Mike Royko

Mike Royko is a Pulitzer Prize-winner whose column in the Chcago Tribune is syndicated in 525 newspapers worldwide. In this, his sixth and possibly his funniest collection, he on, he takes on televangelists, Avon ladies, and elevator etiquette with customary verve.

A selection of one hundred of Royko's columns, from the last twenty years, includes lampoons of newspaper tycoon Rupert Murdoch and Ronald Reagan and portraits and anecdotes about Chicago and its inhabitants.

More than a decade's worth of essays by the Pulitzer Prize winning syndicated columnist capture the essence of big city American life, from neighborhood taverns to backroom politics. The human comedy has Mike Royko on the hip and we're all the better for it.

The 1973 collection compiles many of these columns, offering a humorous and insightful look at Chicago during that era. The book is considered both humorous and full of common-sense messages. Royko wrote more than 7,500 columns in his four-decade career, and "Slats Grobnik and Some Other Friends" remains one of his notable works.

The book is a collection of Royko's columns offering a vivid and often satirical portrayal of Chicago life and politics. Known for his pithy, vinegar-laced style, Royko captures the essence of the "Everyman" Chicago experience, drawing on his own background as the son of Polish-Ukrainian immigrants who grew up in an apartment above a bar. The columns range from poignant vignettes of local characters to sharp, satirical pieces that tackle social issues and local politics, reflecting the keen commentary that would later earn him a Pulitzer Prize in 1972.

In 1999, the University of Chicago Press published a collection of Mike Royko's columns, entitled One More 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 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.

74 p. ; 20 cm