Book Description
This muckraking classic attacked corrupt election practices and shady dealings in businesses and city governments across the nation. Taking a hard look at the unprincipled lives of political bosses, police corruption, graft payments, and other notorious political abuses of the time, the book set the style for future investigative reporting.
Book Description
Here is the autobiography of one of the world's first celebrity journalists: Lincoln Steffens (1866-1936), a man whose writing was so notorious that President Theodore Roosevelt coined a term for it—muckraking.
Growing up in 1870s Sacramento, Steffens studied at Berkeley and in Europe before taking a position at the New York Evening Post, and later at McClure's Magazine. His crusade to expose corruption took him all over the nation and on to Mexico, Europe, and the new Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, where he made his famous proclamation, "I have seen the future, and it works!" Eventually he became disenchanted with communism, and in his later years he returned to California, to feel again its "warm, colorful force of beauty" and to write what would become a best-selling memoir.
The Autobiography of Lincoln Steffens is the story of a cranky and brilliant reporter with a passion for examining the complex and contradictory conditions that breed corruption, poverty, and misery. As such, this book is an antidote to the spin doctors, pundits, and talking heads who discourage us from ever reading past a headline or challenging the status quo. Lincoln Steffens is an inspiration to all socially engaged citizens today.
Customer Reviews:
A brilliant classic.......2000-01-17
This book holds the premier position in my book collection. It is a book that looks at how a man's environment and passion for life forces him to separate the right from the wrong, sometimes at personal peril. From the quintessential muckraker to one of the original socialists, Steffens was an independent thinker who shares his mistakes, his disappointments, and his fundamental beliefs in rich and passionate prose. Thought by many to be the greatest autobiography ever written this book, as well as his famous "Shame of the Cities", are considered two of the New York Times' greatest 100 books of the 20th century. And rightfully so. Don't expect dry historical narrative. Rather, be ready to be given insight into turn of the twentieth century life and to be inspired by a man's struggles while exposing and understanding truth and power in every form.
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Lincoln Steffens
Justin Kaplan
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 Journalism
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ASIN: 0671215922 |
Customer Reviews:
Revolutionary journalist.......2006-06-30
This is a great biography of the muckraking journalist Lincoln Steffens who exposed a number of corrupt practices by politicians in many of the large cities in America around the turn of the twentieth-century. Born in San Francisco and educated at the University of California and in Europe, he settled in NYC and began writing for the New York papers. In 1901 he joined McClure's Magazine and with other social critics working there (Ida Tarbell, Ray Stannard Baker) began writing about political corruption in St. Louis, Minneapolis, and other large cities. The articles were a tremendous success and were later brought out in book form, entitled THE SHAME OF THE CITIES. Theodore Roosevelt was impressed by the work of these journalists (at first, anyway) and tagged them "muckrakers," a reference to certain characters in PILGIM'S PROGRESS. Steffens, as Kaplan makes clear, was not just an exposer of political evils or a moralist, but raised more questions than he answered and made the public aware, through irony and other literary devices, of the paradoxes between public life and private affairs. His chief question, as Kaplan says, was "What are you going to do about it?"
Later, when exposed to the Russian Revolution in 1917, Steffens became an advocate for communist principles. Losing much of his support in America because of his revolutionary beliefs, he spent much of the 1920s in Europe. In 1931 he published his AUTOBIOGRAPHY, which was a huge success, and he spent the next few years until his death in 1936 lecturing across the country. More than anything else, Steffens wanted people to think seriously about society and politics; he never joined the Communist party: "I am not a Communist," he said once. "I merely think that the next order of society will be socialist and that the Communists will bring it in and lead it." He was wrong about that, and not even Kaplan, writing in 1974, could know just how wrong. He's a beautiful writer, though, and makes his subject interesting and important. It's a delightful biography.
Customer Reviews:
History comes alive........1998-12-29
I have read this book 3 times. 1979, 1986, and 1996. This book brings an exciting perspective to a time in history not well known by the average person. As well it gives political insight of corruption and mudslinging that existed well before the 1990's. The book is quite long, but never dull. I read it first right before college, and it influenced me to major in history/PoliSci.
