Chapter+Analysis+and+Prediction

My book is a little different seeing as though it is separated not by chapters but by muckrakers the author talks about. My predictions are practically the things I think the person could have influenced seeing as though my book gives me so much information it won’t let me predict much of anything else.

Introduction: In the Introduction the author first tells you the background of how muckrakers got their name. I thought that was interesting because what a real muckraker is like is a pitchfork. As it turns out Teddy Roosevelt is the one how got their name started. This book also mentions Robber Barons and how they could technically be considered muckrakers too. Some muckrakers didn’t like being called muckrakers but other accepted the name with pride. I thought that was self explanatory, I wouldn’t want to be called names like that either. The cool thing about muckrakers is that most of them were amazing scholars. They were very good in school and all showed promise in writing. It also seems as though muckraking reached its height in the ‘60s and ‘70s because now a day’s it’s not so popular. I thought that was cool too, I was also a bit relieved. The amazing thing that all muckrakers did though was inform the public of things they never dreamed about.

Ida Mae Tarbell: Ida was born in PA when oil was very popular. Her father was involved in the oil business and she naturally had an interest in it but she didn’t write about the oil business until much later. At first she wanted to write about a French woman she admired so she moved to Paris in order to find out more about her. While she was there she also wrote about Napoleon Bonaparte and Abraham Lincoln. The book that made her famous was //The History of the Standard Oil Company// in which she revealed things about J.D. Rockefeller and his trusts. After reading the excerpts from her book I thought she had a good head on her shoulders and that she truly cared about what she believed in. I predict that Ida was a factor in how the Standard Oil Company started to lose power.

Lincoln Steffens: Lincoln has become know King of the Muckrakers for what he did. Lincoln is one of the few muckrakers that didn’t do very well in school. When he finally got a job he was a reporter which allowed him to do what he liked, asking questions. As his life progressed he found he loved writing stories on the political corruption in different cities. As it turns out Lincoln had always taken an interest in political corruption. I found that to be interesting. Once he had many articles on different cities Lincoln decided to make a book, and it was titled //The Shame of the Cities.// While Lincoln wrote he always seemed like he had trouble in his personal life, though. I felt sorry for him but I was glad that he died happy. The excerpt from his book I thought was very insightful and it show how truly corrupt St. Luis’s politicians could be. I predict that the secrets Lincoln revealed helped tone down some of our countries political corruption.

Upton Sinclair: He started out with poetry but he soon found that he did better as a muckraker. Upton was raised on both sides of society because his parents were poor while his grandparents, whom he stayed with often, were decently wealthy. His parents taught him valuable lessons based on who they were. His drunken father led him to be a prohibitionist while his mother’s beliefs lead him to be a germophobe when it came to food. When he was older he was constantly writing novels of all sorts. When someone found promise in him they offered him money to write a book on America’s working class. Upton found promise in the meatpackers who had recently gone on strike. He snuck in as an employee and after seven weeks he wrote //The Jungle.// It was an immediate success and after it was published Upton’s new books on other topics were published and popular too. Some of these books were very popular like the Lanny Budd series. All three of the excerpts from //The Jungle// grossed me out. One of the excerpts talked about how they killed all the animals in the stockyard, which was just sad how many animal they went through. The second excerpt was about a creek called Bubby Creek where all of the waste is thrown out, it was disgusting how the chemicals would do all of these disturbing things to the water. The last except was about how they put any spoiled meat back into the good meat and just marked it as worse than it used to be. It was all very gross. I predict what Upton revealed to the public was a reason why we started using expiration dates.

Margaret Sanger: When Margaret was a young adult her mother died because of her having eighteen pregnancies throughout her short life. From that day forth Margaret was determined to legalize some sort of birth control. She launched a magazine title //The// //Woman Rebel// to spread what she had learned about birth control and what she hoped to accomplish for women. She opened many clinics that were popular with women. She also formed many organizations. Throughout her life she was criticized for her beliefs and sent to jail eight times as well, once she fled the country under the alias of Bertha Watson. She was a strong woman who had done what her father had wanted her to do, to leave the world as a better place. All of her excerpts from //The Woman Rebel// were very headstrong. One was about her goal, another about her beliefs concerning abortion, while another was about how women can’t stand to be suppressed. The last one was a Q and A where she pressed the need for small families where everyone can be fed. I thought she over did it on a lot of things. I predict that Margaret and everything she did was the main reason we have birth control pills and legal abortions now.

