"The best book ever written about an American city, by the best journalist of his time."—Jimmy Breslin.

For more than 30 years, Mike Royko was a part of the daily fabric of Chicagoans’ lives, penning often humorous and always honest columns first for the Chicago Daily News, then the Sun-Times, and finally the Tribune. Culled from thousands of his Tribune columns and edited by his son David Royko, this collection offers up his best material from the last stage in his career, which was cut short by his premature death in 1997.

"You'll laugh. You'll cry. Royko's genius is pure Chicago."-Ann Landers
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 a second volume of Royko's columns would appear. With more than a hundred vintage Royko columns and a foreword by Roger Ebert, this book is the answer.

Combining the incisive pen of a newspaperman and the compassionate soul of a poet, Mike Royko became a Chicago institution--in Jimmy Breslin's words, "the best journalist of his time." "Early Royko: Up Against It in Chicago" will restore to print the legendary columnist's earliest writings, which chronicle 1960s Chicago with the moral vision, ironic sense, and razor-sharp voice that would remain Royko's 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 Royko's 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 Royko's penetrating gaze--and 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 Royko's 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 Royko's 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 began--Chicago and Royko, Royko and Chicago--and how it endures."

Mike Royko wrote a daily column for nearly 35 years - at first for the "Chicago Daily News", then the "Sun-Times", and finally the "Tribune" - and his Pulitzer Prize-winning commentary was syndicated in more than 600 newspapers nationwide. Pretension and hypocrisy were his targets, and his well-aimed salvos, delivered with blunt honesty and penetrating wit, w on him fans and foes alike. This text collects the best of Royko's columns from his career. 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 sense of justice and humour never faltered. Included in this volume are columns such as: the stories of his childhood as recollected by himself and his pal, "Slats" Grobnik; his modern-day Christmas parable of Mary and Joseph looking for a room in Chicago; "A Faceless Man's Plea," the tale of woe that in one day had Richard Nixon publicly reversing the Veterans Administration; his account of Frank Sinatra's threat to punch him in the eye; the column he wrote about how his feet had always disappointed him; his pieces on racism; and his amusing attacks on political correctness. Putting each decade into perspective are introductions by Lois Wille, Royko's friend and colleague at all three Chicago dailies.