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Moses in America: The Cultural Uses of Biblical Narrative (American Academy of Religion Cultural Criticism Series)
Melanie J. Wright
Manufacturer: An American Academy of Religion Book
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
History & Criticism
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ASIN: 0195152263 |
Book Description
This book explores the retelling of the life of Moses in three 20th-century American narratives: Moses in Red, by Lincoln Steffens; Moses, Man of the Mountain, by Zora Neale Hurston; and Cecil B. DeMille's film, The Ten Commandments. Wright's analysis reveals that the figure of Moses has strong currency in American culture at many levels.
Book Description
Hold the presses! Here's the sensational story of the birth of investigative journalism in America. At the turn of the 20th century, news reporters and monthly magazines collaborate to create a new kind of journalism—in-depth, serialized exposés of corporate, labor, and political corruption. Many of these stories become instant bestsellers in book format: books like The Jungle, Upton Sinclair's classic account of corruption in the meat-packing industry.
Ann Bausum's dramatic narrative follows a generation of dedicated journalists who force responsible changes in industry and politics as America thrives. Muckrakers is the inside story of public-spirited journalism right through its evolution, with profiles of latter-day practitioners like Woodward and Bernstein and today's Internet bloggers.
Ann Bausum's storytelling savvy will engage and inspire young people to cherish age-old values such as truth and public accountability. Muckrakers is the scoop on American journalism.
Book Description
Throughout history, the bold, the desperate, and the foolhardy have dared the wide oceans in the tiniest of boats
The unique and wonderful A Speck on the Sea looks back half a millennium to chronicle the greatest ocean voyages attempted in the littlest boats--rowboats, canoes, tiny sailboats, even a pair of wooden floats strapped to one adventurer's feet.
Driven by desperation, a spirit of adventure, or irrepressible exuberance, these amazing feats include:
- Diego Mendez's voyage to rescue Columbus
- William Okeley's 1639 escape from slavery in a folding rowboat
- Hugo Vihlen's 1968 ocean crossing in the six-foot sailboat April Fool
- Ernest Shackleton and William Bligh's death-cheating journeys
- The tragic story of Peter Bird's attempt to row across the Pacific
- And many more
Never have sailors dared the sea in frailer boats. This fascinating history will appeal to sailors and landlubbers alike.
Download Description
"A gripping compendium of noteworthy small-boat voyages made over the centuries."
--John Harland, author of Seamanship in the Age of Sail
A Speck on the Sea chronicles the greatest ocean voyages attempted in the littlest boats. These feats include:
- Diego Mendezs voyage to rescue Columbus
- William Okeley's escape from slavery in a folding rowboat
- Ernest Shackleton's death-cheating journeys
- And more
'
Customer Reviews:
Smooth Sailing.......2007-03-28
I was tickled to discover a couple of weeks ago that our 1980's voyage from Miami to Australia with 18' "Pere Peinard" made mention in Longyard's excellent compendium. I was suprised and grateful for the "1/15th second of fame" since it's mainly remarkable for being unremarkable! Nothing broke at all except the wallet and a world record (26 days, under 25' LOA) for the Galapagos-Marquesas crossing in 26 days, 1983. Is this still standing? (Ok, after 6 great years, the marriage broke up too, but hey. Not the friendship! No regrets!) We made every intended destination (except Sydney, had to settle for Brisbane. At 3 knots bare-pole:) Our 5 yrs under sail were remarkably easy and beautiful, thanks to a really solid boat, careful work, and the grace of god/dess. In oceanic terms, even the Titanic is but a Speck on the Sea. So, I very much appreciate the respect Longyard has conveyed towards the WHOLE spectrum of small boat sailors! Isn't that what we all are, really? On this planet? In this universe?
Boats, Floats and Bars of Soap on the High Seas.......2006-05-31
Okay, so there are no stories of trans-oceanic voyages on soap bars in this book; just needed a catchy rhyme for the title. But this fascinating seaman's yarn covers just about every other buoyant contrivance that went to sea, at least those twenty feet long or less. This limitation is my only slight quibble about the book. Although in the beginning some boats are covered which exceed the twenty-foot benchmark established by the author, it does seem a bit arbitrary. Why not include Josh Slocum's marvelous circumnavigation in a 37-footer that was
already a century old when he obtained her? It should be noted that solo circumnavigations are covered by the 1974 book by Tod Holms (unfortunately long out of print and hard to obtain). That said, Longyard has provided a delightful compendium of
seamanship in Lillipution craft. Many might be written off as
publicity stunts and gimmicks, which they were. None could be duplicated by anyone other than the most intrepid and hardy sailor. Even then, the voyager turned up half dead, if he survived at all.
