32 BOSS
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By Borowy26 “Hank
The Lord Mayor from Bridgeport, January 15, 2009
This review is from: Boss: Richard J. Daley of Chicago
When “Boss” was originally released, the late Eleanor “Sis” Daley, the wife of Mayor Richard J. Daley, decried Mike Royko as a “hater.” That was high praise, indeed. Although superseded in some respects, this book remains relevant.
This entertaining book is a snapshot of the Daley and the Cook County Democratic Machine that he fine tuned and perfected. It was written at the approximate time of the conclusion of Daley’s fourth mayoral term. He would be returned to office twice more, for a total of six consecutive mayoral election victories, but he died in office in 1976 before the completion of his last term.
Daley ruled the city from 1955 until his death. His son, Richard M. Daley, is fast approaching his father’s record for mayoral longevity. Unlike his father, however, Richard M. Daley, rarely faced meaningful opposition from a viable Republican Party. The son’s few electoral fights have been intraparty affairs. Richard M. Daley had to contest elections against an opposition party that was still capable of electing Republican candidates into such important county offices as State’s Attorney, Sheriff, Treasurer, School Superintendent and County Board President at intervals.
I always regretted the fact that “Boss” was Mike Royko’s only full length book. Yes, there were other books issued that made use of Royko’s name, but, in reality, these were merely compilations of his previously published daily newspaper columns.
Royko was a popular columnist with the late, great “Chicago Daily News,” perhaps the last great newspaper to be published in the city. Afterwards, he continued to type op-ed columns for “The Chicago Sun-Times” and, after Rupert Murdoch purchased the Sun-Times, he concluded his career at “The Chicago Tribune.” Royko was still a regular featured columnist at the Tribune at the time of his death. When he was on the top of his game, the cynical Royko was a worthy successor to Peter Finley Dunne.
April 22nd, 2010 at 1:29 am
I’m Mike’s eldest (approaching 51), and I miss him even more as time passes. I believe he would’ve retired soon had he not died in 1997, and I always hoped he’d write more books. Obviously he was terrific at it, but realize that he didn’t take a hiatus from the column to write Boss, and except for the last few years (when he wrote 4), from 1963, he wrote 5 columns a week, an extraordinary achievement, especially considering his consistency and frequent brilliance. The one book (fiction) he was writing–a couple of chapters were done–was pulled up on his computer by a guest who wished to read it, and then somehow deleted it. Dad always said afterward that it was crap anyway, which unfortunately is very unlikely. Ah well.
Dave Royko