Pull up a stool, tap a beer, and immerse yourself in the world of
one of the twentieth century's most celebrated journalists. This
abundantly illustrated biography is the first account of the
colorful life of newspaperman Mike Royko, the Pulitzer
prize-winning columnist who personified Chicago in all its
rough-edged charm, yet whose talent was appreciated by readers
around the world.
In columns for the Chicago Daily News, then the Chicago
Sun-Times, and finally the Chicago Tribune, Royko's biting wit was
syndicated in more than 600 newspapers, and he was courted and
feared by national political figures. He was even the inspiration
for the John Belushi role in the film Continental Divide. But
Royko's beginnings could not have been more humble. Raised in a
flat above a tavern on Chicago's Polish Northwest Side, Royko --
like the marvelous character he created in his columns, Slats
Grobnik -- was a street-smart wiseguy, tending bar though barely a
teen.
Drawing on exclusive photos, letters, and interviews with
Royko's family and friends, author Doug Moe, himself a daily
newspaper columnist, chronicles Royko's remarkable rise to
prominence. Seemingly destined for jail or the morgue, the young
Royko enlisted in the air force and found his calling after lying
his way into a job on the base newspaper. The blunt humor that was
his sword as a writer was evident early, but readers will also meet
another Royko, a sensitive and often insecure man who wrote more
than 100 letters home to the sweetheart he would later marry, who
loved classical music as well as neighborhood bars, and who was
devastated by his first wife's death but made the most of his
second chance at marriage andfatherhood.
Royko honed his knowledge of Chicago politics as a reporter for
the legendary City News Bureau before meeting the grueling
challenge of a daily newspaper column. In 8,000 columns spanning
thirty-four years, Royko's most frequent subject was Chicago's
rambunctious politics. His book Boss, a best-selling expose on
Mayor Richard J. Daley and his political machine, appeared in 1971.
But Royko, who some said "wrote with his fists", also sparred with
U.S. presidents, bureaucrats and stuffed shirts, Frank Sinatra, and
proponents of political correctness and nouvelle cuisine. He also
praised and celebrated barbecued ribs and Chicago softball, the
fierce talent of Nelson Algren, the rich variety of Chicago's
neighborhoods, and the quiet dignity of ordinary people up against
it.
The millions of readers who have missed Royko since his death in
1997 are in for a rare treat, for in The World of Mike Royko he
lives again.
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