Author Description

Long recognized as a brilliant woman of letters, a pioneering feminist, and a member of the Transcendentalist inner circle, Margaret Fuller (1810-1850) also played a significant, if less noted, role in the history of American journalism. From 1844 to 1846, she was the literary editor for Horace Greeley's New York Tribune, to which she contributed not just book reviews but a wide range of articles on New York City social conditions. In this book, Catherine C. Mitchell combines a substantial biographical essay with a generous selection of Fuller's columns on topics such as prison and asylum reform, abolitionism, and woman's rights. Mitchell's essay puts special emphasis on the Tribune of the 1840s - its staff, its readership, the nature and impact of its news coverage and editorial viewpoint, its place in the competitive world of New York journalism - and so provides an invaluable context for understanding Fuller's duties at the newspaper. The selections from Fuller's Tribune writings include much material that has not been previously reprinted or that has not appeared in other twentieth-century collections of Fuller's work.. As Mitchell observes, the longtime neglect of Fuller's place in journalism history is attributable in part to Horace Greeley's offhanded remark that Fuller failed to work diligently. By mining a new trove of primary sources, Mitchell demonstrates convincingly that Fuller was no dilettante playing at the intellectual game of reviewing literature; rather, she made a major contribution in terms of both the quality and volume of her work. Moreover, Mitchell shows that, whatever Greeley may have said on some occasions, the editor in fact valued her highly and gave her equal treatment with the men on his staff. Margaret Fuller's New York Journalism thus adds an important new dimension to our appreciation of this remarkable nineteenth-century woman.