Adventure Journalism in the Gilded Age

Katrina J. Quinn is a professor of communication at Slippery Rock University. Named a Hazel Dicken-Garcia Distinguished Scholar of Journalism History in 2019, she has published on topics such as nineteenth-century political reporting, sensationalism, literary journalism, narrative, and personal accounts of the American frontier. Mary M. Cronin is a professor in the Department of Journalism and Media Studies at New Mexico State University. Her research focuses on nineteenth-century press performance and legal issues. The author of three previous books and numerous scholarly journal articles, Cronin was a former reporter, copy editor, and assistant news editor in Massachusetts, New Jersey and Florida prior to her academic career. Lee Jolliffe is a professor of journalism at Drake University, where she teaches media design and honors courses on the media. Prior to her academic career, she worked as a freelance writer and as supervisor of the Writing and Editing Section at Battelle Institute on projects for NASA, DOE, DoD, NSF, NIH, and the EPA.

• Table of ContentsForewordMichael S. SweeneyPrefaceKatrina J. QuinnIntroductionKatrina J. Quinn, Lee Jolliffe and Mary M. CroninPart I: Adventures at HomeAdventure Reporting from America’s Western Rails and Trails, 1860–1880Katrina J. QuinnFrom Gotham to the Golden Gate: Promoting American Expansion, Exceptionalism, and Nationhood by RailroadMary M. Cronin“Into the Dark Abyss”: Gilded Age Adventure Reporting from the Mines of AmericaKatrina J. QuinnFloat Along the Frontier: Down the Missouri with Captain Paul Boyton, James Creelman, and the New York HeraldCrompton Burton“An Almost Undiscovered Country”: Frank Leslie’s 1890 Alaska Expedition and the Tradition of Gilded Age Adventure JournalismMary M. CroninTeresa Howard Dean: Reporting Tragedies and Triumphs from the American WestPaulette D. KilmerPart II: GlobetrottersThomas Wallace Knox: A Celebrity Journalist’s Travel and Adventure in Siberia and ChinaWilliam E. Huntzicker“Burning of the Clipper Ship Hornet at Sea” and Other Reports from Hawaii: Mark Twain’s Adventure Reporting from the Sandwich IslandsJennifer E. Moore“The First Bold Adventure in the Cause of Humanity”: Henry Morton Stanley’s Adventure Journalism in AfricaJames E. MuellerTo Better See the World: The Adventure Journalism of Eliza Ruhamah ScidmoreJames E. Mueller“Mr. Bennett’s Expedition”: The New York Herald’s Arctic AdventureCrompton Burton“Alive, but wiser from our experience”: Nellie Bly’s Adventure Reporting from Mexico and Around the WorldJack Breslin and Katrina J. QuinnAfterwordLee JolliffeBibliographyAbout the ContributorsIndex

“Having reported on modern-day adventurers and my own explorations from ninety countries, to both Poles, and across the planet’s one giant ocean, I wish I’d had a copy of Adventure Journalism in the Gilded Age in my backpack during my own travels - it would have fattened my experiences, both here at home and to the most remote corners of the globe. Bravo!!”—Jon Bowermaster, 6-time grantee of the National Geographic Expeditions Council, author of Crossing Antarctica, Descending the Dragon: My Journey Down the Coast of Vietnam