B. Newspapers: Periods, Regions, and Topics

1309. Becker, Stephen D. Comic art in America; a social history of the funnies, the political cartoons, magazine humor, sporting cartoons, and animated cartoons. With an introduction by Rube Goldberg. New York, Simon & Schuster, 1959. xi, 387 p. illus. 59–13140 NC1420.B4

Political cartoons became a regular feature of newspapers in the latter part of the 19th century, and sports cartoons and comic strips followed shortly thereafter. The author presents a chronological history of the comic strip, from The Yellow Kid to Pogo and Peanuts, and also reviews other forms of comic art. Although emphasis is placed on social history, Becker shows a considerable knowledge of the artistic and technical problems involved as well. More critical discussions, as well as an extensive bibliography, can be found in The Funnies, an American Idiom ([New York] Free Press of Glencoe [1963] 304 p.), an anthology edited by David Manning White and Robert H. Abel, which includes both original and reprinted essays.

1310. Crozier, Emmet. American reporters on the Western Front, 1914–1918. New York, Oxford University Press, 1959. 299 p. 59–10968 D632.C72

Military censorship of the news probably reached an all-time high during World War I. During thefirst half of the war, the British and French armies allowed little or no press coverage, and news was derived from the official communiqué, from rumor, or occasionally from the unauthorized exploits of enterprising newsmen. The Allied armies eventually allowed a few accredited reporters to cover the war but kept tight control on their dispatches. The author, a retired newspaperman, relates the activities of such American correspondents as Herbert Corey, Floyd Gibbons, Westbrook Pegler, John T. McCutcheon, and Heywood Broun. Crozier employed a similar approach in Yankee Reporters, 1861–65 (New York, Oxford University Press, 1956. 441 p.), accompanying it with nine unusual Civil War maps which show the disposition and movements not of troops but of reporters.

1311. Forsyth, David P. The business press in America. [v. 1] 1750–1865. Philadelphia, Chilton Books [c1964] xx, 394 p. illus. 64–10959 PN4784.C7F6. Bibliography: v. 1, p. 363–370.

This study, the first in a projected set, traces business publications from their origins as broadside price-currents just before the Revolution down to the period preceding their greatest growth. The record shows increasing diversification as commercial, railroad, and banking journals make their appearance, and Forsyth discusses each type of paper against a background of American economic history. A chronological list is given of papers published from 1750 to 1865, with their inclusive dates of publication, and it is noted that their survival rates have been higher than those of general or literary magazines.

1312. Hohenberg, John. Foreign correspondence; the great reporters and their times. New York, Columbia University Press, 1964. xix, 502 p. 64–22762 PN4784.F6H6. Bibliography: p. [475]–480.

The author, a professor at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, explores "the effect of the foreign correspondent on his times and the influence he has exerted on the jagged course of international relations." The study is organized into a series of short narratives which together portray the origin and evolution of news-gathering abroad. Although the study is worldwide in scope, emphasis is placed on the United States, which with England has been a leader in developing an independent foreign correspondence. Considerable attention is devoted to the growth of the Associated Press, the United Press, and the foreign reporting sponsored by The New York Times, the New York Herald, The World (New York), and The Chicago Daily News.

1313. Hohenberg, John, ed. The Pulitzer prize story; news stories, editorials, cartoons, and pictures from the Pulitzer prize collection at Columbia University. New York, Columbia University Press, 1959. 375 p. illus. 59–7702 PS647.N4H6

The Pulitzer Prize was established by Joseph Pulitzer in 1903 for the "encouragement of public service, public morals, American literature and the advancement of education." Since the bestowal of the prizes was contingent upon the opening of the Columbia University School of Journalism, no awards were conferred until 1917, six years after Pulitzer’s death. Awards are made in letters, music (since 1943), and in eight fields of journalism. Compiled by the executive secretary of the Pulitzer Prize Advisory Board, this anthology contains 64 news stories and editorials which won journalism prizes. Notes providing the background of the article and biographical information on the journalists precede each piece. The material is arranged under 11 general subject headings and is accompanied by some of the prize-winning cartoons and photographs. An appendix contains a brief history of the prize and a complete list of the awards made in all fields since 1917. The complete series of Pulitzer Prize cartoons, with commentary, is reproduced in The LinesAre Drawn; American Life Since the First World War as Reflected in the Pulitzer Prize Cartoons (Philadelphia, Lippincott [1958] 224 p.), by Gerald W. Johnson.

1314. Knight, Oliver. Following the Indian wars; the story of the newspaper correspondents among the Indian campaigners. Norman, University of Oklahoma Press [1960] 348 p. 60–8751 E83.866.K58. Bibliography: p. 331–338.

A history of the newspapermen who reported the military campaigns against the Indians in the West from the close of the Civil War to the Battle of Wounded Knee, S. Dak. in 1890. Most of these campaigns were conducted by small units far from their base of supply, and the correspondents perforce became members of the expeditions. A professor of journalism and former newspaperman, Knight has concentrated on the 20 identifiable correspondents, accredited between 1867 and 1881, of whom Henry M. Stanley is the best known. The treatment is chronological by campaign and includes information on the reporters’ backgrounds. The battles themselves are described and the accuracy of the reporting is evaluated.