June 10 Illinois History Minute
It’s June Tenth, the day that the Chicago Tribune published its first issue in 1847. The paper was shaped in the 19 century by its editor Joseph Medill, who made it a firm supporter of abolition and Abraham Lincoln. In the 20th century, Medill’s grandson, Robert McCormick, retained the Tribune’s Republican bent, but shifted to more conservative politics. In recent years, the once-prosperous Tribune has made substantial staff cuts as it adjusts to a changing media landscape.
A book reviewer at the Tribune dismissed Saul Bellow’s breakout novel, “The Adventures of Augie March” as a “shapeless series of episodes”. The novel would win Bellow the first of his three National Book Awards. Saul Bellow was born in Quebec on this day in 1915, but spent much of his life in Chicago, and made the city the setting for many of his novels.