Reviews for The World of Mike Royko

The average rating for The World of Mike Royko based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2018-11-27 00:00:00 Sean Norton There has been no newspaper columnist quite like Royko. Since he passed away in 1997, no one has replaced him. For me, he became important reading in the late 60s and through the 70s-- but I have to admit that I didn't follow him so faithfully in the 80s and 90s. Above all, to me, he represented Chicago--he WAS Chicago if you could distill a great metropolis down to one human being. In this 1999 book by Madison, WI journalist Doug Mo, we get a great overview of his life: his family background, growing up in a Chicago neighborhood (the Polish Northwest Side), doing his stint in the military and getting into the newspaper business--and so on. I knew a lot of the story, but not all that was presented by Moe. He drew upon letters and interviews with Mike's family, and along with the many photographs illustrating the book, brings the never-to-be-forgotten Mike Royko to life.

Review # 2 was written on 2007-12-22 00:00:00 Adam Black Published in 2005, this excellent collection of essays and commentaries suffers only from the sad fact that the political pieces, written during and about the George W. Bush administration, now seem somehow quaint. It is difficult to re-summon the outrage over lying about WMD in this 'post-truth' era of Trump where the lying has been elevated to the pathological. That being said, Moyers is a wonderful writer and the pieces about journalists and journalism, in particular, are pure-gold as is the essay, "Looking Back", about his experience of working for LBJ. Bill Moyers belongs on the Mt. Rushmore of American journalism.