SOURCE: "Raw Onions and No Ladies," in Saturday Review of Literature, Vol. XXVI, No. 31, July 31, 1943, p. 20.

In the following review of McSorley's Wonderful Saloon, Lynch praises Mitchell for his powers of observation and description, and especially for his compassion for his subjects.

A good saloon can be a lovely thing. The place where a man can join his fellows in free and easy camaraderie over a mug of ale or a pony of whiskey is an institution that deserves the literary and artistic recognition that so frequently it gets. New York has its share of such places, and they are not the chromium-plated cocktail bars of the post-Prohibition drinking age. Joseph Mitchell, the author of My Ears Are Bent, has a nice feeling for the friendly warmth of a Third Avenue saloon, and has selected as the title forhis new book of stories and sketches [McSorley's Wonderful Saloon...