Frank Luther Mott – författare

First published in 2000. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

First published in 2000. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

This classic text appeared in 1941 and has been used since by generations of journalism students. The work has been described by one reviewer as a history of 'American folkways, as reflected in its press'. Through this work and others on academic journalism, Mott (1886-1964) became known as one of the founding giants of journalism education. As a major encyclopedic reference work, the book concentrates on ten major subject areas, with each section containing a selective and briefly annotated bibliography. American Journalism Part 10-415-2893-X: 234x156: 390pp: £75.00American Journalism Part 20-415-22894-8: 234x156: 392pp: £75.00

The first volume of this work, covering the period from 1741-1850, was issued in 1931 by another publisher, and is reissued now without change, under our imprint. The second volume covers the period from 1850 to 1865; the third volume, the period from 1865 to 1885. For each chronological period, Mr. Mott has provided a running history which notes the occurrence of the chief general magazines and the developments in the field of class periodicals, as well as publishing conditions during that period, the development of circulations, advertising, payments to contributors, reader attitudes, changing formats, styles and processes of illustration, and the like. Then in a supplement to that running history, he offers historical sketches of the chief magazines which flourished in the period. These sketches extend far beyond the chronological limitations of the period. The second and third volumes present, altogether, separate sketches of seventy-six magazines, including The North American Review, The Youth’s Companion, The Liberator, The Independent, Harper’s Monthly, Leslie’s Weekly, Harper’s Weekly, The Atlantic Monthly, St. Nicholas, and Puck. The whole is an unusual mirror of American civilization.

The first volume of this work, covering the period from 1741-1850, was issued in 1931 by another publisher, and is reissued now without change, under our imprint. The second volume covers the period from 1850 to 1865; the third volume, the period from 1865 to 1885. For each chronological period, Mr. Mott has provided a running history which notes the occurrence of the chief general magazines and the developments in the field of class periodicals, as well as publishing conditions during that period, the development of circulations, advertising, payments to contributors, reader attitudes, changing formats, styles and processes of illustration, and the like. Then in a supplement to that running history, he offers historical sketches of the chief magazines which flourished in the period. These sketches extend far beyond the chronological limitations of the period. The second and third volumes present, altogether, separate sketches of seventy-six magazines, including The North American Review, The Youth’s Companion, The Liberator, The Independent, Harper’s Monthly, Leslie’s Weekly, Harper’s Weekly, The Atlantic Monthly, St. Nicholas, and Puck. The whole is an unusual mirror of American civilization.

The first volume of this work, covering the period from 1741-1850, was issued in 1931 by another publisher, and is reissued now without change, under our imprint. The second volume covers the period from 1850 to 1865; the third volume, the period from 1865 to 1885. For each chronological period, Mr. Mott has provided a running history which notes the occurrence of the chief general magazines and the developments in the field of class periodicals, as well as publishing conditions during that period, the development of circulations, advertising, payments to contributors, reader attitudes, changing formats, styles and processes of illustration, and the like. Then in a supplement to that running history, he offers historical sketches of the chief magazines which flourished in the period. These sketches extend far beyond the chronological limitations of the period. The second and third volumes present, altogether, separate sketches of seventy-six magazines, including The North American Review, The Youth’s Companion, The Liberator, The Independent, Harper’s Monthly, Leslie’s Weekly, Harper’s Weekly, The Atlantic Monthly, St. Nicholas, and Puck. The whole is an unusual mirror of American civilization.

In the fourth volume of his widely acclaimed History of American Magazines (volumes two and three of which received the Pulitzer Prize), Frank Mott carries his story into the first years of our century. By means of analysis and of lively quotation from the magazines themselves, the author shows the changes in the social, political, and economic life of the times in America, the movements in ideas and taste, and the developments of popular interests.This is the period when the Saturday Evening Post, the Ladies Home Journal, Collier’s, Cosmopolitan, and National Geographic came into prominence, and their development—in terms of management, policies, personalities—is treated in full by Mott. More than thirty other magazines are surveyed in separate chapters, and hundreds of others are given shorter treatment. The first few chapters are devoted to a consideration of the outstanding elements in the over-all development of American magazines, such as advertising and illustrations. One of the most important aspects of this two-decade period was the advent of the highly successful ten-cent illustrated monthly in the middle nineties. This interfered with the calm and stately progress of such older thirty-five cent magazines as The Century, Harper’s, and The Atlantic.Ensuing chapters deal with magazines in the special fields, and in each case the periodicals themselves are integrated with the background movements. Thus, in addition to magazines mentioned above, Mott is concerned with periodicals about literature, the graphic arts, foreign interests, drama, music, education, religion, philosophy, science, medicine, engineering, construction, transportation, agriculture, law, banking, advertising, women’s activities, sports, humor, and hobbies.

In 1939 Frank Luther Mott received a Pulitzer Prize for Volumes II and III of his History of American Magazines. In 1958 he was awarded the Bancroft Prize for Volume IV. He was at work on Volume V of the projected six-volume history when he died in October 1964. He had, at that time, written the sketches of the twenty-one magazines that appear in this volume. These magazines flourished during the period 1905–1930, but their “biographies” are continued throughout their entire lifespan—in the case of the ten still published, to recent years. Mott’s daughter, Mildred Mott Wedel, has prepared this volume for publication and provided notes on changes since her father’s death. No one has attempted to write the general historical chapters the author provided in the earlier volumes but which were not yet written for this last volume. A delightful autobiographical essay by the author has been included, and there is a detailed cumulative index to the entire set of this monumental work.The period 1905–1930 witnessed the most flamboyant and fruitful literary activity that had yet occurred in America. In his sketches, Mott traces the editorial partnership of H. L. Mencken and George Jean Nathan, first on The Smart Set and then in the pages of The American Mercury. He treats The New Republic, the liberal magazine founded in 1914 by Herbert Croly and Willard Straight; the conservative Freeman; and Better Homes and Gardens, the first magazine to achieve a circulation of one million “without the aid of fiction or fashions.” Other giants of magazine history are here: we see “serious, shaggy…solid, pragmatic, self-contained” Henry Luce propel a national magazine called Time toward its remarkable prosperity. In addition to those already mentioned, the reader will find accounts of The Midland, The South Atlantic Quarterly, The Little Review, Poetry, The Fugitive, Everybody’s, Appleton’s Booklovers Magazine, Current History, Editor & Publisher, The Golden Book Magazine, Good Housekeeping, Hampton’s Broadway Magazine, House Beautiful, Success, and The Yale Review.

In this series of fifteen warm, humorous, autobiographical essays, Mott expresses the philosophy that we are all a part of the clock and calendar system on which the world must be run. We must, however, he insists, stand up and say, I have time enough and to spare for what I really wish most to do. His essays recount American ways of life that have almost disappeared, but they also testify to one man's dynamic and forward-looking philosophy.A UNC Press Enduring Edition -- UNC Press Enduring Editions use the latest in digital technology to make available again books from our distinguished backlist that were previously out of print. These editions are published unaltered from the original, and are presented in affordable paperback formats, bringing readers both historical and cultural value.