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F. Richard Ciccone

Royko: A Life in Print Paperback – Illustrated, January 1, 2003

by F. Richard Ciccone (Author)

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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." Royko was by all accounts a difficult man, who would chew out his assistants every morning and retire to the Billy Goat Tavern every night. But his writing was magic. No one captured Chicago like Mike Royko. No one wrote with his honesty, his toughness, his passion, and his humor.

In this, the first comprehensive biography of one of the most important Chicagoans of the century, Dick Ciccone, a long-time colleague and editor of Royko's at the Chicago Tribune, captures Royko at his best and at his worst. We see Royko on his tenth drink of the afternoon. We see him sweating over columns minutes before deadline. We see him romancing his wife and torturing his legmen. We see him barbequeing ribs and riffing on politicians. Mike Royko was a man of the people. With his keen sense of justice and his murderous pen, he became the most widely read columnist in Chicago history. His column was syndicated in more than 600 newspapers across the country.

With 7500 columns spanning four decades, Royko's writing reflects a radically changing America. Royko not only tells the story of one of America's greatest newspapermen, but also explores the dramatic changes in journalism over the course of the twentieth century.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"An affectionate, admiring and generous biography of a talented, difficult man." -- The Washington Times

"Royko was a legend and fortunately, F. Richard Ciccone has written a biography worthy of its subject." -- The Miami Herald

About the Author

F. Richard Ciccone is a veteran Chicago newsman who has been a reporter for the Associated Press and political editor and metro editor for the Chicago Tribune. He is the author of Daley: Power and Presidential Politics, and Chicago and the American Century. He lives in Wilmette, Illinois.

Product details

Publisher : PublicAffairs; Illustrated edition (January 1, 2003)
Language : English
Paperback : 480 pages
ISBN-10 : 158648172X
ISBN-13 : 978-1586481728
Lexile measure : 1100L
Item Weight : 1.23 pounds
Dimensions : 5.5 x 1.07 x 8.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #3,759,112 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #5,889 in Journalist Biographies
- #19,239 in Author Biographies
- #21,935 in Biology (Books)

Customer Reviews:
14 ratings

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Franklin the Mouse

Journalism Loses A Great S.O.B.

Reviewed in the United States on April 19, 2009

Verified Purchase

No question, Mike Royko was one of the twentieth century's great columnists. Ironically, his obvious insecurities and constant need to be the center of attention, even to the detriment of his family and friends, are part of what made him such a fantastic, influential writer. This emotionally unpredictable and puerile, chain-smoking alcoholic lived and breathed for his column. Mr. Ciccone has written a frequently funny, crisp biography of an old-school journalist and how the changing nature of news content made him a target of the brainless politically-correct ethos. Sadly, no one who saw me reading this book knew who Mike Royko was. (Talk about the fleeting nature of fame!) Do yourself a favor. Read this biography then pick up some of his old columns and behold a true artist.

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Tom Murr

Learning about Mike Royko

Reviewed in the United States on May 27, 2017

Verified Purchase

If you want to learn and know about Mike Royko, then this will be a very good read for you. I have several books on Mike Royko and this one filled in some additional informaiton. It was a good read and enjoyable book.

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Kindle Customer

Warts and All view of Royko

Reviewed in the United States on June 12, 2004

Verified Purchase

This is a very long but well researched and well rounded biography of Royko. It shows his good and bad sides in an evenhanded fashion.
I've been a longtime Royko admirer and reader. He is the inspiration for the column that I write for the Richmond Daily Register. Having said that, I think this is one of best biographies ever written about Royko.
A complete and through study.
Don McNay
[...]

Helpful

Long Tom

The Incomplete Royko

Reviewed in the United States on June 21, 2019

This book is comprehensive about the life of the late Chicago journalist Mike Royko, full of details about his life, family, and career-and yet does not tell the whole story.

I admit I knew almost nothing about him except what I read in his column when it appeared in the Chicago Tribune. That he had addiction and mental problems was fleshed out, and how the newspaper industry and Chicago politics and the city in general had changed from Royko's childhood to his old age were covered, and how he and everyone else had to adapt. He was driven by principle and genuine morals but also by egotism and insecurity, even if he tried to cure his personal problems in his later years. And the book even points out some of Royko's hypocrisies such as chastising the Daley family for avoiding wartime combat when Royko did the exact same thing.

Yet what Ciccone fails to cover is that while Royko was certainly liberal by early twentieth-century standards, by his later years he became distinctly less liberal (rather then truly conservative). He was hardly sympathetic towards homosexuals and mentioned that homeless people were mostly people with mental problems (true or not), and while he mentioned how blacks suffered generations ago, he criticized them for their bad behavior in more modern times. He even laughed at the term "undocumented" as an euphemism for "illegal aliens".

And he did not always hit the nail on the head either. Royko turned out to be wrong about Reagan not only as a politician but as a person, and he also turned out to be wrong about Gary Dotson's being a rapist or Bob Greene's being a good journalist. The book says much about Royko, but could and should have been more accurate.

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mojosmom

Royko revealed

Reviewed in the United States on July 2, 2005

I'd strongly recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand Royko, Chicago politics, Chicago journalism, or just wants a good biography to read. Ciccone does an excellent job not merely describing Royko's roots, but showing how that affected the person he became.

Despite his brilliant writing, incisive political insights, and empathy for the ordinary Joe, Royko was a deeply troubled man. He was a severe alcoholic (as was his father before him), a workaholic who loved his family but was hardly ever around, a famous and successful columnist who was jealous of others and could hold a grudge like you wouldn't believe. When he remarried and started a second family (by adoption) after his first beloved wife's death, he spent more time on family things and tried to stop his self-destructive behavior, with limited success.

Ciccone does not hide Royko's warts (and they were many), although he does become a bit of an apologist about his later, nastier side.

Filled with anecdotes about Chicago's newspaper wars, sports teams (such as they are), its famous, infamous and not-famous-at-all, this will go on the shelf with all my other Chicagoana.

One irritant, though. Ciccone is a newsman. He was managing editor for the Chicago Tribune and teaches journalism. Did he not read the proofs? Did his editor not read the proofs? Aside from such annoyances as the constant use of the word "anabuse" when he means "Antabuse", and calling Mike and his wife "the Royko's", Ciccone occasionally, gets repetitious, telling stories more than once in a way that makes it clear that he thinks he's saying it for the first time.

But that's a minor quibble about an otherwise fine book.

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Royko: A Life in Print Paperback – Illustrated, January 1, 2003

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