Sun Shines for All: Journalism and Ideology in the Life of Charles A. Dana

by Janet Steele

Overview

This critical biography of Charles A. Dana, the 19th-century editor of the New York Sun, blends the democratic ideal of the man with social and media history. Focusing on Dana's early years and political emergence, it analyses the Sun as the conscience and advocate for the working class.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780815625797
Publisher:	Syracuse University Press
Publication date:	05/28/2002
Edition description:	1st ed
Pages:	212
Product dimensions:	6.27(w) x 9.36(h) x 0.75(d)

Editorial Reviews

This excellent scholarly work interweaves biography with a consideration of 19th-century American social currents. Dana, born in New Hampshire in 1819, left Harvard after a year of being socially ostracized due to his poverty and joined Brook Farm, the famous hotbed of New England transcendentalism. There, he became a convert to the philosophy of Frenchman Charles Fourier, who preached the perfectibility of humans and cooperation among the classes. He also met Horace Greeley, who gave him his first job in journalism, as an editor of the New York Tribune , where he remained for 16 years. After working for the War Department during the Civil War, Dana in 1867 bought the New York Sun , which he transformed into the voice of American workers, immigrants and ethnic communities. By the time of his death in 1897, Dana had grown conservative and been replaced by Joseph Pulitzer of the New York World as journalism's preeminent advocate of the country's urban workers. Steele, who teaches rhetoric and communications at the University of Virginia, traces the evolution of Dana's career and ideas in a fine contribution to the history of journalism. Photos. ( Aug. )

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Dana was much more than a flash in the pan of journalism history; as managing editor of the New York Tribune , he hired Karl Marx to write regular reports on European affairs. Full of lively and interesting details, this critical biography of a key 19th-century character tells Dana's full story: work as Horace Greeley's lieutenant on the Tribune , the short-term editorship of the Chicago Republican , and, finally, triumph as the publisher of the influential New York Sun . Steele, a University of Virginia assistant professor, explores Dana's beliefs and shows how he expressed them in his newspapers. Recommended for journalism collections and historical biography sections.-- Abraham Z. Bass, Northern Illinois Univ., DeKalb

Library Journal

A critical biography of Dana, influential editor of the New York Sun in the later 19th century. Traces the origins of his politics, his emergence under Horace Greeley at the New York Tribune, his distaste for growing consumerism, his championing of the working class, and his alliances with such figures as Grant, Lincoln, Marx, and Whitman. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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