McClure's Magazine and the Muckrakers

Book excerpt: McClure's was the leading muckraking journal among the many which flourished at the turn of the century. Both a literary and political magazine, It introduced exciting new writers to the American scene (Rudyard Kipling, Robert Louis Stevenson, A. Conan Doyle) and fearlessly championed the important causes of the day (from betterment of conditions in the coal mines to antitrust measures). This is the story of McClure's lifespan, beginning in Ohio when Samuel McClure gathered around himself a talented group of editors and writers (among them Willa Cather. Frank Norris. Stephen Crane, O. Henry. Hamlin Garland) and continuing to the magazine's last days in New York City. The growing concern of the staff about American urban and commercial life led to such exposes as Ida Tarbell's History of Standard Oil and Lincoln Steffens' Shame of the Cities. McClure's was a channel for those determined to combat the ills of society, and one of the first voices of the emerging Progressive Party. Originally published in 1970. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.