This is not a dry technical manual on small boat seamanship, although there are a lot of nuggets for the sailor in the tales. Human interest predominates. There are tales of cruelty and chicanery as in the story of Voss's seagoing canoe, and those invoking great sympathy as in how Andrews enticed an advernturesome young New Jersey farm girl to join him in a transatlantic stunt which ended in the disappearance of both somewhere beneath the tempestuous waves. All in all, brisk and
delightful reading cover to cover.
Well written, fun, inspiring, frightening - A great read.......2005-10-26
A great collection of tales of amazing small boat adventures and adventurers. I bought this book thinking I would be able to read a story at a time ad set the book aside inbetween - but it was too good to set aside. From way back in history and white slave escapes - to modern record setters. This book constantly made my jaw drop in awe and amazement.
Speck on the Sea Review.......2005-08-02
If you love the sea, you will love this book. But if you are looking for a page turner that will excite lubbers, this is not for you. You have to be one who has "gone down to the sea" in order to appreciate all of the detail on all of the voyages, and in order to understand just what these guys were up against. If you fall in that category, this is for you!
He forgot Oskar Speck.......2005-03-31
Great book, but with this title and he forgot Oskar Speck?
In the 1930s Oskar Speck left looking for work with his folding kayak from Germany on route to Cyprus. When he arrived there he decided to continue onwards and a few years later he arrived at Thursday Island, Australia. Unfortunately WWII had just started and he got interned. He staid in Australia for the rest of his life and died only a few years ago.
for a reproduction of an interview wioth him look for:
www.nswseakayaker.asn.au/mag/50/oscarspeck1.htm
Average customer rating:
- Navigating the Iron Curtain
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The Improbable Voyage
Tristan Jones
Manufacturer: Sheridan House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Danube (Panther)
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Outward Leg
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Somewheres East of Suez
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Seagulls in My Soup: Further Adventures of a Wayward Sailor
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Encounters of a Wayward Sailor
ASIN: 1574090623 |
Book Description
The Improbable Voyage is the sequel to Outward Leg and is the astonishing account of Tristan Jones' 2,307-mile voyage across Europe in an ocean-going trimaran. Continuing the story begun in OUTWARD LEG, Tristan tells of his round-the-world voyage.
Customer Reviews:
Navigating the Iron Curtain.......2000-09-16
What Tristan Jones lacks in great writing skills he makes up for with great story telling and sheer guts. In 1985, as the Soviet Union was quickly approaching its high water, mark he threw caution to the wind and began a tumultuous journey that would take him through the badlands of the Iron Curtain. Plunging up the freezing Rhine in his ocean going tri-hulled yacht, wintering in Germany, and losing his American crew of two to homesickness and better job opportunities were bad enough for this one legged sailor, but Jones had an objective that he wouldn't put aside lightly. He took on a fresh crew of one, a young German boy, and set off to conquer the Danube and Eastern Europe as the first person to transnavigate Europe in an ocean going tri-hull. The Improbable Voyage is a thought provoking perspective of Central and Eastern Europe at the height of the cold war. It highlights Europe's divisiveness during this time from one of Europe's major arteries, the Danube. It is realism at its best from the heart of a spirited traveler.
Average customer rating:
- Truly excellent
- Halfway Around The World - I Felt Like I Was There
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Halfway Around the World: An Improbable Journey
Gavin Young
Manufacturer: Book Sales
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0394521145 |
Customer Reviews:
Truly excellent.......2002-06-22
This book moves at an even pace and presents the events in an understated style. Gavin Young's deep interest in the people around him, and in the cultures and histories with which he comes in contact, caught my interest early and held it to the end of the book. This is a deceptively thrilling book--a travelogue as riveting as any spy tale.
I believe this book is the same as "Slow Boats to China." I'm currently reading the sequel, "Slow Boats Home," and am already hooked in the first few chapters.
