Boss

Phinney Boss: Richard J. Daley of Chicago
Mayors, even the most powerful, recede in our historical memory almost as quickly as newspaper columnists do, and this compact biography of Chicago's most famous mayor by its most famous newspaperman is not the mega-bestseller it once was. But it still makes for great reading: think of it as a pint-sized companion to Robert Caro's massive The Power Broker, an analysis of how urban power was gathered and—more crucially—held, written while the Boss was still Boss. Like the best newspaper columns, it's a masterpiece of concision and invective, but Royko kept enough perspective on his subject that it remains fresh and relevant over fifty years later, as Chicago decides on its next mayor.