Outrage, Passion & Uncommon Sense: How Editorial Writers Have Taken on the Great American Issues of the Past 150 Years

Front Cover
National Geographic, 2005 - History - 223 pages
Mining newspaper files and the deep archives and journalistic expertise of the Newseum, an interactive museum of news located in Washington, D.C., Outrage, Passion and Uncommon Sense examines decisive issues and events in U.S. history through the nation's editorial pages. Approximately fifty editorials are reprinted here on topics ranging from suffrage and race to war and politics--even Christmas--with probing analysis by Gartner.

"Editorials are the soul of the newspaper," Gartner says in the book's introduction. "Maybe the heart and the soul. And, on a good newspaper that knows and understands and loves its hometown, or its home country, the editorial is the heart and the soul of the town, or the nation, as well."

Readers will also see a visual account of the era through two-color illustrations, showcasing editorial cartoons, photographs and typographic details from period newspapers. Outrage, Passion and Uncommon Sense is a vital, significant collection that portrays the undeniable influence one editorial can have on this country in some of its most difficult times.

Contents

INTRODUCTION
12
CHAPTER
25
REPORTER MR GANNETT FORGETS A PRIME RULE
31
JOURNAL DEFENDS THE RING The New York Times July
37
Maine American March 1 1979
43
THE FATAL FRIDAY The Chicago Press and Tribune Dec
52
THE LOGIC OF THE BATTLEFIELD The Wall Street Journal
63
THE BEAST IS DEAD The Nashville Daily American Jan
72
Jesse Owens PICTURE Greenville Miss Delta Star July
94
PRAYER OF TWENTY MILLIONS New York Daily Tribune
104
CHAPTER FIVE
113
WHATS THE MATTER WITH KANSAS? The Emporia Daily
131
CHAPTER
139
WARTIME CHRISTMAS The New York Times Dec 25 1941
145
AFTERWORD 202
164
SPEECH ITS A BUSINESS ITS STILL ILLEGAL The Ames
199

About the author (2005)

Michael Gartner has been a journalist for nearly 50 years. He has been Page One editor of The Wall Street Journal, editor and president of The Des Moines Register, editor of The Courier-Journal of Louisville, general news executive of Gannett Co. and USA TODAY, and president of NBC News. In 1997, he won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing for the Ames (Iowa) Tribune, of which he was editor and co-owner. He also is a lawyer, owner of the Iowa Cubs baseball team, and president of the Board of Regents of the State of Iowa.

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