Andrews Mcmeel Universal

 This eccentric and colorful oral history shares the story of Andrews McMeel Universal (AMU), a family-owned company based entirely on the friendship of two men. On February 10, 1970, Jim Andrews and John McMeel launched an improbable effort to turn a shared daydream into reality. With very little money, but a sense of humor, noses for talent, desire, chutzpah, and ambition, they quit their day jobs (with a bit of gentle prodding by their wives) and set out to reinvent the newspaper syndication business.

 Their personalities were a combination of Notre Dame smarts, pie-in-the-sky charisma, and midwestern charm. A petite lady who wrote a column called Dear Abby liked them so much upon first meeting that she handed over her substantial newspaper client list and joined their syndicate. Newspaper editors came to expect that whatever Andrews and McMeel brought in the door was likely to be something new and game changing.

 For almost half a century, AMU has helped define American popular culture, giving voice to the storytellers of our age. Doonesbury, Ziggy, William F. Buckley Jr., Cathy, The Far Side, Richard Reeves, Calvin and Hobbes, For Better or For Worse, Mary McGrory, Pat Oliphant, Tom Toles, FoxTrot,Cul de Sac, Roger Ebert-their talent roster reads like a Who's Who of the age. Their success did not occur overnight, and the story of how a band of creative and loyal individuals stuck together to make it happen-having a decent amount of memorable fun along the way-is an entertaining and inspiring tale.