George Seldes: George was always a smart boy although he dropped out of high school and became a journalist at an early age. He was all about living up to what his father told him, “question everything; take nothing for granted”. George did question everything, he was known not only for his exclusive interview with Paul von Hindenburg but for his own newsletter //In Fact.// It was all about printing the truth and nothing but it. As he was influenced by Ida Mae Tarbell and Lincoln Steffens (listed above) he influenced people like I.F. Stone (listed below). He wrote more than twenty books that told the truth and exposed things the press wouldn’t tell you. The excerpts from //In Fact// mostly exposed how tobacco and cigarettes kills you. The other excerpt is from his self-published book //The Facts Are. . .// where he explains how the power is with the press and if they print lies the misinform and practically control what you think. I thought George was a great man for doing the difficult things that he did. I predict that after the press saw that the public liked hearing the truth they started printing the truth.

John Steinbeck: He came from a good high-middle-class family who excelled in knowledge. John even went to Stanford for a short time. He was always fond of writing short stories and novels. The novels that made him a muckraker were the ones that brought the sad lives of the poor to the forefront of the wealthy’s minds. His greatest novel, //The Grapes of Wrath//, exposed what life was like for lower-class people who were stuck in the Dust Bowl. In the excerpt from //The Grapes of Wrath// the awkward and depressing situation that the poor people are in is explained. The Bank took back the property that people lived on and if it didn’t do that then someone driving a tractor would continue in a straight line right though your house. It was a very sad truth, I thought. I predict that the public is now more aware of its poor because of John’s books.

J. William Fulbright: he was born James William Fulbright but he preferred simply Bill. He was an “all-American boy” as he was smart and well rounded being good at sports. He even went to college early. He got a job as a college professor and soon was the youngest university president in the US. He didn’t keep the job long because he soon became involved in politics. At this point I felt like Bill had a good head on his shoulders. He was first elected congressman then senator of Arkansas. As a politician he spoke out about wars like Korea or Vietnam. He was a general peacemaker and he wrote many books on his political philosophy. He name is known throughout the world because of what he believed. Inside the excerpts from his book //The Pentagon Propaganda Machine// he warns America that it is becoming a military nation. The other excerpt talked about how propaganda helped increase the military budget because people would buy into it. I predict that Bill was one of only a few politicians that could be considered a muckraker.

Rachel Carson: When Rachel was young her mother constantly took her out in nature and Rachel loved it. Rachel would read poetry about nature as well and she enjoyed it. She was a fantastic writer and an A student so as a little girl she was sure she could make a living of writing about nature. She wrote many books on the ocean and its creatures that informed people of what the ocean looked like from under the water. Her greatest book is titled //Silent Spring// and it is all about pesticides and all of the harmful things they does to the environment. She spent most of her life, up till when she died writing and researching for //Silent Spring//. She is known solely for defending and protecting nature through her writing. In the excerpt from //Silent Spring// Rachel writes a little fable about what a scary planet it would be if we kept using pesticides like we did. I thought she was great and I loved her fable. I predict that Rachel is a key reason I why we still have the amount of nature around us that we do. If not for her we might have much less.

I.F. Stone: His real name is Isidore Feinstein Stone but he was called Izzy. He was very bright as a boy and started to be a journalist (and keep up with school at the same time) at the age of fourteen. He was the first muckraker that I had read about that actually had a happy family, and for that I was glad. Like George Seldes, his influence, (listed above) Izzy was known for printing the truth in his newsletter //I. F. Stone’s Weekly.// In this he always wanted to print things that other journalists had overlooked. He spoke to people about their rights warned people about wars and printed many other things in his newsletter though out his life. In the excerpt from his newsletter Izzy explains why he thinks that the Vietnam War would be a sort of assassination of our troops. I thought he was very wise because he turned out to be right. I predict that Izzy was right about many other things he wrote about too.

Edward R. Murrow: Edward was born Egbert but in his life he would change his name and become a very famous broadcast journalist. As a boy Edward was very bright and elected class president. When he graduated Edward went and worked with CBS and he worked with them for most of his life. At first he was on the radio but soon he had his own television show called //See It Now.// In this show he would address things like communism, nuclear testing and political corruption. One subject would be more memorable than the rest though. //See It Now// did a series on Senator McCarthy where Edward practically went head to head with this powerful and feared man. In this almost epic battle Edward won and it killed McCarthy to hear his words thrown back at him along with anything that Edward had been able to find out about him. In the excerpts Edward talks about McCarthy. He reveals many things about him that prove that McCarthy could sometime barely be human. Although sometimes I thought Edward was a bit obsessive he stuck to his point and I liked him for that. I predict that everything Edward revealed about McCarthy did relate to why the senator died, though.

