A serious biography of Eleanor Medill "Cissy" Patterson was long overdue. During the 1940s, she was part of the "royal family of American journalism." A descandent of abolitionistJoseph Medill, owner of the Chicago Tribune, sister of Joe Medill Patterson of the New York Daily News and cousin to Col. Robert R. McCormick of the Chicago Tribune, she outshone them all with her flamboyance, grit and intelligence.
''Printer's ink raged in their veins throughout a century," writes Megan McKinney of Joseph Medill and his McCormick and Patterson heirs. Although "individually headstrong, quirky, and often thoroughly disagreeable, each was brilliantly creative, and together the achievement was immense."
