Lincoln Steffens: "The Shame of Minneapolis."
THE SHAME OF MINNEAPOLIS : The Ruin and Redemption of a City that was Sold Out. By Lincoln Steffens _____ With an Introduction by Mark Neuzil, Ph.D. Lincoln Steffens in 1914 1 Minneapolis and the Muckrakers: Lincoln Steffens and the Rise of Investigative Journalism * By Mark Neuzil, Ph.D. ** The muckraking era in American history is generally thought of as beginning in about 1902 and lasting until the end of the Taft administration or the beginning of World War One, depending on which historian you read. Muckraking, in terms of journalism history, is thought of as a crusading, reform-oriented style of the craft that fathered the investigative reporting of modern times, from Watergate to current issues. One of the most significant early muckraking stories happened here in Minneapolis, and although it is sometimes overlooked in the general journalism histories of the time, it remains important to our understanding of how the field evolved. The story was titled “The Shame of Minneapolis: The Ruin and Redemption of a City that was Sold Out,” and it ___________ * An earlier version of this paper was delivered on October 5, 2003, to an audience at the Mill City Museum in Minneapolis. It was revised by the author in September 2011, for the MLHP . ** Mark Neuzil received his doctorate from the University of Minnesota in 1993. He was a reporter for several years for many newspapers, including the Minneapolis Star Tribune . In 1993, he joined the Department of Communication and Journalism at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul. His publications include: Mass Media and Environmental Conflict: America's Green Crusades (Sage, 1996) co-authored with William Kovarik; Views of the Mississippi: The Photographs of Henry Bosse (Minnesota, 2001), which won a Minnesota Book Award; A Spiritual Field Guide; Meditations for the Outdoors (Brazos Press, 2005), co-authored with Bernard Brady; and The Environment and the Press: From Adventure Writing to Advocacy (Northwestern University Press, 2008).
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