Word: royko
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Royko's columns are so good that it's difficult to review them. The temptation is to quote from as many as possible. Suffice it to say that Royko can only be compared to H.L. Mencken...
Mencken drew his strength from Baltimore, the way Royko draws his from Chicago, the way Antacus drew his strength from his mother. Earth Royko's Chicago, the city of Nelson Algren (eulogized by his friend in this collection) is more bustling, alive and bursting with strength than Baltimore. Perhaps that's why Royko's essays seem more alive and compelling than Mencken...
...Compare Royko and Mencken's nostalgic reminiscences of crooked coroners. Here, is Mencken, from the 1942 Newspaper Days...
...excellent and enjoyable memory, but Royko's speaks louder, perhaps because he is chronologically closer to our ears...
...Royko writes about a host of subjects in the hundred columns, all with the same scepticism and humor. He's not just a humorist, of course--as his life-long feud with Mayor Daley can attest--but this collection does not include his anti-Daley columns. Royko alternately exhibits conservative and liberal tendencies without contradiction: he simply exercises good common sense and defies facile labels...