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Pulitzer: A Life in Politics, Print, and Power Reviews “This well-researched, exhaustive biography reads like a novel, with fleshed-out characters ranging from William Randolph Hearst to John Gardarino, a penniless newsboy. It is the story of a man, but also of a time, when newsroom scores were sometimes settled with pistols, when anti-Semitism was the norm, when ‘out-of-work politicians became newspaper editors, and successful editors became elected politicians.’ Morris paints a vivid picture, portraying his subject as an ambitious, hotheaded, at times violent, often charitable man; a perfectionist, shrewd in matters of business yet cold in matters of the heart.” “No doubt I will not be the only one to remark upon the timing of this excellent book: a thorough, possibly definitive biography of the man who shaped the modern newspaper more than anyone else -- being published at the precise moment when the modern newspaper is staring into the abyss. There have been other biographies of Pulitzer, most notably W.A. Swanberg's published in 1967, but James McGrath Morris's is the best. It is authoritative, lucid and fair to its complicated subject.” “Morris' magisterial new biography . . . is the first since W.A. Swanberg's 1967 work to reexamine the strange life of the man who was born to a prosperous Jewish family in Hungary and reinvented himself in the United States . . .His biography is not hagiography. He sees Pulitzer in all his complexity and with a sense of nuance.” “In this cavalcade of American life and letters, the pages fly by. Was that a glimpse of both Ulysses S. Grant and Sitting Bull in the same paragraph? It was. “Few barons of the Gilded Age offer so remarkable a story as press mogul Joseph Pulitzer. . . Morris, for his part, has provided an attractive, superbly illustrated and gracefully written account of his subject that might well catch the attention of the Pulitzer Prize trustees.” “All right, who was Joseph Pulitzer really? Ninety-nine years after his death at only 64, the most insightful bill of particulars to date is provided by James McGrath Morris in his meticulously researched Pulitzer: A Life in Politics, Print, and Power. . . The storied newspaper publisher became so enshrouded by myth, however, that an essential biography was long overdue. “An important new biography about the early days of American newspapering in all its violent, vital, swashbuckling glory . . .Pulitzer is a valuable contribution to the record, indeed a definitive look at the earliest, rowdiest—maybe, greatest—days of modern journalism.” “Morris applied a journalist's investigative skills to his Pulitzer research. . .The Pulitzer that emerges from Morris' work is a brilliant and energetic entrepreneur who becomes tormented and irascible when detached retinas in both eyes cast him into blindness.” “A penetrating look at the man and the way he influenced newspapers and the nation.” A “sweeping biography.” "An accomplished new biography" “Fascinating reading. . .A tip of this battered eyeshade to a biographer who, for this book, doubles as an investigative reporter.” "An excellent new biography of the unusual man known as JP is a reminder of the vital role journalism plays in a democratic society, if only its owners allow the vitality.. James McGrath Morris's biography is also a reminder of why well-researched, well-written history is so valuable. . .Morris's book admirably charts Pulitzer's remarkable rise and career.” “Pulitzer is a hefty tome that attempts to get at the man behind all the roles. It acknowledges the greatness of Mr. Pulitzer but doesn’t try to justify any of his flaws. The end result is a comprehensive overview of this complicated man’s life, revealing a person greater than the title, “yellow journalist,” which Pulitzer tried to expunge through the award he created.” “If Orson Welles had made Citizen Kane about Pulitzer instead of Hearst, it would have been just as devastating a parable . . .What makes Morris’s biography especially timely is that we are now witnessing the death of the whole style of newspaper publishing Pulitzer invented. The big city daily, the kind of newspaper that everyone read because everyone had to read it—from politicians and businessmen to laborers and homemakers—is becoming a thing of the past. . . A century after Pulitzer’s death, the newspaper now promises to join the other great technologies of the Gilded Age—from railroads to coal mining—on the scrap heap of American history. It is by no means clear that we should dance on its grave..” “This comprehensive biography tells a story of great achievement and great sadness. Morris traces Pulitzer's remarkable accomplishments and his struggles. It is a fascinating portrait of a man who is known mainly today for the journalism prizes that bear his name.” "Morris's biography is ready-made for the movies, with big scenes and larger-than-life characters. It looks back to an America when the daily newspaper was an essential part of life, and it makes America itself as much of the story as Pulitzer." "Young journalists or even the prize winners themselves, would be well served by Morris's detailed account of a man who long ago forged the way for the Hearsts, Paleys, Luces and the other media moguls of the 20th century to do what they did in the name of journalist endeavor. And for all those who know little more than the name (much like, say, Alfred Nobel), Pulitzer fills the gaps in an important piece of our domestic