The Colonel: The Life and Legend of Robert R. McCormick, 1880Ð1955
Robert R. McCormick, longtime owner and editor of the Chicago Tribune during the first half of this century, makes today's media barons seem bland. The likes of Ted Turner and Rupert Murdoch could learn a thing or two from this colorful and witty biography by an accomplished biographer/historian and director of the Gerald R. Ford Museum and Library. One of McCormick's prep school classmates at Groton was Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was to remain a lifelong rival. The characters here represent a crosssection of early 20th-century Americana, including McCormick's newspaper nemesis, William Randolph Hearst (see W.A. Swanberg's Citizen Hearst, LJ 8/61), Henry Ford, and Al Capone. Some of the best moments in the book are Smith's descriptions of Chicago at the turn of the century, when the term newspaper wars could be taken literally. Highly recommended for journalism and Chicago history collections.?Bruce D. Rosenstein, USA Today Lib., Arlington, Va.Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.