Joe Patterson's dictum about what the
public wants to read could be used to describe his family's saga.
“Love/sex, Money and Murder – in that order.” abound in the
pages of The Magnificent Medills, although murder is confined
to newspaper reporting. The book teems with colorful characters from
Joseph Medill the patriarch and founder of the newspaper, to the two
cousins, Bert Patterson and Joe McCormick, who kept the paper going,
and the unforgettable Cissy Patterson. In addition to the family,
historical personages from both the United States and Europe put in
appearances. Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, and Franklin D.
Roosevelt are featured. Famous writers appear, particularly in
Cissy's Parisian period: Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, and many
others. It's a marvelous picture of the newspaper world and the super
rich from before the Civil War through the Jazz Age and up to the
modern era.
I loved this book. The story moves
quickly from the lives of the Medills through the history of their
newspapers enterprises, particularly the Chicago Tribune and the New
York Daily News, and takes us into the politics of the day. It's a
book that's hard to put down.
I highly recommend the book. The
combination of engaging characters most of whom where very
successful, in business at least, coupled with a fascinating glimpse
of Chicago history is a winning combination.
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