Outrage, Passion, and Uncommon Sense: How Editorial Writers Have Taken on and Helped Shape the Great American Issues O F the Past 150 Years

By Michael Gartner and Newseum

Book Overview

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... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0792241975
• ISBN13: 9780792241973
• Release Date: October 2005
• Publisher: National Geographic Society
• Length: 223 Pages
• Weight: 2.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 8.4" x 9.4"

Customer Reviews

Fascinating and Astonishing

There are many indelible words and images in this groundbreaking book that looks at how American editorial writers have handled the big issues: race, death, freedoms, politics, and more. Consider the angry screed written in 1961 by segregationist Jimmy Ward, editor of the Jackson (MS) Daily News, calling the freedom riders "puppets" and "riot-inciting professionals." It appears next to a close-up photo of a badly beaten freedom rider, his eyes swollen shut. Or the 122-word verdict on the "worthless" life of murderer Leonard Edwards that ran in the Philadelphia Daily News in 1975, ending with the curt demand: "Fry him." Or the lyrical, heartbreaking editorial that William Allen White of The Emporia (KS) Daily Gazette wrote when his 16-year-old daughter was killed in a riding accident. "Outrage, Passion & Uncommon Sense" is full of excellent writing, evocative photographs, forgotten history, and well-remembered history, recalled in a fresh way with original editorials that ran within hours or days of the event. It's a wonder that no one has attempted such a book before. What a useful book for journalism students or any student of American history!