MR Dooley in Peace & War

by Finley Peter Dunne

Book Overview

Finley Peter Dunne was the greatest American newspaper humorist of his time. His turn-of-the-century dialect essays for the Chicago Evening Post and the Chicago Journal featured the fictional Mr. Dooley and the working-class community of Bridgeport, located on Chicago's near southwest side. Originally published in 1898, Mr. Dooley in Peace and in War was the first collection of Dunne's popular essays.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0252060407
• ISBN13: 9780252060403
• Release Date: October 1988
• Publisher: University of Illinois Press
• Length: 147 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.4" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Mr.Dooley-publican and public philosopher.

Finley Peter Dunne(1867-1936),a Chicago Irish-American newspaperman, was the creator of "Martin Dooley",saloonkeeper on Chicago's "Archey Road"(based on the real Irish district of Archer Avenue),who became the most famous fictional commentator and "popular philosopher" in America from the 1890's up to World War One.The Mr Dooley essays, written in a now archaic Irish brogue,appeared in newspapers and popular monthly magazines,and were eagerly read by everyone,from Presidents McKinley and Roosevelt down.Mr Dooley's opinions and ruminations brought a sane, witty, wise and humorous analysis to bear on numerous subjects and controversies,ranging over politics sports and hobbies,personalities and cultural trends of all kinds.Dunne's Mr.Dooley is both a friend of the poor and dispossessed,and a good natured realist about political schemes to "improve" humanity. "Mr.Dooley in peace and in war"(1898),was the first book collection of the essays which had appeared in newspapers and magazines.It was a response to Mr.Dooley's arrival as a national phenomenon,after his few years as a local Chicago celebrity, which followed the huge success of the essay "On his cousin George",which dealt with Commodore George Dewey's triumph in the naval battle of Manila bay during the Spanish-American war.The collection is approximately half on subjects relating to this war, and half on other topics(hence the title). To enjoy Mr.Dooley properly,it is first necessary to become accustomed to the dialect brogue used.This is a little daunting at first,but is fairly easy to get used to-and a reasonable knowledge of life,culture and politics in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century is obviously an asset.The latter applies to quite a lot of this collection,with its emphasis on the war with Spain and discussions on the currency issue,populist politics etc.Dunne's next book,"Mr.Dooley in the hearts of his countrymen", is a collection which may in some ways be more immediately accessable to modern readers, as it contains a lot of Dunne's earlier essays on more general subjects-the police,opera, ghosts etc,which can be appreciated entirely without the specific background knowledge of the events being referred to in say,Dunne's "political" essays. Dunne may now be an aquired taste,but he is an invaluable guide and mentor,both for students of his era,and seekers after deep truths about human nature and the world. By way of an introduction,just read one of these essays "On criminals" and you,like me,should want to hear from the sage of Archey road.