Holy Bible: Catholic Layman’s Edition
Edited by Reverend John P. O’Connell and Published with the Imprimatur of Samuel Cardinal Stritch, Archbishop of Chicago

The Making of the President 1960: A Narrative History of American Politics in Action
Theodore H. White

Union House, Union Bar: The History of the Hotel & Restaurant Employees and Bartenders International Union, AFL-CIO Matthew Josephson

Books that Make the Man – I did not grow up in a house full of books. In fact, aside from two sets of children’s encyclopedias and one set of “condensed” classics, I recall only three books in my parents’ home. The first is the Holy Bible, Chicago Catholic version – which, in part, reminds us that an indulgence of three years is granted if one reads Sacred Scripture with great reverence for at least 15 minutes each day. The second is The Making of the President 1960 – Dad and Mom were staunch Democrats in those days; these days, like so many, Dad has been known to cast a Republican vote or two and Mom has given up voting all together. The third is Union House, Union Bar – Dad was a union man, too; for years he moonlighted as a bartender at O’Hare International Airport to earn some extra money for the family. I have kept these three books, moving them from home to home as if they are precious belongings because they are precious belongings. In so many ways, these early books remind me who I am – or, at least, from whence I came.