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Cheeseburgers: The Best of Bob Greene
A harvest of articles about life in America in the eighties, including stories about the onset of middle age, about a chance reunion of high school friends, and flying on the Eastern Shuttle
- GenresNonfictionJournalism
318 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 1985
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About the author
Bob Greene
41 books52 followersRobert Bernard Greene, Jr., who writes as Bob Greene, is a journalist.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
December 17, 2019
I don't remember all his essays, but there was one about a teenage girl named Mary Jackson who loved the Beatles even though they were famous before she was born. That piece summed up so much of how I felt about listening to the Beatles when I was growing up.
July 28, 2020
When I reached a certain age, my parents decided that I was old enough to ride my bike a couple of miles into town to visit the public library on my own. I soon realized that I did not have to limit myself to the children’s section, so I began to make regular trips to the “grown up” room, where I kept seeing this book, with its silver background (reminiscent of a diner) and its orange font (just like melted cheese). That was enough to capture my interest. I think I checked it out of the library at least four times over the next few years.
Reading Cheeseburgers again now is thus a kind of double nostalgia. The book is a collection of columns that Bob Greene wrote for the Chicago Tribune and Esquire Magazine in the 1980s. Bob is a Boomer who grew up in a midwestern suburb, and that background shapes what he writes about. There is a fair amount about people and things from a supposedly simpler time, and there are also items about then-current trends and changes in society. Today, I read these stories with a more jaundiced eye (and occasional eye rolling) as I note the contradictions and hypocrisies, but there is something compelling about all the quirky Americana here. Bob Greene cares about these things, and he is interested in the people he writes about. When he gets a little snarky, it’s of a harmless midwestern variety, so nobody really gets hurt.
Reading Cheeseburgers again now is thus a kind of double nostalgia. The book is a collection of columns that Bob Greene wrote for the Chicago Tribune and Esquire Magazine in the 1980s. Bob is a Boomer who grew up in a midwestern suburb, and that background shapes what he writes about. There is a fair amount about people and things from a supposedly simpler time, and there are also items about then-current trends and changes in society. Today, I read these stories with a more jaundiced eye (and occasional eye rolling) as I note the contradictions and hypocrisies, but there is something compelling about all the quirky Americana here. Bob Greene cares about these things, and he is interested in the people he writes about. When he gets a little snarky, it’s of a harmless midwestern variety, so nobody really gets hurt.
February 4, 2018
Anything Bob Greene writes is perfect. Cheeseburgers is yet another example of his talent.
This is a collection of columns he wrote for Esquire magazine and the Chicago Tribune and captures the feel of the 1980s. It's before smart phones and, even, high speed internet, and Greene revels in that. He focuses merely on the heart of every story, the ironies of simpler times, the real people behind who we see on television or movie screen.
For example, he spends time with Mohammad Ali and he writes an amazing piece about following the famous, yet really odd, boxer. Ali makes a cricket noise with his thumb and forefinger and spent time doing that to unsuspecting people while traveling in Washington, D.C. He also shuts out people and seems to retire deep into his own being, Greene notes. I was reading this one in the Lake County, Ill., Health Department in Waukegan, Ill., some 40 miles north of Chicago and got a kick out of being in Bob Greene Country while reading his work.
He also writes of Frank Gifford and how he was the "coolest" guy in the room. Gifford comes across as an ass; Greene doesn't write with bias, he just notes the facts.
The book opens with Greene's visit of the Alamo in San Antonio and it's done well. He writes of how he believed the landmark was on the open plains of Texas and sought transportation there and back. He learned it was just down the street from his hotel, snug between Burger Kings, tire shops and other businesses. The disappointment of that is conveyed: He makes sure he details every type of modern equipment at the Alamo... the type of telephone the director uses, the computers there, what tee-shirts people are wearing etc. And the coup de gras: He is tired of the commercialization of the Alamo, so he checks a named airline schedule to see when his next flight is out. Brilliant.
There are also the gems of the people of the country he finds. People who would not be noticed unless he writes of them. There's the woman who tried to serialize a story about fictional woman who moved to New York and sell it as a newsletter. It failed. Later, she re-did the tale and had the woman become a porn star. Greene also writes of a trading newspaper that now offers personal hook-ups for married people.
Many stories feel as if Greene were transported from a different era and plopped down into the Eighties to scribe the events and the feel of that decade. It, like all his stuff, is well done and worth the read. I've read Cheeseburgers several times now and I still find new things after every read.
