Mike Royko would have been 79 today.

He’s been on our mind a lot lately, because he’s prominently featured in DEADLINE ARTISTS: AMERICA’S GREATEST NEWSPAPER COLUMNS, edited by John Avlon, Jesse Angelo and Errol Louis, on sale this Wednesday. We had a copy of the book at the Brooklyn Book Festival and a girl picked it up, landed randomly on a Royko column, and read the whole column right there in front of our table, laughing throughout.

Royko is, of course, in great company in DEADLINE ARTISTS, but he’s one of the most-featured columnists in the book, for obvious reasons.

In DEADLINE ARTISTS, you’ll find…

Daley Embodied Chicago

John Wayne’s True Grit

How to Cure a Hangover

Slats Mistakes GOP for GOD

Picasso and the Cultural Rebirth of Chicago

Hope our Chicago friends go to the Billy Goat today to toast a man who was truly one of America’s greatest newspaper columnists. For those of us not lucky enough to be on Michigan Avenue today, head on over to DeadlineArtists.com to read DALEY EMBODIED CHICAGO in full. If you’re not already a Royko fan, you’ll see what we mean. Thanks, Mike.

Peggy Noonan on DEADLINE ARTISTS

Who better than Peggy Noonan to ask to read an early copy of DEADLINE ARTISTS: The Greatest Newspaper Columns by America's Greatest Newspaper Columnists, edited by Jesse Angelo, John P. Avlon, and Errol Louis? We loved her reaction:

"An indispensible anthology of an American art form — a broad and brilliantly chosen compilation of the best newspaper column writing past and present — and a real feast. I couldn't stop reading. The stories, yarns, insights and characters — the immediacy and passion — still resonate, still make you laugh, and think."

Deadline Artists goes on-sale on September 1, 2011, but fans of American journalism's greatest hits can pre-order now.