Boss-Busters & Sin-Hounds: Kansas City and It's Star

Haskell, Harry

ISBN 10: 0826217699 / ISBN 13: 9780826217691

Published by University of Missouri Press, Columbia, MO, 2007

About this Item

Textblock very clean and tight. Mylar-protected dust jacket, lightly edge and corner rubbed/worn; Binding lightly edge and corner rubbed otherwise in very good condition. 450p., including index. Size: 8vo - Over 7 3/4" - 9 3/4 " Tall.

Seller Inventory # EW5863

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Boss-Busters & Sin-Hounds: Kansas City and It's Star
• Publisher: University of Missouri Press, Columbia, MO
• Publication Date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0826217699
• ISBN 13: 9780826217691
• Binding: Cloth
• Illustrator: Black and White Photos
• Edition: First Printing.
• Condition: Near Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine (in mylar)
• Book Type: Hardcover
• Seller catalogs:
  • American History/Americana

About this title

Synopsis

At the turn of the twentieth century, the ""Kansas City Star"" was a trust-busting newspaper acclaimed for its crusading progressive spirit; fifty years later it was a busted trust, targeted in the most important antitrust action ever brought against an American daily. Now Harry Haskell tells the tale of the Star's rise and decline against the richly textured backdrop of Kansas City - the story of how a newspaper and a city grew together and ultimately grew apart. Boss-Busters and Sin Hounds takes readers into the city room and executive offices of one of the most respected American newspapers, whose influence extended beyond its own community to international affairs. Re-creating life at the Star from the inside, the book traces the shifting fortunes of a great newspaper and the compelling ""power of purpose"" it exerted from the birth of the progressive movement in the 1880s to the 1950s. This fascinating tale - with underlying themes of sin and redemption, high-minded ideals and gutter politics - is populated by a cast of larger-than-life characters, ranging from power brokers to presidents and including such Kansas City notables as Tom Pendergast, J. C. Nichols, and Frank Walsh. But at heart this is the story of three men with contrasting personalities and agendas who shaped the newspaper over more than three-quarters of a century: William Rockhill Nelson, among the last of the great ""personal"" editors from journalism's golden age; the scholarly Henry J. Haskell, who led the Star to its peak of influence in the 1930s and '40s; and Roy A. Roberts, who went on to combine the roles of newspaper publisher and political kingmaker. Along the way, Haskell recounts such milestones as the Star's role in the City Beautiful movement that helped transform America's urban centers; the nation's entry into two global wars; a bold but ill-starred experiment in employee ownership; and the paper's on-again, off-again battle with Boss Pendergast's legendary political machine. And he brings into focus issues that remain timely today, from social and political reform to the very role of newspapers in a democracy, while also drawing parallels with recent American history that are as alarming as they are instructive. Boss-Busters and Sin Hounds chronicles the glory days of an illustrious newspaper as it opens new windows on a city's history.

About the Author

Harry Haskell is the grandson of Henry J. Haskell and a former music critic for the Kansas City Star. He is author of The Early Music Revival: A History and The Attentive Listener: Three Centuries of Music Criticism and lives in Guilford, Connecticut.