This is a collection of columns he wrote for Esquire magazine and the Chicago Tribune and captures the feel of the 1980s. It's before smart phones and, even, high speed internet, and Greene revels in that. He focuses merely on the heart of every story, the ironies of simpler times, the real people behind who we see on television or movie screen.
For example, he spends time with Mohammad Ali and he writes an amazing piece about following the famous, yet really odd, boxer. Ali makes a cricket noise with his thumb and forefinger and spent time doing that to unsuspecting people while traveling in Washington, D.C. He also shuts out people and seems to retire deep into his own being, Greene notes. I was reading this one in the Lake County, Ill., Health Department in Waukegan, Ill., some 40 miles north of Chicago and got a kick out of being in Bob Greene Country while reading his work.
He also writes of Frank Gifford and how he was the "coolest" guy in the room. Gifford comes across as an ass; Greene doesn't write with bias, he just notes the facts.
The book opens with Greene's visit of the Alamo in San Antonio and it's done well. He writes of how he believed the landmark was on the open plains of Texas and sought transportation there and back. He learned it was just down the street from his hotel, snug between Burger Kings, tire shops and other businesses. The disappointment of that is conveyed: He makes sure he details every type of modern equipment at the Alamo... the type of telephone the director uses, the computers there, what tee-shirts people are wearing etc. And the coup de gras: He is tired of the commercialization of the Alamo, so he checks a named airline schedule to see when his next flight is out. Brilliant.
There are also the gems of the people of the country he finds. People who would not be noticed unless he writes of them. There's the woman who tried to serialize a story about fictional woman who moved to New York and sell it as a newsletter. It failed. Later, she re-did the tale and had the woman become a porn star. Greene also writes of a trading newspaper that now offers personal hook-ups for married people.
Many stories feel as if Greene were transported from a different era and plopped down into the Eighties to scribe the events and the feel of that decade. It, like all his stuff, is well done and worth the read. I've read Cheeseburgers several times now and I still find new things after every read.
January 9, 2013
Lot of wonderful essays stacked in these cheeseburgers!
And this book came out in 1985, with much great writing still to come from Bob Greene.
These stories are from columns Bob wrote back in the 1980's for Esquire and the Chicago Tribune.
In San Antonio: "Where could I go, that was unspoiled by the rust of time? The Alamo!"
Turns out the Alamo is right across from Woolworth's and five other stores. Previously, the Alamo has contained a liquor store, hardware store, a police station, and a bank!
In "The Most Famous Man in the World", Greene describes the fascinating conversation he had with Muhammad Ali while seated next to him on a flight.
"Coolest Guy in the Room" is Frank Gifford, always doing the most glamorous things a man can do.
One of Greene's greatest concerns is that the world of books will be lost, replaced by TV. Now that is being replaced by texting and smart phones!
In "The Real Superman", Greene makes a persuasive case for George Reeves over Christopher Reeve.
"Louisville Slugger" describes Bob's joy at seeing his name inscribed on a gift bat commemorating the 100th anniversary for that model.
Turns out Greene lived in the Chicago Playboy Mansion for a week in 1973. Many celebrities and playmates were spotted!
This was a great collection, but I think Bob Greene got even better in his later books!
And this book came out in 1985, with much great writing still to come from Bob Greene.
These stories are from columns Bob wrote back in the 1980's for Esquire and the Chicago Tribune.
In San Antonio: "Where could I go, that was unspoiled by the rust of time? The Alamo!"
Turns out the Alamo is right across from Woolworth's and five other stores. Previously, the Alamo has contained a liquor store, hardware store, a police station, and a bank!
In "The Most Famous Man in the World", Greene describes the fascinating conversation he had with Muhammad Ali while seated next to him on a flight.
"Coolest Guy in the Room" is Frank Gifford, always doing the most glamorous things a man can do.
One of Greene's greatest concerns is that the world of books will be lost, replaced by TV. Now that is being replaced by texting and smart phones!
In "The Real Superman", Greene makes a persuasive case for George Reeves over Christopher Reeve.
"Louisville Slugger" describes Bob's joy at seeing his name inscribed on a gift bat commemorating the 100th anniversary for that model.
Turns out Greene lived in the Chicago Playboy Mansion for a week in 1973. Many celebrities and playmates were spotted!
