HOME TOWN NEWS: William Allen White & The Emporia Gazette

Johns Hopkins University Press, 1991. 1st Paperback Edition 1st Printing. Soft cover. New/No Jacket Issued. A few B&W photos throughout. CONDITION: UNREAD 1991 Johns Hopkins Univ. Press trade paperback, first PB edition, first printing. A few B&W photos illustrate throughout. CONTENT: First let me recommend something, if you have not read it. It's online. White lost his daughter Mary in a horseback riding accident. His essay/obit for her is one of the most moving pieces of American literature ever published. It is simply styled as "Mary White." Do yourself a favor - read it. (It is also included in this book.) In 1895, as a 27-year-old journalist, White bought the Emporia, Kansas newspaper and moved home. During his long tenure, White gained nationwide fame as the "Sage of Emporia" - the embodiment of the small-town newspaperman and all the treasured virtues that small towns represented in the minds of Americans. White carefully shaped his paper's vision of its community to promote local economic growth, Republican political control, and social harmony. He adapted the ideas and rhetoric of small-town boosterism to changing economic realities and sought to preserve local autonomy even as the Gazette introduced readers to mass-produced consumer goods. At one point there was a discussion about whether the Gazette was actually a newspaper and practiced real journalism. White was a fascinating character and every journalism student should know him. BTW, there was even a movie about this very issue as a side plot to a comic love story - 1958's Teacher's Pet.