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Sez Who? Sez Me
More than a decade's worth of essays by the Pulitzer Prize winning syndicated columnist capture the essence of big city American life, from neighborhood taverns to backroom politics.
320 pages, Paperback
First published October 25, 1982
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About the author
Mike Royko
28 books49 followersPulitzer prize columnist, Mike Royko was nationally known for his caustic sarcasm. Over his 30 year career he wrote for three leading Chicago newspapers, "The Daily News", "The Sun-Times", and "The Chicago Tribune", and was nationally syndicated.
The Polish-Ukranian son of a cab driver, Royko grew up on Chicago's southside and never left the city. At age 64, he died in Chicago of complications arising from a brain aneurysm in the spring of 1997. Royko was survived by his wife, Judy, a 9-year-old son, Sam, and 4-year-old daughter, Kate, as well as two grown children from his first marriage. His first wife, Carol, died in 1979.
The Polish-Ukranian son of a cab driver, Royko grew up on Chicago's southside and never left the city. At age 64, he died in Chicago of complications arising from a brain aneurysm in the spring of 1997. Royko was survived by his wife, Judy, a 9-year-old son, Sam, and 4-year-old daughter, Kate, as well as two grown children from his first marriage. His first wife, Carol, died in 1979.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
November 16, 2012
Being a collection of newspaper columns ranging from the early Seventies to the early Eighties, yes some of it is a little dated. But Royko's humor still resonates.
Growing up in Portland, I have fond memories of reading Royko's columns whenever they had appeared in the Oregonian. Now that I live in Chicago, some of the things that I didn't truly understand resonate clearly now.
The title is incorrect it should be: Sez Who? Sez Me.
Growing up in Portland, I have fond memories of reading Royko's columns whenever they had appeared in the Oregonian. Now that I live in Chicago, some of the things that I didn't truly understand resonate clearly now.
The title is incorrect it should be: Sez Who? Sez Me.
April 19, 2017
This book collects some of the best examples of Royko’s flair for writing about people and things he cares about, and some of the best examples of his somewhat typical “you’re partisan, I’m not” style of argument. He was very much a true-blue Democrat. He was vociferous when fighting injustice by the man, and he was outspoken arguing that we needed to give the man more power. In some ways, he reminds me of Peter Pan on the rock in Mermaid’s Lagoon, going from fighting Hook to blindly trusting him. Royko could rail like a madman against bureaucratic outrages, and then rail against people who didn’t want their tax money to go to those bureaucracies. And then go back to railing against bureaucratic outrages.
He has the very typical view of the left that taxes belong to the bureaucracies that get them. That is, that, once levied, a tax from then on belongs to the beneficiaries of the tax. Reducing those taxes is “taking away from” the beneficiaries, and giving to the taxpayer, as if that portion of their earnings, from then on, no longer belongs to them but to the government.
Sometimes I think the editor wanted to point out this hypocrisy, as an opinion piece will be paired with another that contradicts it, such as an editorial complaining about nonvoters who think it doesn’t matter who is in charge is followed by an editorial a year later complaining about people worrying who is in charge. A piece almost praising Daley’s poor language skills and imperiousness as being a reflection of hard-working immigrant values as against the upper classes is followed very closely by a piece on Nixon’s poor language skills and imperiousness reflecting poorly on him when compared with historical upper classes.
At one point—A Senator’s Scary Letter, from 1976—he came very close to arguing that cannibalism is just a matter of perspective, because a Republican was against it.
Some of the pieces in this, while well-written as Royko’s pieces usually are, appear to refer to events long-forgotten. One involves a satirical tale of very young (underage, I think) Samantha Fudley Crick having an affair with Abraham Lincoln. It would have worked perfectly as a response to Clinton defenders who claimed everyone does it, but this was 1976. I don’t recall Gerald Ford in any underage trysts, so I have no idea who it was about.
Others remain timely more than four decades later. At the end of a 1973 opinion piece complaining about government bureaucracies, and the VA in particular, he writes:
There were, and there still are. It amazes me that the left still uses the VA as an example of government-run health care done right.
This collection contains what are possibly my two favorite Royko opinion pieces. His John Wayne piece that heavily featured True Grit, from 1979, and his Nelson Algren piece from 1981. Reading that introduced me to Algren, who is, as Royko says, a great writer.
So is Royko, which is why I care so much when he twists the truth. These are well worth reading, some as a snapshot of the moment in time when they were written, and some timeless. It’s worth searching out.