Halfway Around The World - I Felt Like I Was There.......2001-07-27
Travel writing at its best! A warm, personal and engaging style that puts the reader right there. History, politics, religion and culture all combine to give a place its own special feel, and Mr. Young brings it all alive, including sights, sounds, smells and the local cuisine. He makes the scary parts send a chill up your spine and even the mundane takes on a new color when seen through the filter of his insights and experiences. I plan to look for other books by this author.
Average customer rating:
- Very fun book
- Nick Thorpe's Incredible Journey
- A Great Adventure By Inexperienced Characters
- "Kon-Tiki" Was Much Better
- Sailing in Heyerdahl's wake.
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8 Men and a Duck : An Improbable Voyage by Reed Boat to Easter Island
Nick Thorpe
Manufacturer: Free Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Chile
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ASIN: 0743219287 |
Book Description
On a fateful South American bus trip, journalist Nick Thorpe overheard some fellow passengers discussing an improbable plan to sail 2,500 miles from northern Chile to Easter Island on the Viracocha -- a boat made of reeds. The crew's aim in reviving this pre-Incan boat-building technology was twofold: to reopen the controversial migration theories of Thor Heyerdahl, who sailed his boat the Kon-Tiki from Peru to Polynesia in 1947, and to have one heck of an adventure in the process. Thorpe talked his way on board Captain Phil Buck's Viracocha only to find himself plagued by uncertainty. Why did the crew include a tree surgeon, a jewelry salesman, and two ducks? What happened to the navigator? Did anybody actually know how to sail? And, most important, where was the life raft?
8 Men and a Duck charts this hilarious and un-nerving Pacific voyage as it rolls between waves of high drama and high farce: from the five-day launch off a Chilean beach to the bungled phone call that triggered a naval rescue alert to the sad fate of Pedro the duck to the constant race against the inexorable sinking of the soggy hull.
Despite the best efforts of storms and sharks and fast-moving freighters, an alarming lack of sailing qualifications, and a rival explorer dogging the adventure at every turn, the crew members of the Viracocha lived to tell their extraordinary tale right through to its wickedly unexpected conclusion. Nick Thorpe's account is by turns funny, touching, and thrilling -- a story of friendship, fate, and the unlikely distances people will go for real adventure.
Customer Reviews:
Very fun book.......2004-05-13
I first previewed this book in an online book club, and the writing and the topic immediately caught my attention. Mr. Thorpe writes with exquisite talent. His style is informative, humorous and very introspective at the same time. The book follows an adventurous group of 8 men who take a reed boat into the Pacific so they can sail it to Easter Island. What really impressed aside from great storytelling, is that way the author draws the portraits of himself and his crewmates.
It's a great book to pick up for a weekend read; I read it in two sittings. :-)
Nick Thorpe's Incredible Journey.......2004-01-09
It's an old adage that it's not the destination that matters, but the journey. This much is a cliché, but this much is true, and Nick Thorpe's fabulous, vastly entertaining and thoughtful book `Eight Men and a Duck' is all the proof you need. Thorpe is an English journalist, who while on one of those too good to be true writing gigs when a newspaper paid him to bum around South America happened upon a tall tale about a reed boat about to leave Chile for Easter Island.
So the journalist's mind kicked in - let's investigate. Soon, without planning it, Thorpe found himself becoming more than just an observer, as a place on this incredible journey fell into his lap. Some discussion with his wife (you know, `I love you, I might never see you again, is that ok?') later, and the - let's say `unswarthy' Englishman (look at the photos in the book) was off to sea with a rogue's gallery of shipmates straight out of Captain Pugwash. The book takes us on the journey with them, in the race against time they created for themselves by building a boat out of reeds that will eventually sink. It's a journey that involves the Chilean Navy, good and bad weather, esoteric Frenchmen, weird food, and the very nature of friendship itself.
This is not just a book about the technicalities of ancient sea-travel (though there's enough of that to interest even the most hardy of land-locked readers), or the existential joys and angst of a dangerous and beautiful journey, but a tremendously rich sketch of what men are like when they get together. If you've ever wanted to take a risk, but feel seasick at the thought, then you may just love this book. Witty, self-deprecating, but alive with a thirst for the journey, Thorpe's writing is among the most engaging prose I've ever encountered. He has the wit of Bill Bryson and the eye for detail that Paul Theroux must pride himself on, but the voice is all his own. For duck-lovers, misty-eyed seafarers, religiously sceptic mystics, child-like wanderers and anyone who's ever gone travelling to `find themselves', `Eight Men and a Duck' is a joy from start to finish.
