The Plum Tree

by David Graham Phillips

In The Plum Tree Phillips rips away the façade and exposes politics as it really exists. David Graham Phillips (1867 - 1911) was an American journalist and novelist. Phillips was a reporter in Cincinnati before moving to New York to work for The Sun. Phillips developed a reputation as an investigative reporter. Phillips's novels often commented on social issues of the day and frequently chronicled events based on his real-life journalistic experiences. He was considered a Progressive and a muckraker. His reputation eventually cost him his life. Phillips was murdered when his book The Fashionable Adventures of Joshua Craig was published. A musician thought it had cast literary aspersions on his family. Although The Plum Tree is basically a romance it also is a political novel. Phillips unmasks politics in a way that is graphic and vivid. His skill as a journalist and his observations as a historian make this an intriguing book to read.

202 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1905

About the author

David Graham Phillips was an American novelist and journalist of the muckraker tradition.Phillips was born in Madison, Indiana. After graduating from high school, Phillips entered Asbury College (now DePauw University) - following which he received a degree from Princeton University in 1887.

After completing his education, Phillips worked as a newspaper reporter in Cincinnati, Ohio, before moving on to New York City where he was employed as a reporter for The Sun from 1890 to 1893, then columnist and editor with the New York World until 1902.

In his spare time, he wrote a novel, The Great God Success, that was published in 1901. The royalty income enabled him to work as a freelance journalist while continuing to write fiction. Writing articles for various prominent magazines, he began to develop a reputation as a competent investigative journalist. Phillips' novels often commented on social issues of the day and frequently chronicled events based on his real-life journalistic experiences.

He was considered a Progressive and for exposing corruption in the Senate he was labelled a muckraker. Phillips wrote an article in Cosmopolitan in March 1906, called "The Treason of the Senate," exposing campaign contributors being rewarded by certain members of the U. S. Senate. The story launched a scathing attack on Rhode Island senator Nelson W. Aldrich, and brought Phillips a great deal of national exposure. This and other similar articles helped lead to the passage of the Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, initiating popular instead of state-legislature election of U. S. senators.