Review of Reviews
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The Review of Reviews was a noted family of monthly journals founded in 1890–1893 by British reform journalist
Founder, W.T. Stead
Stead was a career journalist who was drawn into reform politics in the 1880s, crusading through for such causes as
As a result, the
He authored many books, including The Truth about Russia (1888), If Christ Came to Chicago (1893), and The Americanization of the World (1902). His essay "How the Mail Steamer Went Down in Mid Atlantic" (1886) is considered his first prediction of the sinking of the
The Review of Reviews
Frequency | Monthly |
---|---|
Founder | Sir George Newnes |
First issue | January 1890 |
Final issue | 1936 |
Country | United Kingdom |
Based in | London |
Language | English |
The Review of Reviews was started in January 1890 by W.T. Stead and
The Review mirrored Stead's own over-active imagination and was written almost exclusively by him.[citation needed] Along with the dozens of magazine and book reviews it contained, it also included a running commentary of world events, entitled "The Progress of the World", and a character sketch of a current "celebrity". The first issue was an instant success, and opened with numerous facsimiled welcome messages which Stead had courted from various dignitaries of the time. However, Stead's relationship with Newnes came under strain when the latter strongly objected to Stead's scathing character sketch of The Times newspaper (eventually published in March).
Perhaps seeing this discord as a sign of things to come, Newnes severed ties, exclaiming that the whole venture was "turning his hair grey". After buying out Newnes's share, Stead shaped the Review after his own image. With article titles such as "Baby-killing as an Investment" and "Ought Mrs. Maybrick to be Tortured to Death?", Stead showed he had lost none of the sledge hammer force of his journalistic days. He also involved the Review in social work, setting up the "Association of Helpers" and even an adoption agency called "The Baby Exchange".
Stead was an early supporter and speaker of the language Esperanto and devoted one page to its promulgation in every issue.
In 1891–92, Stead founded the equally successful American and Australian editions of the Review, and, in London, he added to his success with other literary triumphs, such as book series The Penny Poets,[1] Popular Penny Novels and Books for the Bairns,[2] all published under the Review's auspices. However, in spite of such apparent successes, without the business-like Newnes to guide him, Stead frequently drove the Review to death's door, despite the best efforts of his business manager, Edwin H. Stout.
This was particularly the case during the
The American Review of Reviews
Editor | Albert Shaw |
---|---|
Frequency | Monthly |
Founded | 1890 |
Final issue | 1937 |
Country | United States |
Based in | New York City |
Language | English |
The American Review of Reviews was edited by the American academic, journalist, and reformer, Albert Shaw.
Published from New York, The American Review of Reviews ran simultaneously alongside its British counterpart. As such, it represented the views and concerns of participants in the trans-Atlantic culture of progressive reform so brilliantly discussed in Daniel T. Rodgers's Atlantic Crossings: Social Politics in a Progressive Age (1998).
Shaw was part of the first generation of academic reformers, which included
The American Review of Reviews is one of the best primary sources on American reform between 1890 and 1920, providing not only a panoramic view of the range of reformers' interests, but also the ties between British and American progressives. By volume 3, however, its style had departed significantly from that of its British cousin.
The American Review of Reviews ran until 1937, when it merged into The Literary Digest.
See also
- 1901 Federal Flag Design Competition
- The Bookman
- Harper's Magazine
- McClure's Magazine
- Munsey's Magazine
- The Outlook
- World's Work Magazine
References
- ^ The Penny Poets (The Masterpiece Library: Series I) ("Review of Reviews" Office; Stead's Publishing House) – Book Series List, publishinghistory.com. Retrieved 6 October 2019.
- ^ Sally Wood-Lamont, W.T. Stead's Books for the Bairns, attackingthedevil.co.uk. Retrieved 6 October 2019.
Further reading
- W.T. Stead & the Review of Reviews at the W. T. Stead Resource Site website