Books a major source of edification and enjoyment: Books a major source of edification and enjoyment:- Bestsellers of 1880s—David Copperfield and Ivanhoe.
- Well-stocked public libraries—the poor person’s university—made encouraging progress
- Especially Boston and New York Libraries
- Library of Congress (1897)—13 acres of floor space—largest and costliest edifice in the world
- Andrew Carnegie:
- Contributed $60 million for construction of 1,700 public libraries over the country and
- 750 scattered from Great Britain to New Zealand.
By 1900 there were 9,000 free circulating libraries in America, each with over 300 books. - By 1900 there were 9,000 free circulating libraries in America, each with over 300 books.
Newspapers:- Spurred by the invention of the Linotype (1885)
- However, there was a growing fear of offending advertisers and subscribers:
- Bare-knuckle editorials increasing degree
- Being supplanted by feature articles
- Non-controversial syndicated material
- The day of slashing journalistic giants like Horace Greeley was passing.
Sensationalism was capturing the public taste - Sensationalism was capturing the public taste
- Journalistic tycoons:
- Joseph Pulitzer:
- leader in the techniques of sensationalism, owner of St. Louis Post-Dispatch and New York World
- His use of colored comic supplements featuring the “Yellow Kid” gave the name yellow journalism to his lurid sheets.
- William Randolph Hearst:
- He drew on his California father’s mining millions
- He ultimately built a powerful chain of newspapers, beginning with the San Francisco Examiner in 1887.
Unfortunately, the overall influence of Pulitzer and Hearst was not altogether wholesome: - Unfortunately, the overall influence of Pulitzer and Hearst was not altogether wholesome:
- Both championed many worthy causes
- Both prostituted the press in their struggle for increased circulation
- Both “stooped, snooped, and scooped to conquer”
- Their flair for scandal and sensational rumor was:
- happily offset by the introduction of syndicated material
- and by the strengthening of the news-gathering Associated Press (1840).
Magazines partially satisfied the public appetite for good reading: Magazines partially satisfied the public appetite for good reading:- East Coast standby: Harper’s, the Atlantic Monthly, and Scribner’s Monthly
- And new western entrants such as the California-based Overland Monthly
- Possibly the most influential journal:
- The liberal and highly intellectual New York Nation:
- Read largely by professors, preachers, and publicists
- Launched in 1865 by Edwin L. Godkin, a merciless critic
- It crusaded militantly for civil-service reform, honesty in government, and a moderate tariff.
Henry George—journalist-author: - Henry George—journalist-author:
- His classic treatise Progress and Poverty:
- Undertook to solve “the great enigma of our times”
- “the association of progress with poverty”
- A single 100% tax on windfall profit would eliminate unfair inequities and stimulate economic growth
- His single-tax was horrifying to the propertied classes
- His book broke into the best-seller list.
- Edward Bellamy—journalist-reformer:
- His classic socialistic novel, Looking Backward (1888):
- The hero awakes and “looks backward” to find the social and economic injustices of 1887 melted away under an idyllic government.
This idyllic government has nationalized big business to serve the public interest. - This idyllic government has nationalized big business to serve the public interest.
- Appealed to those who had a fear of the evil of trust.
- Bellamy Clubs sprang up to discuss this mild utopian socialism
- And they heavily influenced American reform movements near the end of the century.
Victoria Woodhull: - Victoria Woodhull:
- Shook the pillars of conventional morality when she publicly proclaimed her belief in free love (1817)
- Was a tireless feminist propagandist
- With her sister, published a far-out periodical, Woodhull and Clafin’s Weekly
- It charged Henry Ward Beecher, the most famous preacher, that for years he was carrying on an adulterous affair.
- Pure-minded Americans resisted these affronts to their moral principles:
- Anthony Comstock, champion of lifelong war on the “immoral”—a self-appointed defender of sexual purity.
Armed with the “Comstock Law”—he boasted of what he had confiscated of impure things - Armed with the “Comstock Law”—he boasted of what he had confiscated of impure things
- And proudly claimed he had driven fifteen people to suicide
- Woodhull sisters and Comstock exposed the over sexual attitudes and the place of women in the late-nineteenth century.
- Young working women headed to dance halls and nightclubs when the day was done—
- Enjoying a new sense of freedom in the cities
- This “new morality” began to reflect in soaring divorce rates, the spreading practice of birth control, and increasingly frank discussion of sexual topics.
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