Rick Kogan

An updated and expanded edition of The Eli’s Cheesecake Cookbook, released in celebration of the 40th anniversary of Eli’s Cheesecake. The story of Eli’s Cheesecake began more than forty years ago. It rose to prominence originally as the featured dessert at one of Chicago’s most popular restaurants: Eli’s The Place for Steak, a classic steakhouse, pillar of the city’s culinary community, and noted celebrity watering hole. This book details the storied history of one of the nation’s most famous desserts, all the way from Eli Schulman’s first cheesecake to President Obama’s 50th birthday cake to the creation of four towering, 2,000 lb. cheesecakes served at inaugural festivities in Washington, DC. The second edition of the Eli's Cheesecake Cookbook has been fully expanded and updated in honor of the 40th anniversary of Eli's Cheesecake. In addition to the classics featured in the first edition, the new edition features even more cheesecake recipes, including Basque, Cherry Vanilla, Hawaiian, Carrot Cake Cheesecake, and Holiday Cheesecake Dippers—one of Oprah's Favorite Things. You'll also find many more signature dishes from Eli’s The Place for Steak, including Chicken Vesuvio, Pepper Steak, Corned Beef Hash, Potato Pancakes, and French Onion Soup, and an all-new chapter showcasing Eli's bakers from around the world sharing their favorite family recipes. Because of his unique baking process, Eli Schulman is often credited with putting “Chicago-style” cheesecake, richer and creamier than its New York counterpart, on the map. This collection will allow home cooks to make the same cheesecakes that helped celebrate five Chicago Mayoral inaugurations, Abraham Lincoln’s bicentennial, the City of Chicago’s 150th birthday, Illinois' Bicentennial, Hamilton the Musical, the NBA All Star Game, the White Sox World Series, and more. As Eli Schulman might say, it’s a helluva book.

Combining the incisive pen of a newspaperman and the compassionate soul of a poet, Mike Royko became a Chicago institution - in Jimmy Breslin's words, 'the best journalist of his time'. "Early Royko: Up Against It in Chicago" will restore to print the legendary columnist's first writings, which chronicle 1960s Chicago with the moral vision, ironic sense, and razor-sharp voice that would remain Royko's trademark. This collection of early columns from the "Chicago Daily News" ranges from witty social commentary to politically astute satire. Some of the pieces are falling-down funny and others are tenderly nostalgic, but all display Royko's unrivaled skill at using humor to tell truth to power. From machine politicians and gangsters to professional athletes, from well-heeled Chicagoans to down-and-out hoodlums, no one escapes Royko's penetrating gaze - and resounding judgment. "Early Royko" features a memorable collection of characters, including such well-known figures as Hugh Hefner, Mayor Richard J. Daley, and Dr. Martin Luther King. But these boldfaced names are juxtaposed with Royko's beloved lesser-knowns from the streets of Chicago: Mrs. Peak, Sylvester 'Two-Gun Pete' Washington, and Fats Boylermaker, who gained fame for leaning against a corner light pole from 2 a.m. Saturday until noon Sunday, when his neighborhood tavern reopened for business. Accompanied by a foreword from Rick Kogan, this new edition will delight Royko's most ardent fans and capture the hearts of a new generation of readers. As Kogan writes, "Early Royko" 'will remind us how a remarkable relationship began - Chicago and Royko, Royko and Chicago - and how it endures'.

Rick Kogan and Charles Osgood's ""Sidewalks"" column for the ""Chicago Tribune"" Sunday Magazine is a tour of the city of Chicago like no other. Accompanied by Osgood's evocative color photographs, Kogan's pieces revisit the lost places and people of Chicago. In this collection you will find an elegy for Maxwell Street, the marketplace that pulsed with city life for more than one hundred years; a magical miniature golf course; memories of Bensinger's pool hall; and much, much more.

A stunning array of more than 250 duotone images, representing the work of the photographers of the Chicago Daily News, offers photographs from the early years, from 1901 to 1930, that capture defining moments in the history of a great American city during a time of great change, from the Eastland steamer disaster to the bloody aftermath of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre.

Few people know Chicago as do Rick Kogan and Charles Osgood, and their ""Sidewalks"" column for the ""Chicago Tribune Sunday Magazine"" is a tour of the city like no other, taking readers to the off-beat and quintessential spots that give Chicago its character - that make its inhabitants feel at home and tell its visitors that they have arrived. Accompanied by evocative color photographs by Charles Osgood, Kogan's pieces revisit the lost places and people of Chicago, and take readers down the quiet byways and thriving thoroughfares, pointing out the characters and cornerstones, the oddities and institutions that make the city what it is. In this collection you will find an elegy for Maxwell Street, the marketplace that pulsed with city life for more than 100 years; a remembrance of a disturbing advertisement (""Are you a slave to house-work?"") on the side of a building on Irving Park Road; a cross marking a deadly intersection; a magical miniature golf course; as well as ballad singer Fred Holstein, the denizens of the World Gym and memories of Bensinger's pool hall, the day-camp kids of summer, bike couriers, the creatures of the beach, and much, much more. Here is Chicago, past, present, and - let's hope - future, captured in the unique archive of Sidewalks.

For two generations of Americans, reading Ann Landers's daily column was as important as eating breakfast. For nearly fifty years an entire nation turned to this quick-witted, worldly-wise counselor for advice on everything from dinner etiquette to sex. But who was the woman behind the byline?Iowa-born Eppie Lederer was first hired by the Chicago Sun-Times to take over the daily advice column in 1955 -- and over the next half-century she helped shape the nation's social and sexual landscape. Award-winning journalist Rick Kogan was Ann Landers's last editor and close friend, and he paints a fascinating, full-bodied account of the triumphs, the wisdom, the courage, and the trials of one of the twentieth century's most enduring icons -- including her painful lifelong feud with her identical twin sister, "Dear Abby"; her stubborn refusal to shy away from even the most controversial topics; and the tragic breakup of her own thirty-six-year marriage. Filled with remarkable stories shared by people from all walks of life who were profoundly affected by the good sense and guidance of Ann Landers, America's Mom is a moving tribute to a singular woman who has earned an eternal place in our culture ... and our hearts.