Stephanie Gorton

This is a very interesting account about Mcclure's Magazine, an early muckraking magazine, especially its beginning through the height of its power, and the people primarily responsible for it. The magazine was founded by S. S. McClure who hired Ida Tarbell and others to do the reporting and run the office. Mr. McClure paid his staff well, and the reporters often were able to investigate topics in which they were interested. However, Mr. McClure himself was a very unstable person who was difficult to work for. Moreover, he was often away from the office and then came back with impractical ideas. Miss Tarbell was older than many of the employees, and she tried to make peace among the staff. Also Miss Tarbell and John Sanford Phillips tried both to get Mr. McClure to end his affairs with women and to keep the knowledge of the affairs away from the public. Finally Mr. McClure's grandiose ideas which he insisted on maintaining caused Mr. Phillips to resign from the paper, followed by Miss Tarbell and some others on the staff, who set up a company and bought a rival magazine, which did not last. McClure's still lasted for a while, but muckraking went into decline with World War I (and the patriotism that went with it), reforms, and new media including radio. In the epilogue, Ms. Gorton tells what happened to the main characters later in life.

Ms. Gorton gives the backgrounds of S. S. McClure and Ida Tarbell in alternating chapters in the first part of the book. Although their names appear in the subtitle, and they are the principal characters, several other people played important roles in the story. Since the story described different topics being researched by different reporters, Mr. McClure's activities away from the office, etc., the story jumps around in time, which can be a bit confusing. However, overall, this is an excellent look at journalism (and life) at the turn of the 20th century.

Highly recommended.… (mehr)