Author's+Goal+and+Muckraking+Theme+Connection

=Author's Goal= ====My book is about a bunch of muckrakers, and not written by a muckraker itself, therefore the author’s goal is a little different than most. This author’s goal in this book is to educate the reader on all the people that made our lives the way they are today. He wants you to know that these people were criticized and put down for the simple goal of changing the world for the better. For many of the muckrakers that the author introduces that is their motto, to leave the world changed for the better because of them. The author also makes the note of how difficult many of the muckraker’s lives were. Many of them had terrible trouble keeping a family together and some would have as many as three spouses in their lives. Almost all of them were mistreated and persecuted for speaking the truth. Some of them even got death threats. Although I still believe that the author’s main goal is to let you know that these people are the ones who made everyone’s life easier or better in one way or another.==== ====Many of the actual muckrakers in the book try to expose things that they grew up around. Some focused on political corruption like Lincoln Steffens so people knew the flaws in their government. Others wrote about the treatment of the poor like John Steinbeck so that people knew the hardships the less fortunate had to put up with. Others wrote about nature because they felt the need to protect it like Rachel Carson. Others wrote just to tell you what the press wouldn’t so that you knew the truth like George Seldes. Betty Friedan wanted people to know why some women always felt guilty that they were house wives, and like her many other muckrakers wrote about the things that they were passionate about.====

=﻿Muckraking Theme Connection= ==== Again my book is different than most because of the many muckrakers in it so there are multiple ways these muckrakers found out their information. Many of the little bios on the separate muckrakers didn’t even include how they got their information. Ida Mae Tarbell got her information by living in the oil business all her life and talking to people near Rockefeller. By doing this she uncovered Rockefeller’s monopoly’s secrets and his personal life. Lincoln Steffens got his information by traveling to the different cities he got tips on and interviewing people there, that way he learned all about the political corruption. Upton Sinclair actually snuck into the meatpacker factory to get the information he wanted about how they practically lied about how clean everything was. Margaret Sanger traveled to Europe many times to do research on birth control in her books so she could know what she was talking about. George Seldes got interviews with people on the inside in order to get the information that the press wouldn’t print. John Steinbeck actually witnessed the poor people’s lives in order to write about them. J William Fulbright was able to reveal things about the government because he was part of the government. Rachel Carson was able to write about pesticides because of all the research she did on them. I F Stone was able to write most of his stuff by reading between the lines. Jessica Mitford studied the funeral industry before she wrote her book on their ridiculous prices. Betty Friedan wrote her book on depressed housewives mostly on her personal experience as a depressed housewife. Malcolm X based most of his muckraking on his and his race’s personal beliefs about how cruel the white man is. Michael Harrington was able to write about the poor because he saw first and what life was like for them. Paul Brodeur could write about expendable Americans because he set up interviews with them. Paul Ehrlich wrote about how the population would be too great for the planet because he spent so much time researching and determining the rate of increasing population. Ralph Nader got his information on General Motors faulty cars because of all the people he interviewed and learned about how had those cars. Seymour Hersh got his information on military mess-ups by walking around the Pentagon and talking to anyone who would talk back. Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein followed two techniques: follow the money and start with the low-level contacts and work your way up to the big ones. That way the wrote a fully supported article on Watergate. Frances Moore Lappé by doing tons of research and testing out her own diet plans so she could tell people what a proper diet consisted of. Another tactic for almost all muckrakers is to travel different places as well so you have a well rounded exposé. ====