The Autobiography of Lincoln Steffens

The Autobiography of Lincoln Steffens #1+2

by Lincoln Steffens

Rediscover a man Americans turned to not only for news but for humor & wisdom. Growing up in Sacramento, Steffens (1866-1936) was an editor at the NY Evening Post, later at McClure’s Magazine. As popular as he was cantankerous, he brushed shoulders with presidents & corporate barons, tsars & dictators. His efforts to expose corruption took him all over the nation & on to Mexico, Europe & the new USSR, where he made his famous proclamation, ‘I have seen the future, & it works!’ He would later become disenchanted with Soviet communism, & eventually he returned to California, to feel again its ‘warm, colorful force of beauty’ & to write what would become this best-selling memoir. Inspiring, entertaining & lyrical, The Autobiography is the story of a brilliant reporter with a passion for examining the complex & contradictory conditions that breed corruption, poverty & misery.
Acknowledgments
A Boy on Horseback
Seeing New York First
Muckraking
Revolution
Seeing America Last
Illustrations
Index

Genres: Biography, History, Memoir, Autobiography, Biography Memoir, Journalism, Nonfiction

884 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1931

About the author

As managing editor of McClure's Magazine from 1902 to 1906, American journalist Joseph Lincoln Steffens exposed governmental corruption in a series of articles, inaugurating the era of muckraking.

In a wealthy family, he attended a military academy. Following graduation from the University of California, he studied in France and Germany.
Steffens began his career at the New York Evening Post. He later part of a celebrated trio with Ida Tarbell and Ray Stannard Baker. He specialized in investigating politics and published collections as The Shame of the Cities (1904) and The Struggle for Self-government (1906). In 1906, he left alongside Tarbell and Baker.

From 1914–1915, he covered the Mexican revolution and began to prefer it to reform. In March 1919, he accompanied William C. Bullitt, a low-level official of state Department, on a three-week visit to the Soviet Union and witnessed the "confusing and difficult" process of a society in the process of revolutionary change. He wrote that "Soviet Russia was a revolutionary government with an evolutionary plan," enduring "a temporary condition of evil, which is made tolerable by hope and a plan." After return, he promoted his view of the Soviet revolution and in the course of campaigning for food aid of United States for Russia made his famous remark about the new Soviet society: "I have seen the future, and it works," a phrase he often repeated with many variations.

His enthusiasm for communism soured before the time of his memoirs in 1931. The autobiography, a bestseller, led to a short return to prominence for the writer, but Steffens ably capitalized not as illness cut his lecture tour short by 1933. He joined as a member of the California writers project, a program of New Deal. He died of heart failure in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California.

Reviews

[loafingcactus · Rating 5 out of 5]

It astonishes me that we have all heard of De Tocqueville, Alexis yet Lincoln Steffens remains in comparative obscurity. I would never have read this book were it not some off hand recommendation I read somewhere that I don't even remember.

What you can say of both de Tocqueville and Steffens is this: there is nothing a person can say about American politics which each of them did not already say in his own way.

Steffens obscurity is probably related to the fact that his observations do not fit anyone's agenda. When it is time to blame the left Steffens finds a way to blame the right and vice versa. When it is time to blame big business Steffens notes that corruption requires the collusion of the voters, and when it is time to blame petty criminality Steffens notes the necessity of the collusion of big business.

The sweep of history is extraordinary. This is a man who knew Teddy Roosevelt and the industrialists, but also Trotsky and Lenin. To a lover of biography and California history the first 200 pages about a boy roaming early statehood Sacramento are not to be missed- it is worth getting into this book even if your intention is to set it aside when he leaves town for college.

The book is ginormous, but Steffens is a newspaper writer: each chapter forms a readable enclosed unit. Thought it is easy to read, it is difficult to determine what to do next. There is no agenda, there is no movement to join. There is just understanding the complexities of democracy.

I have added this book to my Essentials for Citizens Goodreads shelf. I can hardly think of a book more important to American citizens in the present day, and most people should find it readable (unlike de Tocqueville, no particular historical or political background is necessary- the information is provided in the chapters).

[Jon Boorstin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book brings to life New York City when it was defining itself. Cities, like most things, are most interesting when they are on the way up, and Steffens lived New York's Salad days, and brings them vividly to life. Life was larger than life then.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had never heard of this man before reading this book. It seems that all books written by former Editors of any kind are very good. This was a wonderfully interesting view of the united states at the turn of the century and just like all great autobiographies , it had in it little about the author himself. He did spend some time on his youth which for me is usually a bore but his was very interesting

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lincoln Steffens was the original muckraker, a Chicago journalist who exposed graft and corruption, especially in the meat packing industry. Unfortunately, he reflects the sexist and racist attitudes of the time, and there's no sense of outrage about the things he uncovers.

That said, I really enjoyed the stories of his childhood in and around Sacramento, CA in the 1870's. He was a boy who hungered for knowledge and adventure, and his innocent enthusiasm endeared him to all sorts of people. The book goes on to cover his years of study in Germany and France and his subsequent marriage, but doesn't really explain his estrangement from his family. I have always loved the third chapter, "A Miserable Merry Christmas," which to my mind is a classic of Christmas themed literature.

[Gray · Rating 3 out of 5]

The best part of this book is "A Boy on Horseback" Chapters I through XIV. These chapters take place in the Sacramento area, and if you live or have lived there, it's a treat to imagine this now urban area through Steffen's text. Though Steffens was born in San Francisco in 1866, he states that he recalls "nothing of my infancy in San Francisco. My memory was born in Sacramento."

Other parts of the autobiography, "Revolution" and "Seeing America at Last," are mildly interesting, "Seeing New York First" and "Muckraking" much less so, I thought. If you were hoping he would touch on his years in Carmel, California, as I was, you will be disappointed---not a word about Carmel.

[Irma Servatius · Rating 5 out of 5]

unbelievably well written by the very first of the muckrakers - he keeps the believable naivety from when he is a boy and slowly learns with the reader throughout his memoirs. he keeps you guessing. his circle closes tightly around politics, corruption, TR, communism, democracy, the list goes on... the muck is made and he rakes it.

[Gerald Greene · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great read about a writer/journalist who made a difference and who describes American history from his own perspective. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and am pleased it's still available in paperback form.

[Pedro Degiovanni · Rating 3 out of 5]

It had one of the strongest starts of any book I've ever read. His description of his childhood is just gorgeous. His covering of the mudracking years is also solid. Sadly, the quality falls off a cliff after that. He shifts from recounting to preaching, and I just couldn't keep reading.

[Lauren]

Studying Abroad//Journalism on Wall Street//"Muckraking" crime

I liked Steffens for his writing style -- simple, straight forward -- and his perceptiveness. This book is full of the kind of stories that make the author seem wise beyond his years, but they really happened, and they're well written.

[Dondugdale]

Historically interesting, especially if you're into the history of journalism or U.S. history around 1890-1920. The first third of the book is the best written.