THE BLUE CIRCUS
​                                                         Reviews and Endorsements

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“The Blue Circus . . . has a sure-footed and clear-eyed sense of this city and its unusual ways and power structures. With snappy dialog and compelling characters, it is part family saga and part mystery and wholly satisfying." --Rick Kogan, Chicago Tribune

"If you want to really get to know the unique characters of a unique city—read THE BLUE CIRCUS. It’s based on the real Chicago that only a former city worker like Dennis Foley understands." --Bob Sirott, Chicago broadcast legend

"Chicagoese is such a great language and in THE BLUE CIRCUS, Dennis Foley, a native Southsider, brings that language, the city itself, and its rambunctious characters to life. Neighborhood streets, dive bars, and shady city deals waltz across the page, spread out like a deck of cards. But Foley hold some of the cards back and delivers them in a timely fashion, causing the reader to shake his head and marvel. This is a wonderful story about the City that Works, or doesn't work, and a family trying to push forward to survive, as only an insider can tell."  
​--Reviewer's Bookwatch

"Part family saga, part murder mystery, part city worker tell all. Foley nails it."  --City Worker No. 1

                           
                         We Speak CHICAGOESE    

​                                  REVIEWS and ENDORSEMENTS

"[We Speak CHICAGOESE] is like a talented chorus that sings the song of Chicago in words."     --Rick Kogan, WGN Radio

"[We Speak CHICAGOESE is a must-read for anyone who wants to better understand the city through its literature. In just a couple hundred pages, the reader will taste a vast variety of topics served up by a wonderfully broad range of writers. 
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​"We Speak Chicagoese . . . is a must for any lover of this city who also loves good writing. Funny, touching, timely and just some damn fine artists in these pages.      --Daniel French, of "French and Friends," ​WCGO Radio

"The authors [in We Speak CHICAGOESE] take us from Foster Beach to Englewood, from Edgewater to Marquette Park, from the Loop to Humboldt Park, and the diction and perspective shifts along the way."   --Toni Nealie, Newcity

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                                  The Drunkard’s Son    

                                     REVIEWS and ENDORSEMENTS

  “Dennis Foley may have outgrown his days as a Chicago alley fighter, but in The Drunkard’s Son he delivers a knockout punch with this moving and thought-provoking look at a sometimes painful period in American history and in a young boy’s life. Foley know how to tell a story—the highest compliment I can pay.”                                                                          --Mark Brown, Chicago Sun-Times (Back Cover of Book)

“…This is a compelling and surprisingly humorous book.  And Foley has always been one to play around with        perceptions. . . . You will be pleasantly surprised by the depth and heart and honesty of his new book.”            --Rick Kogan, Chicago Tribune, May 20, 2012

“Fascinating read. An ordinary kid telling an ordinary story in an extraordinary way.” --John R. Powers, author of Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up? , The Last Catholic in America, and The Unoriginal Sinner and the Ice Cream god

Southwest News-Herald
“The Drunkard’s Son . . . is full of both funny and sad memories of growing up in a big family on the Southwest Side of Chicago in the 1960s. . . . With the release of his second book, Foley is becoming quite an accomplished author" .--Dermot Connolly, Southwest News Herald, May 18, 2012

“The odd agents who weave their way across Foley's pages make for a fantastic read.  While this mem-fic (part memoir, part fiction) contains a number of sad stories reminiscent of Angela's Ashes, Foley's humorous stories help bring good balance to this work.”
                                                                                                                              --Reviewers Bookwatch, July 2012

“This is Foley’s second book written in a voice that is not quite his own—and the second time he’s pulled it off. . . . The Drunkard’s Son is more than anything a storytelling vehicle. . . . There is plenty to put a smile on your face.  But you’re more likely to get choked up by the vignettes of father and son at the neighborhood tavern.”                                                         --Mark Brown, Chicago Sun-Times, April 29, 2012

"Foley intertwines humorous stories about his misadventures with his drunken father alongside journal entries about the strange solitude Foley seemed to enjoy during his 10-day hospital stay, after he was nearly stabbed to death in an alley fight as a sophomore at St. Laurence High School."                                                                                                                --Southtown Star. August 9, 2012

"The Dunkard’s Son features 40 vignettes of life on Chicago’s South Side in the 1960s and 1970s, where Foley, 51, a gifted storyteller, grew up with two brothers and three sisters in a succession of second-floor apartments."       --Lorraine Swanson, Oak Lawn Patch, July 20, 2012

RADIO INTERVIEWS and ENDORSEMENTS

Click HERE to listen to WGN Radio's Rick Kogan interview Dennis about THE DRUNKARD'S SON. April 29, 2012

Click HERE to listen to Dennis' interview on the WBEZ Afternoon Show regarding THE DRUNKARD'S SON and the contributions of Chicago author John Powers who died on January 17, 2013.  

Click HERE to listen to Dennis' interview on the Skinny and Houli Show on WCEV regarding THE DRUNKARD'S SON.  Please note that other material from other Chicago Irish musicians and persons of interest is on the podcast.  July 7, 2012. 

The Streets and San Man's Guide to Chicago Eats
REVIEWS and ENDORSEMENTS

"The former electrician for the city's Department of Streets and Sanitation has become a local icon since releasing The Streets and San Man's Guide to Chicago Eats."                                                     --Robert Elfinger, Chicago Tribune

'The book is based on a simple premise: Who better to advise you on where to grab a tasty, affordable midday meal in Chicago's neighborhoods than people who consider lunch to be the highlight of the work day? You always assumed this was true, but Foley confirms it in enough detail that, tongue-in-cheek or not, you will be more than tempted to take his dining tips."                                                                                                                                                                              --Mark Brown, Chicago Sun-Times