Jessica Mitford: She is referred to as Queen of the Muckrakers but she was actually born into the British aristocracy. She didn’t actually have a formal education because she was taught by a governess but she was a very smart woman. At the age of twelve she was absolutely outraged by the way the poor had to live and also at that age she opened a running-away account at the bank. When she was older (of course, she’s a royal, there has to be drama) she did run away with her money to meet her cousin whom she had fallen in love with. They moved to America (shortly after her cousin joined the Canadian air force and died in action, more drama) and Jessica began to influence those around her and write books that she said should “embarrass the guilty”. She did just that. One of the things she is noted for is her book //The American Way of Death// which talked about how expensive it was to die here because the funeral industry charged so much for something as simple as a coffin. In the excerpt from the book Jessica describes all the things that Americans didn’t seem to notice mostly meaning the outrageous prices. I predict that because of Jessica these costs went down.

Betty Friedan: Betty was an interesting person because she rejected the role of the house wife she had set up for herself. Betty grew up with a mother that always wanted her daughter to go to college. When Betty did graduate from college she didn’t accept a job as a professor at the college. Betty would always refer to that as being her first mistake. Betty became famous for finding out why most women are content with being simple house wives and for writing book telling women to get out into the world and making something more of themselves. Her most influential book //The Feminine Mystique,// was all about how women are sometimes discontent because it is human nature for them to fill their role as a human being and do something with their lives. In the excerpt from her book she compares Nazi concentration camps to the suburban “prison” the house wife calls home. Throughout this section of the book on Betty I grew to dislike her more and more because she never felt content with what she ended up having. I predict that Betty is part of the reason women are equal to men today, though.

Malcolm X: He was born Malcolm Little but he would be called many other names throughout his life. Malcolm started out as a decently average black boy in the 1930’s but he had a huge deep-rooted hatred for white people practically from the start. As he grew up his family had unfortunate problems that Malcolm always blamed whites for. When he was older he formed a gang and got into jail for the things he did. While in jail he tried to educate himself and he joined the debate team and became a good debater. Once he was out of jail he became an important person in the religion the Nation of Islam where he could voice his opinions on whites with other blacks. After a rollercoaster of a religious life Malcolm came to the realization that whites were not evil when he went to Mecca. He was murdered not long after he came back to the US. In the excerpts, one being from a playboy interview the other being what he found out in Mecca from his autobiography, Malcolm voices the two opinions he had of whites in his life. I thought Malcolm was a little crazy for not seeing what he learned in Mecca before, but I did realize that that had more to do with the family he had been raised in. I predict that blacks and other criticized races gained confidence because of Malcolm, though.

Michael Harrington: In his younger life he was always very successful in school. When he graduated he wanted to be a writer but when he saw in person the type of life the poor lived he decided to dedicate his life to ending poverty. Michael tried to do this by writing many books and the most famous of his books was //The Other America: Poverty in the United States.// In his book he told people about the people in poverty that we barley take notice of. He believed that if people were educated about the poor’s conditions then they would do something about it. Michael participated in many organizations for that poor while at the same time raising a family. In the excerpt from //The Other America// Michael talked about how we don’t seem to notice this other land, this other America that even lives with us. Before he died he wrote in his autobiography that he was disappointed with what he had actually been able to accomplish but he said it was worth the few steps he made anyway. I though Michael was an inspirational person with a good head on his shoulders. I predict that what Michael did accomplish is why we do notice the poor more today.

Paul Brodeur: Throughout Paul’s life he was known for trying to stick up for people. When he was younger his first book was about how many people are mistreated just for being a little different. When he grew older he began to investigate companies that tended to disregard the earth and people’s lives. He attacked companies that he found out helped destroyed the parts of ozone. He also attacked companies that made chemicals that could lead to cancer. He wrote papers that exposed how some companies would make some harmful radioactive substances. He wrote many books that uncovered dangerous things that people had to do for their jobs as well. In an excerpt from his book //Expendable Americans// Paul interviews someone who works for a Texas asbestos plant. Paul wrote about how the people working for the plat didn’t even know they were dying until they had already worked at the plant for a long time. I thought that Paul was really admirable for dedicating his life to helping people like this. I predict that what Paul discovered about asbestos is part of the reason we don’t use it anymore.

