The Colonel: The Life and Legend of Robert R. McCormick, Indomitable Editor of the Chicago Tribune

[...]in 1908, in face of a managerial crisis at the Tribune, primarily founded in brother Medill's inability to deal with the pressure of running things, Robert became treasurer of the company and then in 1910, acting president. With direct access to his papers, Norton is able to treat the reader to the most personal of details about McCormick's life including his love affairs, as well as his other personal relationships, mansions, and travels. [...]the author is convincing in his analysis of his subject's psychology and insecurities as central sources of his actions, with McCormick always seeking to overachieve to prove his mother and family wrong. [...]this was a man who was no fool, and who worked for his success. [...]most importantly, Norton restores Robert R. McCormick to a rightfully central place in the history of Chicago, Illinois, and America during the first half of the twentieth century.