From Publishers Weekly
Students of newspaper history are familiar with the era of yellow journalism (1895-1905), which was closely associated with New York City and spurred on by a battle for circulation between Joseph Pulitzer's World and William Randolph Hearst's Journal . The best-known correspondents, called traveling commissioners, were Richard Harding Davis and Stephen Crane; less famous, but possibly more influential, was Sylvester "Harry" Scovel, Pulitzer's top overseas reporter. In this informative and insightful volume, Milton ( The Rosenberg File ) writes Scovel's biography and a history of the Spanish-American War, while stealing glances at the Greco-Turkish War and the Klondike gold rush, keeping these events and the journalists who covered them in conscientious perspective.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Milton's book mainly chronicles the exploits of reporters during the Spanish-American War when "yellow journalism" flourished. Spurred by a circulation battle between William Randolph Hearst's New York Journal and Joseph Pulitzer's New York World , reporters, including Richard Harding Davis, Frederick Remington, Stephen Crane, George Rea, and Harry Scovel, sneaked in and out of Cuba, sometimes as rebels, sometimes as spies, but always creating their own stories and becoming the news themselves as they were arrested, thrown out, or killed in battle. The Pulitzer-Hearst rivalry remains the most insightful and entertaining slice of this era. This story is also told in W.A. Swanberg's Citizen Hearst ( LJ 8/61), but Milton provides the reporters' perspective. Recommended.
- Melinda Stivers Leach, Precision Editorial Svces., Wondervu, Col.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.