Paul Ehrlich: When Paul was young he was absolutely obsessed with nature. As he grew up he began to believe and see that the population of the human race would destroy the world as we know it if we didn’t do something. Paul decided to do something by writing books to inform people. He wrote about how if we continued to increase in population the world’s resources would run out. Paul wrote //The Population Bomb// to describe this. Many people were amazed that there could ever be too many people but they were intrigued all the same. All over the world people became more aware of things like birth rates and the number of children a mother had. Paul and his research cause the world to think about it was doing. I thought Paul was a very determined man for wanting to help the earth so much and I was glad that he was successful. In the excerpt from //The Population Bomb// Paul describes exactly what he predicts will happen if we don’t start becoming aware of our population growth. I predict that because of Paul we won’t have to worry about running out of resources for a while now.

Ralph Nader: This is a huge and impersonating but modest man. When Ralph was young he showed promise in reading advanced books and in academics. Some of his inspiration came from Upton Sinclair (listed above). He lead a very successful life starting out as a college professor and then as assistant to the Assistant Secretary of Labor. He was in charge of auto safety issues and when he saw all the issues with General Motors he decided to write a book about them. //Unsafe at Any Speed: The Designed-in Dangers of the American Automobile// was about the Chevrolet Corvair’s problems and how General Motors had no plan to fix them. When Ralph embarrassed General Motors they tried to get back at him by having a private investigator embarrass him but it ended up backfiring. General Motors was sued for invasion of privacy and embarrass yet again. Because of what Ralph did our life is better and I liked him for that. We have him to thank for things like seatbelts and airbags. In the excerpt from //Unsafe at Any Speed// Ralph talks about how a human life is sacred and if General Motors doesn’t want to make safe cars then they must not care about other people’s lives. The other excerpt tells the story of Mrs. Rose Pierini who had her arm severed off when her Chevrolet Corvair flipped on top of her unexpectedly. I predict that not just Americans but people everyone have Ralph to thank for their lives.

Seymour Hersh: Seymour was raised just like any other average muckraker, in a middle class family and with good school grades. When he came out of college he started to be a journalist. He got most of his stories by walking around the Pentagon and talking to anyone who would talk back. This was also when he met his mentor, I.F. Stone (listed above) who told him to read as much as he wrote because he believed everything you need is in there, you just have to look for it. Seymour was all about uncovering the military’s mistakes. His best work was about a massacre of innocent Vietnamese during the Vietnam War. The //My Lia// story ended up in two of Seymour’s books. Today he is known for being the standard for investigative reporting. I thought he was brave for going up against the military like that. In the excerpt from My Lia 4: A Report on the Massacre and its Aftermath Seymour describes exactly what happen to the little Vietnamese town. I thought it was horrible, they rounded up all the Vietnamese and just shot them in the square. I predict that the military was more careful with what they did in foreign countries after what Seymour revealed what part of them had done before.

Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein: These two are placed in the same chapter because they shared their muckraking experience together as a pair. Because of this they became known as the Watergate twins. Bob was a formal person who graduated from an Ivy League school. Carl was a bit of an opposite of Bob. He was very informal and didn’t graduate from high school because he started being a journalist at the age of sixteen. They worked together to uncover the Watergate story that started as just a simple burglary. It turned out that President Nixon was involved though and because of what these two uncovered he resigned. Bob and Carl and their words were the first to have ever led to some one as important as the president resigning. In the excerpt, which was their article from the //Washington Post,// I thought they deserved my automatic respect because they deserved it. I predict that they are very highly looked up to in this world.

Frances Moore Lappé: She started out as a mere dreamer who wanted to change the world, not unlike many other muckrakers. When she grew up she wanted to figure out how to solve the problem of hunger. She wrote //Diet of a Small Planet,// which was about how if we changed our diets we could lighten that earth’s production load and it could be evenly distributed. The book’s publication changed her life. The book ended up becoming a worldwide book that helped countries everywhere understand the hunger problem. It changed the way millions thought. Frances is the head of many organizations and has been given many awards for her work. I thought she was a very smart woman for truly understanding what caused huger in places all over. In the excerpts from //Diet of a Small Planet// Frances first describes how she came to realize her theory on why the world is hungry. Another excerpt describes how some people get so much to eat while others get so little and that if we evened it out some people wouldn’t be hungry any more. Another excerpt talks about how cash crops are over produced. The last excerpt talks about how we believe that protein is more important that it really is. I predict that countries are now better off because of what Frances discovered.