This was a great collection, but I think Bob Greene got even better in his later books!
November 20, 2015
Good stuff. It's a shame the way this guy's life turned out.
June 13, 2022
A few days ago, I was in Chicago and I wanted something easy to read. I happened into After Words bookshop on East Illinois Street and found a signed copy of Bob Greene’s Cheeseburgers for about $10. The book turned out to be entertaining, but the columns vary in quality.
Cheeseburgers is a collection of columns that Greene wrote for various publications (primarily the Chicago Tribune and Esquire). Taken as a whole, they provide a nice time capsule of what was happening in 1980s America. Greene includes a strong introduction in which he writes that journalists often say that the best material often doesn’t make it into their published stories. Greene states that his goal is always to get his best material into print.
The best columns focus on people. Some of the more-memorable columns concern: a big man on campus during Greene’s day at Northwestern University who ended up doing manual labor for a living, men’s recollections of the devastation that they felt on being cut from sports teams as children, the very-explicit responses listeners sent to a San Antonio radio station regarding what they would do to meet heavy-metal band Motley Crue, and the death of a man who had been one of Greene’s classmates at Northwestern.
But a lot of the columns fall flat. Some of them just aren’t very interesting - for instance, a visit to the Alamo and a report on how Barbara Bush got a book published about her dog. Also, Greene’s celebrity profiles of Frank Gifford and Meryl Streep are both ho-hum.
It was impossible for me to read Cheeseburgers without thinking of how Greene would destroy his own career. In 2002, the Chicago Tribune forced Greene to resign after an investigation revealed that he had used his position with the paper to meet a 17-year-old girl with whom he had “an inappropriate relationship.” I knew all of this when I started reading the book - and it colored my perceptions of what I read. Certainly, I could not help but notice how many times Greene used his job to put himself in close proximity with young women. (For instance, he retook the SAT 20 years after graduating from high school and recounts the things that the teenaged girls taking the test said at the testing center. Also, Greene contacted the young women who submitted explicit responses to the “What-would-you-do-to-meet-Motley-Crue?” contest).
At its best, Cheeseburgers is very-good book. But the quality is uneven. If I saw another set of Greene’s columns, I might buy it. But I wouldn’t make a point to seek out such a book.
Cheeseburgers is a collection of columns that Greene wrote for various publications (primarily the Chicago Tribune and Esquire). Taken as a whole, they provide a nice time capsule of what was happening in 1980s America. Greene includes a strong introduction in which he writes that journalists often say that the best material often doesn’t make it into their published stories. Greene states that his goal is always to get his best material into print.
The best columns focus on people. Some of the more-memorable columns concern: a big man on campus during Greene’s day at Northwestern University who ended up doing manual labor for a living, men’s recollections of the devastation that they felt on being cut from sports teams as children, the very-explicit responses listeners sent to a San Antonio radio station regarding what they would do to meet heavy-metal band Motley Crue, and the death of a man who had been one of Greene’s classmates at Northwestern.
But a lot of the columns fall flat. Some of them just aren’t very interesting - for instance, a visit to the Alamo and a report on how Barbara Bush got a book published about her dog. Also, Greene’s celebrity profiles of Frank Gifford and Meryl Streep are both ho-hum.
It was impossible for me to read Cheeseburgers without thinking of how Greene would destroy his own career. In 2002, the Chicago Tribune forced Greene to resign after an investigation revealed that he had used his position with the paper to meet a 17-year-old girl with whom he had “an inappropriate relationship.” I knew all of this when I started reading the book - and it colored my perceptions of what I read. Certainly, I could not help but notice how many times Greene used his job to put himself in close proximity with young women. (For instance, he retook the SAT 20 years after graduating from high school and recounts the things that the teenaged girls taking the test said at the testing center. Also, Greene contacted the young women who submitted explicit responses to the “What-would-you-do-to-meet-Motley-Crue?” contest).
At its best, Cheeseburgers is very-good book. But the quality is uneven. If I saw another set of Greene’s columns, I might buy it. But I wouldn’t make a point to seek out such a book.
October 18, 2017
#93 of 120 books pledged to read in 2017
December 27, 2015
Cheeseburgers: The Best of Bob Greene by Bob Greene (Atheneum 1985) (818.0) is a collection of columns from Bob Greene's early newspaper writing. My rating: 5.0/10, finished 4/9/13.
August 19, 2013
Excellent!
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews