Horace Greeley

View the Table of Contents. Read the Preface. Williams gives a straightforward account . . . [and] argues that Greeley unswervingly devoted himself to a single ideal-American freedom-and was, in turn, crucial to its development. -The New Yorker oA splendid telling of a story that couldn?t be more timely now that we are in another difficult and controversial war.o -The Wall Street Journal oWe should be grateful for and even astonished by this graceful and absorbing account of a species practically extinct, a newspaper publisher for whom focus groups and stockholders aren?t true north on his moral compass.o -Harper's Magazine The celebrated reformer Horace Greeley edited The New York Tribune, has a tiny but elegant oasis in Midtown named for him, and may be best remembered for having memorably advised young men to go west. In Horace Greeley: Champion of American Freedom, Robert C. Williams places this 19th-century New Yorker in a broader political context. . . . Succeeds in portraying [Greeley] as a leading figure in the struggle to define freedom 'as a universal good better than the liberty that tolerated slavery.' -The New York Times A comprehensive biography of Greeley (1811u72), deftly analyzing the price he paid to brook no intrusion, partisan or otherwise, on his principles. . . . Powerful portrait of a publisher who became the voice of Middle America during the nation's deepest crisis. -Kirkus (starred review) oBiographer Williams recounts Greeley?s rise from obscurity to prominence, relying for a unifying theme on Greeley?s dedication to social reform and personal improvement. . . . General readers interested in the who, what, when, where, and how of Greeley have got it all in Williams? stolid presentation.o -Booklist Greeley?s was a remarkable life. And Robert Williams paints it in full. . . . [He] does a creditable job relating all of this, and his book is thoroughly researched and ably written. . . . [His] continuing theme of Greeley?s relationship to evolving notions of liberty and freedom is solid. . . . Horace Greeley was unquestionably the dominant journalist, and one of the leading politicians, of the Civil War era. And his story has never been better told than it is here. -New York Sun By far the most important biography of Horace Greeley to appear in the past half century. -Daniel W. Howe, author of Making the American Self: Jonathan Edwards to Abraham Lincoln and Rhodes Professor of American History, Oxford University oThis new biography comes, refreshingly, from outside journalism. It was written by a veteran historian whose starting point was his interest in understanding the words ?liberty? and ?freedom,? and the distinctions between them. Williams found that much of the nineteenth-century discussion of these concepts flowed through a single figure, Horace Greeley. . . . Williams captures Greeley not only as the white-haired, badly dressed odd duck, but also as a formidable presence-outspoken but not quarrelsome, ambitious but principled, fearless but not reckless. . . . Williams conveys well an era in which politics was many-hued, rather than merely red and blue.o -Columbia Journalism Review America's most open-minded newspaper editor, Horace Greeley, promoted many a good cause in the pages of his paper, and regularly suffered the consequences of expressing what he thought. Rather than catering to public opinion, he confronted and changed it. This fine biography reintroduces him as a foremost champion of human freedom. -Donald A. Ritchie, author of Reporting from Washington: The History of the Washington Press Corps Williams describes the Civil War editor and politician Horace Greeley as a 'great mind and heart.' I agree. Greeley should be better known. This book may make him so. -Joy H

Robert C. Williams is Vail Professor of History Emeritus at Davidson College and Lecturer in History at Bates College.