A Great Adventure By Inexperienced Characters.......2003-09-04
While the start of the book is a dash slow being focused on the building of the actual craft and pulling a crew together, it soon picks up and races across the Pacific. The author has an incredible sense for wording which oft makes this non-fiction read like pure poetry. If only we all could be so eloquent, english would then remain a beautiful language.
The book is pleasantly lacking an overload of technical know-how and expertise as so many adventure books can be. Rather than bog the reader down with intricate details, the author keeps the story alive and fresh with emotions ranging from the struggle against the elements while being entirely out of his own element to the intricacies of life aboard a small vessel for two months with complete strangers who don't always mix well but eventually bond enough as a cohesive family and team to survive.
It becomes entertaining after the first two chapters but is inspiring throughout. This book offers evidence to what can be done when one has a dream no matter how silly the dream or how high the obstacles loom. A great account of a fantastic adventure that not many would dare to take or be able to pull off.
"Kon-Tiki" Was Much Better.......2003-06-11
The shadow of the more nobly conceived and executed "Kon-Tiki" hangs over this book, although "8 Men and a Duck" still offers a vicarious opportunity for thrilling and exotic adventure. Many things inevitably go wrong on such a voyage, but this group of fellows were so unprepared, both technically and emotionally, that it was almost a surprise when anything went right. Their ineptitude is somewhat frustrating to read about. Don't they make them like Thor Hyerdahl any more?
Sailing in Heyerdahl's wake........2003-05-31
A chance remark, and Nick Thorpe bluffs his way onto an expedition to support Thor Heyerdahl's theory that Easter Island was originally colonised by Amerindians prior to the wave of Polynesians.
When he discovers that the crew has no navigator and minimal sailing experience, he is intrigued rather than disillusioned and he throws himself wholeheartedly into the project. The same cannot be said of other members, or the organiser, who couldn't organise a binge in a brewery.
Accusations of cheating from a rival deflate morale so much, they are in danger of missing the favourable winds. The vitriolic attack also undermines his support and funding and endangers the credibility of the whole exercise.
Thankfully, all obstacles are overcome, so there is only the voyage to complete. This is almost a shambles, due to the lackadaisical captain and the gung-ho exploits of some of the crew. Boredom, superstition and deep-seated prejudices provide fuel for some 'interesting' episodes.
The book is more about relationships and experiences than anthropological archaeology, unlike the books by Severin & Heyerdahl, but if you accept this limitation, the result is a rollicking good tale. The humour is low-key and understated, but there is very little technical information; however a couple of appendices partly address that quibble.
All in all, a good read.****
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Improbable Journeys (Marlboro Travel)
Robin Magowan
Manufacturer: Marlboro Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Travel
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ASIN: 0810160927 |
Book Description
Improbable Journeys is the Culmination of 40 years of travel writing from Robin Magowan, noted poet, translator, and travel writer
Average customer rating:
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IMPROBABLE VOYAGE
TRISTAN JONES
Manufacturer: HARPER COLLINS TRADE DIVISION
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000KV7IIQ |
Books:
- The Soccer War
- The Story of My Life: With Her Letters, 1887-1901 and a Supplementary Account of Her Education, Including Passages from the Reports and Letters of H
- The Twilight Before Christmas (Drake Sisters, Book 2)
- The Word Study New Testament
- Trump: Surviving at the Top
- Twice Blessed: Everything You Need To Know About Having A Second Child-- Preparing Yourself, Your Marriage, And Your Firstborn For A New Family Of Four
- Ungrateful Daughters: The Stuart Princesses Who Stole Their Father's Crown
- Villard: The Life and Times of an American Titan
- Warren Buffett:: Master of the Market
- Warren Buffett Speaks: Wit and Wisdom from the World's Greatest Investor
Books Index
Books Home
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The History of the Standard Oil Company: Briefer Version
How the Other Half Lives: Studies Among the Tenements of New York
Autobiography of Lincoln Steffens (California Legacy Book)
The Jungle: The Uncensored Original Edition
Racial Politics in American Cities (3rd Edition)
