The winner of more awards than any editorial writer in the Albany Times Union's history, Jim McGrath was both an Albany institution and a keen observer of the world beyond his beloved adopted city. When he died in 2013 at the age of fifty-six, the newspaper lost a writer who combined a passionate advocacy for society's most vulnerable people with a scathing disregard for the elite whose actions created an underclass in the United States. His writing was often elegiac, but his take on his adopted home state of New York and his beloved Albany was variously bemused, witty, irreverent, and indignant. He could relate to the plight of the minimum-wage worker as easily as he could talk to a US senator, and he feared no one. His editorials and commentaries charted many of the most critical issues in New York and the country: the death penalty, civil liberties, gay rights, historic presidential campaigns, the economy, terrorism, and more-all with an incisiveness that remains relevant, if not more so, in the present political era.

In addition to his editorials and op-eds, I'll Be Home contains essays, critiques, and other writings that have never before been published, as well as appraisals of his work and life by former colleagues Rex Smith, Fred LeBrun, Dan Lynch, and others. The book is both a tribute to a memorable newspaperman and an insider's perspective on politics and life through the lens of an editorial writer, a position that Jim described as "a great seat at a really weird show."

Jim McGrath was chief editorial writer at the Albany Times Union. He was named the Hearst Editorial Writer of the Year several times, and also received numerous first- and second-place awards by the New York State Associated Press Association, and two first-place awards by the New York Newspaper Publishers Association. His widow,Darryl McGrath, is an Albany journalist and the author of Flight Paths: A Field Journal of Hope, Heartbreak, and Miracles with New York's Bird People, also published by SUNY Press. Howard Healy is a copyeditor and proofreader for the New York State Bar Association; he retired as editorial page editor of the Times Union in 2008.

Foreword: When the Newspaper Needed to Speak from Its Soul
Rex Smith

Introduction
Howard Healy

ALBANY

Introduction: The City That Jim Embraced
Howard Healy

The Race Is On in Albany, January 16, 1997

A Sad Note on Lark Street, February 19, 1997

Slayings Tarnish Soil of Albany's Great Park, December 26, 1997

Drop This Case, April 27, 1998

Come Clean, Mr. Jennings, July 10, 1998

. . . A Defeat for the Machine, September 17, 1998

Albany's Hot-Dog Politics, April 5, 1999

Justice for Ms. McEneny, May 7, 1999

Time to Right a Wrong: President Bush Should Award the Medal of Honor to Sergeant Henry Johnson, April 24, 2001

Renewing Democracy Is Humbling, September 28, 2001

Jennings, Who Else? November 4, 2001

Outsiders Defy Odds in Albany, November 10, 2001

Whose City Is It? May 10, 2002

Albany's Anguish, January 3, 2004

It's All about the Guns, June 18, 2008

Audit the Ghosts, January 20, 2009

Jerry Jennings's Fifth Term, Fall 2009

Memories of Larks at a Tavern, May 6, 2011

POLITICS

Introduction: Jim McGrath Loved Politics
Howard Healy

LOCAL

Preaching to the Faithful, March 17, 1995

All Eyes on Albany, December 22, 1999

Uneasy Justice, December 29, 2003

NEW YORK

A Voting Outrage, May 19, 2001

Voter Beware, November 8, 2005

Transcript of As It Happens Interview on Eliot Spitzer's Resignation, March 12, 2008

It's Senator Clinton, November 8, 2000

NATIONAL

Farewell, Mister Speaker, January 9, 1994

Some Names Worth Hearing Once Again, November 16, 2002

INTERNATIONAL

A Chance for Peace in Ulster, May 22, 1997

Mr. Adams and Mr. Blair, December 20, 1997

Ireland's Peace Must Prevail, August 20, 1998

George Mitchell, Peacemaker, October 22, 1998

Day of Terror, September 12, 2001

The Day After, September 13, 2001

Rising from the Ruins One Year Later, A Pause to Ponder How We Have Changed, September 11, 2002

SOCIAL JUSTICE

Introduction: A Certain Faith in Humanity
Bill Federman

More Unabomber Injustice, May 18, 1997

Cold Weather, Cold Truths, September 28, 1997

A Lesson Taught Too Late, July 20, 2001

Homeless in Albany, November 25, 2002

"No Room for Mercy," September 5, 2003

Injustice, February 15, 2006

A Proud Day for New York, June 26, 2011

The World Owes So Much to Mandela, December 7, 2013

JOURNALISM

Introduction: McGrath Thought That Newspapers Ought to Tell the Truth
Dan Lynch

Royko Was the Real People's Court, May 1, 1997

J. Anthony Lukas, June 10, 1997

Finding Fame in Telling Fibs, July 10, 1998

Mike Barnicle's Sad Fall from Grace to Disgrace, August 8, 1998

Editorial and Op-Ed Page Critique of the Portland Press Herald and Maine Sunday Telegram, August 1999

Reality Check at Skidmore, November 16, 1999

SPORTS

Introduction: A Red Sox Fan Above All
Phillip Blanchard

Introduction: "Hey, Jim, How Does Yaz Spell His Name?"
Howard Healy

A Spectator's View from the Seats, July 23, 1995

Stanford's Band of Cruel Fools, October 15, 1997

Sox Appeal, June 20, 2004

Thanks for the Memories, February 20, 1999

How 'Bout Those Sawx? October 22, 2004