Overview
A fascinating history of the rise and fall of influential Gilded Age magazine McClureās and the two unlikely outsiders at its helmāas well as a timely, full-throated defense of investigative journalism in America
The president of the United States made headlines around the world when he publicly attacked the press, denouncing reporters who threatened his reputation as āmuckrakersā and āforces for evil.ā The year was 1906, the president was Theodore Rooseveltāand the publication that provoked his fury was McClureās magazine.
One of the most influential magazines in American history, McClureās drew over 400,000 readers and published the groundbreaking stories that defined the Gilded Age, including the investigation of Standard Oil that toppled the Rockefeller monopoly. Driving this revolutionary publication were two improbable newcomers united by single-minded ambition. S. S. McClure was an Irish immigrant, who, despite bouts of mania, overthrew his impoverished upbringing and bent the New York media world to his will. His steadying hand and star reporter was Ida Tarbell, a woman who defied gender expectations and became a notoriously fearless journalist.
The scrappy, bold McClure's groupāTarbell, McClure, and their reporters Ray Stannard Baker and Lincoln Steffensācemented investigative journalismās crucial role in democracy. From reporting on labor unrest and lynching, to their exposĆ©s of municipal corruption, their reporting brought their readers face to face with a nation mired in dysfunction. They also introduced Americans to the voices of Willa Cather, Arthur Conan Doyle, Robert Louis Stevenson, Joseph Conrad, and many others.
Tracing McClureās from its meteoric rise to its spectacularly swift and dramatic combustion, Citizen Reporters is a thrillingly told, deeply researched biography of a powerhouse magazine that forever changed American life. Itās also a timely case study that demonstrates the crucial importance of journalists who are unafraid to speak truth to power.
This book title, Citizen Reporters (S.S. McClure, Ida Tarbell, and the Magazine That Rewrote America), ISBN: 9780062796653, by Stephanie Gorton, published by HarperCollins (November 26, 2024) is available in paperback. Our minimum order quantity is 25 copies. All standard bulk book orders ship FREE in the continental USA and delivered in 4-10 business days.
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