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Revisiting Royko's realm

April 29, 2001 Chicago Sun Times

BY MARK BROWN STAFF COLUMNIST

The trouble with being a newspaper columnist in Chicago is that you can never really measure up to the standard set by Mike Royko.

You can imitate him wholesale. You can steal a few of his tricks. You can go in the opposite direction and try to be the un-Royko. Or you can wise up and "find your own voice," as they like to say in the column-writing racket.

But you will never write as good a column as he did, a truth that can be as intimidating as Royko himself.

Four years after his death, Royko is still the standard by which all others in town must be judged, and all still suffer in the comparison.

The freshest evidence of Royko's genius is hitting the bookstores now.

For the Love of Mike is the second major collection of Royko's greatest hits to be published since he died in 1997.

As with the previous collection, One More Time, his columns stand the test of time, more clearly qualifying as great literature with each passing year.

We're printing some excerpts today from the new book, using columns that previously appeared in the Sun-Times and Daily News.

These columns will remind you of how funny Royko was, how tough he could be, and how much he knew about our city and the human condition.

If they also may remind you that you haven't read anybody that good since he departed, please know that those of us who follow in his path are more aware of that than anybody else.

When you finish the excerpts, go out and get the book. You can bet that we will.

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-- Lars (larsguy@yahoo.com), April 29, 2001

Answers

The Royko Archives

-- Lars (larsguy@yahoo.com), April 29, 2001.

Geez I liked him.

-- sumer (sh@aol.con), April 30, 2001.