I Have Seen the Future: A Life of Lincoln Steffens

by Peter Hartshorn

Overview

At the dawn of the twentieth century, Lincoln Steffens, an internationally known and respected political insider, went rogue to work for McClure's Magazine. Credited as the proverbial father of muckraking reporting, Steffens quickly rose to the top of McClure's team of investigative journalists, earning him the attention of many powerful politicians who utilized his knack for tireless probing to battle government corruption and greedy politicians. A mentor of Walter Lippmann, friend of Theodore Roosevelt, and advisor of Woodrow Wilson, Steffens is best known for bringing to light the Mexican Revolution, the 1910 bombing of the Los Angeles Times, and the Versailles peace talks.

Now, with print journalism and investigative reporters on the decline, Lincoln Steffens' biography serves as a necessary call to arms for the newspaper industry. Hartshorn's extensive research captures each detail of Steffens' life--from his private letters to friends to his long and colorful career--and delves into the ongoing internal struggle between his personal life and his overpowering devotion to the "cause."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781582438078
Publisher:	Catapult
Publication date:	01/10/2012
Pages:	544
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.60(d)

About the Author

Peter Hartshorn is the author of the internationally-known biography James Joyce and Trieste. He holds an MA in English from Northeastern University. Currently a professor at the Showa Institute, he lives in Boston.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

1 Boy on Horseback 3

2 To the Continent and Back 17

3 Making His Mark 31

4 Enter TR 53

5 A New Venture 63

6 The White House Beckons 83

7 Muckraking Sensation 93

8 The Shame of the Cities 113

9 The Shame of the States 123

10 Goodbye to All That 139

11 "If You Are Not a Socialist" 163

12 Boston 169

13 A Death in the Family 183

14 Dynamite 203

15 The White House Again 221

16 Fun on Fifth Avenue 235

17 Revolutionary Road 247

18 To Russia 259

19 Selling Peace 275

20 The Paris Power Game 289

21 "I Have Seen the Future" 303

22 Peter 323

23 Expatriate 337

24 The Future Revisited 353

25 Finally, a Father 369

26 Carmel Charm 385

27 Fame and Fortune in the Depression 399

28 Left is Right 407

29 "I Thought He Was Just My Daddy" 421

Conclusion 439

Acknowledgments 445

Notes 449

Bibliography 493

Index 505

Editorial Reviews

Praise for I Have Seen the Future

"Absorbing . . . A biography that is prodigiously researched, fantastically interesting and extremely well written. Steffens would have been pleased by how well Hartshorn has turned him inside out." --The New York Times Sunday Book Review

"Well-researched and Well-written." --The Wall Street Journal

"This outstanding work offers immediate appeal for both students and practitioners of the journalistic art, while those concerned about freedom of the press and the role of investigative journalism will take comfort in Steffens's legacy as artfully told here. Highly recommended." --Library Journal (starred)

"This big, lively book is very well-researched and presents a fascinating history of the age when magazine writers steered national opinion." --American Journalism Review

Praise for James Joyce and Trieste

"Hartshorn's information is collected not just from the standard sources . . . His research is admirable and, for the foreseeable future, this short, readable book should be the major authority on an extremely important period of Joyce's life." --Choice

"Peter Hartshorn provides the most readable and detailed account of James Joyce's Trieste years thus far." --Zack Bowen

From the Publisher

Lincoln Steffens isn't much remembered today, though Peter Hartshorn's absorbing biography…makes it clear why he should be. As one of the original "muckrakers," Steffens wrote newspaper and magazine exposés that gave journalism a new purpose, a voice in American democracy beyond simply endorsing one party or another…[Hartshorn] has produced a biography that is prodigiously researched, fantastically interesting and extremely well written. Steffens would have been pleased by how well Hartshorn has turned him inside out.
—The New York Times

Kevin Baker

The term muckraker seems almost antiquated in today's journalistic parlance. But as Hartshorn (James Joyce and Trieste) reveals in this first-rate biography, Lincoln Steffens (1866–1936) helped catalyze "the role of journalists from collectors of news…[into] more professional investigators and literate reporters," which not only dramatically transformed the profession of journalism but fundamentally changed our perception of the nature of government. As an editor at McClure's magazine from 1902 to 1906, he exposed city and state graft and corruption, pioneering what we now know as investigative journalism. He established numerous contacts with notables, including two U.S. Presidents, while also mentoring such famous writers as John Reed and Walter Lippmann. But as Hartshorn points out, Steffens was essentially a "revolutionary" at heart, one who admired the tumultuous political events in the early Soviet Union and elsewhere; he had enemies as well as admirers. VERDICT This outstanding work offers immediate appeal for both students and practitioners of the journalistic art, while those concerned about freedom of the press and the role of investigative journalism will take comfort in Steffens's legacy as artfully told here. Highly recommended.—Richard Drezen, Brooklyn, NY

Library Journal