history." “If you're a news, journalism, history and/or political junkie, this is a page-turning read..” "Morris's book provides an illuminating look at how one tremendously driven man shaped its history. “The new biography, Pulitzer: A Life in Politics, Print, and Power has it all: immigrant-to-icon; rags-to-riches-to-recluse; attempted murder; suicide; domestic abuse; adultery; battles between titans...With today's enormous transformation of media, from dying newspapers to burgeoning blogging, Twittering, and other new media, this Pulitzer biography is as timely as it is intriguing.” "Morris pins down previously blurry details, especially regarding Pulitzer's business dealings, and he keeps the book commendably balanced, considering the complicated personality of his subject. . . Always mesmerizing, his story has renewed relevance today." "In painting his portrait of this flawed tycoon, Morris has drawn on previously unavailable material: an unpublished memoir by Albert Pulitzer, who spent most of his life estranged from his more famous brother, and a cache of letters to Kate Pulitzer from her lover, Arthur Brisbane, a brilliant editor for Pulitzer who later defected to Hearst's camp." “In this thorough, elegantly-written volume, biographer Morris explores the life of infamous media mogul Joseph Pulitzer, best known today for the journalism prize that bears his name . . . From the kill-or-be-killed ethos of his early journalistic and political career to his late-in-life preference for extreme solitude, Pulitzer proves a captivating figure, and Morris's handling superb.” “A substantial, balanced biography of a complicated, mesmerizing figure who embodied both the American Dream and the American Nightmare . . .Morris ably depicts a volatile, irascible, impulsive, unscrupulous man who betrayed and subverted his brother, verbally abused his wife and children, preached democracy, practiced autocracy and believed fervently that he was never wrong. A Horatio Alger tale shaded with Shakespearean darkness.” “Morris (The Rose Man of Sing Sing) presents a colorful and critical account of the life of Joseph Pulitzer (1847-1911) and Pulitzer’s transformative use of the press in his battles for reform…this book offers new insights derived in part from previously unpublished sources from Pulitzer’s brother and wife (to her lover), both providing enriched context for Pulitzer’s often turbulent family life…With a breezy prose style and expository endnotes taking earlier secondary sources to account, this is highly recommended for both casual readers and students of the history of American journalism between the Civil War and World War I.” “…Morris deftly outlines the transformations of this era by focusing on Pulitzer’s own story…The most fascinating part of the biography, though, is Morris’ depiction of the blindness that beset Pulitzer at the height of his fame…Morris gives a fascinating portrayal of the man, his era, and his long-ranging impact.” Media Coverage PBS Newshour Book Studio CSPAN Santa Fe Reporter River Front Times Santa Fe Radio Cafe Praise "This epic biography, with its remarkable new research and vivid, fast-paced writing, will delight anyone who wants to understand the tangled history of politics and the press in modern America.” “James McGrath Morris masterfully demonstrates the power of biography to reveal our past and inform our future. His colorful storytelling brings to life the driven, tormented soul of Joseph Pulitzer, the penniless, Jewish Hungarian immigrant who invented the first information age. Here is a classic American odyssey of extreme poverty, immense riches and personal tragedy. Pulitzer’s astonishing life story encompasses episodes of attempted murder, a secret love affair and his brother’s suicide. Deeply researched and beautifully written, Morris has written the definitive Pulitzer.” “James McGrath Morris has given us everything we could have asked for in his new biography of Joseph Pulitzer. Gracefully written and thoroughly researched, his biography is easily the best we have on this remarkable man who so profoundly influenced the worlds of politics and publishing.” “The name Pulitzer sheds its radiance over many celebrated writers and newspapers; now James McGrath Morris has made the famous name into a living, loving, thrusting, tumultuous – and lurid – innovator. A Jewish immigrant from Hungary who could barely understand a word of English when he landed in New York in 1864, he was nonetheless one of the creators of modern mass media. The story has everything – murder, corruption, scandal, and high achievement. Morris’s meticulous biography takes full advantage of new material. In Ohio, he came across secret letters from Kate Pulitzer to a hitherto unknown lover. In Paris he found a long-lost memoir written by Pulitzer’s brother (and rival), who took his own life. In St. Louis, Morris had access to important business documents hidden in cigar boxes dumped in a trash bin; and in Washington he extracted a fascinating record of skullduggery relating to America’s acquisition of land for the Panama Canal by President Theodore Roosevelt.” “In this powerfully drawn and richly narrated drama of a penniless immigrant who struggled to build, and then ultimately lost a great publishing empire, James McGrath Morris has crafted an absorbing, inspirational, and yet bittersweet success story both of a self-made man, and of a rising world power, intent on pursuing a place in the sun.” |
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