DR. KOOKIE, YOU’RE RIGHT! By Mike...

DR. KOOKIE, YOU’RE RIGHT! By Mike Royko (Plume: $8.95). This latest collection of Chicago Tribune columns confirms Mike Royko’s position as one of the guardians of respectable American yahooism, a position he shares with Andy Rooney. There’s something patently false about a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer posing as an everday Joe Sixpack who hangs out with his buddy, Slats Grobnik, but Royko plays the role to the hilt. He rails against anti-smoking crusaders, lawyers, yuppies (although he admits he lives like one), health food and feminism: “But even the most hard-nosed of feminists must concede that during the past two decades, great strides have been made. I know dozens of women who swear better than me.” Royko’s blue-collar persona allows him to vent otherwise unacceptable prejudices under the guise of just-one-of-the-boys goodfellowship.