweetheart, Carol Duckman. He had been in love with her since they were kids on Chicagos northwest side, but she was a beauty and he was, well, anything but. Before leaving for Korea, he was crushed to hear she was getting married, but after returning to Blaine Air Force Base in Washington, he learned she was getting a divorce. Mick soon began to woo Carol in a stream of letters that are as fervent as they are funny. Collected here for the first time, Roykos letters to Carol are a mixture of sweet seduction, sarcastic observations on military life, a Chicago kids wry view of rural folk, the pain of self-doubt, and the fear of losing what is finally so close, but literally so far. His only weapons against Carols many suitors were his pen, his ardor, and his brilliance. And they won her heart.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0226730786/?tag=2022091-20
Ethnicity:
His mother was Polish, and his father was Ukrainian (born in Dolyna).
Mike Royko was born on September 19, 1932 in Chicago, Illinois, United States. He was born to Michael (a Ukrainian-American saloon keeper) and Helen Zak (a Polish-American saloon keeper) Royko. He grew up in a predominately Polish neighbourhood on Chicago's northwest side.
Reports on Royko's early education range from his leaving school at 16 to his holding jobs as a bartender from the ages of 13 to 19 to his being sent to Montefiore High School after several arrests. He attended Wright Junior College (now Wilbur Wright College), left it when he was 19 to become an Air Force radio operator in Korea.
After discharge from the Air Force, Royko returned to Chicago and began a series of low-paying newspaper jobs, in time actually securing employment with the Daily News. In 1962 he was given a weekly column called "County Beat" with the assignment of commenting on local government and politics. This proved a popular feature, particularly as he made fun of the "payrollers, " those who avoided ever working even though paid by Cook County or the city of Chicago. By 1963 he was awarded a daily column, "Mike Royko, " where he could write on any subject that took his fancy. This column continued until 1978 when the Daily News ceased publication. Royko moved to the Chicago Sun Times until 1983 when he shifted to the Chicago Tribune where he wrote a daily column, three of which were syndicated each week by Tribune Media Services to nearly 600 newspapers.
Royko was ostensibly a liberal journalist, but a liberal journalist with a sense of the outrage of the common citizen. Therefore, he was at the forefront of those who questioned Gary Hart's judgment rather than his morals, had a nationally celebrated fight with AT & T, and wrote a column castigating those social workers who were attempting to get men in pool rooms to find regular jobs.
Viewed as one of the few political or social journalists with "clout," Royko was seen as influential on both the Chicago and the national scenes. Despite this vision of influencing politics, Royko was at his best when writing through the voice of his alter ego, Slats Grobnik, the stereotypical beer-drinking, pool-playing, bar-sitting, white male Chicago ethnic. Slats spoke with Royko's concept of the common man, the person who cannot make sense of racism, ethnic purification, political correctness, the Chicago Cubs, police corruption, or television evangelists. Once when commenting on the problems of the governor of Alaska, who was accused of helping his friends, Slats questioned what politics was all about. It certainly wasn't about helping your enemies.
Royko published several books, mostly, as with Slats Grobnik and Some Other Friendsor Like I Was Saying, these were collections of his columns. The exception was his 1971 work on Richard Daley, mayor of Chicago, Boss: Richard J. Daley of Chicago. Boss was a significant exploration of machine politics in a big city. Though the book received mixed reviews from both professional politicians and urban scholars, there is no doubt it was a valuable, insightful, amusing artifact of what might be the last of the great urban political machines.
He was actively involved as a writer for four decades and in the mid 1990s demonstrated no sign of future inactivity. He suggested that he might eventually write only about golf but, fortunately for the reader, he continued to pierce, with ridicule and humor, those who use and abuse authority.
By the mid-90s, Royko's earthy, blue collar perspective ran him afoul of activist identity groups. A number of his columns offended gays and lesbians, women, Mexican-Americans, and African-Americans. He also managed to offend Croatian-Americans and the police. He survived demands that he be fired and retained his intensely loyal reader base and his wide circulation.
Royke died at age 64, on April 29, 1997, while vacationing in Florida. In Chicago, his death was covered in a manner befitting a major public figure with television team coverage from his favorite hangouts and from the offices of the Chicago Tribune. The outpouring of tributes and accolades rank him with Ben Hecht, Ernest Hemingway, and Carl Sandburg, all of them Chicago journalists who earned national literary stature.
Over his long career, Royko wrote over 7,500 daily columns for three newspapers, the Chicago Daily News, the Chicago Sun-Times, and the Chicago Tribune.
In 1972 Royko received the Pulitzer Prize for commentary. Mike Royko was inducted as a Laureate of The Lincoln Academy of Illinois and awarded the Order of Lincoln (the State’s highest honor) by the Governor of Illinois in 1983 in the area of Communications. In 2011, Royko was inducted into the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame.
( Street-smart, wickedly funny, piercingly perceptive, an...)
(In this collection of New York Times best-selling author ...)
( With the incisive pen of a newspaperman and the compass...)
( Combining the incisive pen of a newspaperman and the co...)
( In 1999, the University of Chicago Press published a co...)
( Mike Royko: The Chicago Tribune Collection 1984?1997 is...)
Royko was generally unsupportive of political correctness, of those who are young and fail to function within the political system, of police departments that fail to protect the average person, and of those politicians who see people as part of the problem. Royko was credited with first calling former California Governor Jerry Brown "Governor Moonbeam," and he rarely saw virtue in those who voiced the idea of the criminal as the victim.
In 1954 Mike Royko married Carol Duckman. They had two sons, David, born in 1960, and Robbie, born in 1964. In 1979 Carol died of a cerebral hemorrhage. In 1985 Royko married Judy Arndt, and they had two children, a son Samuel and a daughter Katherine.
