Pulitzer: A Life in Politics, Print, and Power
*Starred Review* Journalist and biographer Morris sums up the range of this biography in an author’s note: “In the nineteenth century, when America became an industrialized nation and Carnegie provided the steel, Rockefeller the oil, Morgan the money, and Vanderbilt the railroads, Joseph Pulitzer was the midwife to the birth of the modern mass media.” Such a scope could leave the reader reeling in references, but Morris deftly outlines the transformations of this era by focusing on Pulitzer’s own story. He avoids the trap of leaving the meaning for the man, as he interweaves social and political history with Pulitzer’s life. Pulitzer emigrated from Hungary at the age of 17, enlisted in the U.S. Civil War as a cavalryman shortly thereafter, and then found himself working for a St. Louis newspaper after the war. Pulitzer’s rise has everything to do with his recognition of the power of the press to forward progressive causes and his genius for amalgamating power. The most fascinating part of the biography, though, is Morris’ depiction of the blindness that beset Pulizer at the height of his fame. Blindness in 1890 was, according to Morris, virtually a death sentence, and Pulitzer’s life became one long stay in shaded rooms in between increasingly desperate cures. Morris gives a fascinating portrayal of the man, his era, and his long-ranging impact. --Connie Fletcher