He has the very typical view of the left that taxes belong to the bureaucracies that get them. That is, that, once levied, a tax from then on belongs to the beneficiaries of the tax. Reducing those taxes is “taking away from” the beneficiaries, and giving to the taxpayer, as if that portion of their earnings, from then on, no longer belongs to them but to the government.
Sometimes I think the editor wanted to point out this hypocrisy, as an opinion piece will be paired with another that contradicts it, such as an editorial complaining about nonvoters who think it doesn’t matter who is in charge is followed by an editorial a year later complaining about people worrying who is in charge. A piece almost praising Daley’s poor language skills and imperiousness as being a reflection of hard-working immigrant values as against the upper classes is followed very closely by a piece on Nixon’s poor language skills and imperiousness reflecting poorly on him when compared with historical upper classes.
At one point—A Senator’s Scary Letter, from 1976—he came very close to arguing that cannibalism is just a matter of perspective, because a Republican was against it.
Some of the pieces in this, while well-written as Royko’s pieces usually are, appear to refer to events long-forgotten. One involves a satirical tale of very young (underage, I think) Samantha Fudley Crick having an affair with Abraham Lincoln. It would have worked perfectly as a response to Clinton defenders who claimed everyone does it, but this was 1976. I don’t recall Gerald Ford in any underage trysts, so I have no idea who it was about.
Others remain timely more than four decades later. At the end of a 1973 opinion piece complaining about government bureaucracies, and the VA in particular, he writes:
If that is the way they do things, there must be a lot more Leroy Baileys out there.
There were, and there still are. It amazes me that the left still uses the VA as an example of government-run health care done right.
This collection contains what are possibly my two favorite Royko opinion pieces. His John Wayne piece that heavily featured True Grit, from 1979, and his Nelson Algren piece from 1981. Reading that introduced me to Algren, who is, as Royko says, a great writer.
So is Royko, which is why I care so much when he twists the truth. These are well worth reading, some as a snapshot of the moment in time when they were written, and some timeless. It’s worth searching out.
January 26, 2009
READ MORE ROYKO
March 3, 2013
Great collection of Royko's columns that are funny,moving and bitingly truthful! Love his style and always read his column when I grew up in the Chicago area.
March 3, 2013
Like Andy Rooney, he had something to say. The best I read in this book was "A Way Out For The Poor" September 23, 1981. He wrote about how Ronald Reagan and his "Reagannomics" cut Federal spending and gave more to the military. He took from programs that benefited the poor basically but never really took it from the rich as Royko said "if the government took the foolish approach of extracting more and more money from the rich, eventually the rich wouldn't be rich anymore. Doing away with the rich would mean the end of the two-party system in America. Once they were no longer rich, the rich wouldn't have a reason to remain Republicans. They'd probably become Democrats. And that might also destroy the Democratic Party."
Before Reagan, people cared about their jobs as the jobs at perks and benefits. After Reagan, jobs began losing those perks for the low income that forced people to get 2 or 3 jobs. As simple as a day off with pay on your birthday was gone after fucking Reagan. (Excuse language) and this is going on still with Obama and that other guy who had a that punk (yeah, Mitt Romney and that punk Ryan.) That's all I want to say about this before I get in trouble. Sorry.
Before Reagan, people cared about their jobs as the jobs at perks and benefits. After Reagan, jobs began losing those perks for the low income that forced people to get 2 or 3 jobs. As simple as a day off with pay on your birthday was gone after fucking Reagan. (Excuse language) and this is going on still with Obama and that other guy who had a that punk (yeah, Mitt Romney and that punk Ryan.) That's all I want to say about this before I get in trouble. Sorry.
February 2, 2010
"A true Chciago book," a friend says. The gnomish-looking man on the front cover notwithstanding, Mike Royko's Sez Who? Sez Me is enough Chicago writing to last for a good year. I don't know what that means. It just seemed like a cool thing to say at the time.
November 30, 2011
The old Chicago color stuff is good -- especially the column written on the occasion of Nelson Algren's death -- but when he's at his crankiest or boastful of his chauvinism or incessantly sarcastic the book becomes tedious.
October 19, 2015
A close second after "Up Against It," which, surprisingly enough, doesn't seem to be on the list here. Classic late '70s Royko, all knuckles and bourbon.
January 23, 2019
Read Wes' critique. I too grew up in Portland and read Royko's column. He was witty and knowing. Now this book is somewhat passé but still good!
April 30, 2020
Grew up on a steady diet of Royko. Don't know how he holds up these days. But he definitely embodied a moment in Chicago's history.
November 12, 2022
Marvelous as ever. Royko at his very best.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews