Overview

This book explores Bernard Shaw’s journalism from the mid-1880s through the Great War—a period in which Shaw contributed some of the most powerful and socially relevant journalism the western world has experienced. In approaching Shaw’s journalism, the promoter and abuser of the New Journalism, W. T. Stead, is contrasted to Shaw, as Shaw countered the sensational news copy Stead and his disciples generated. To understand Shaw’s brand of New Journalism, his responses to the popular press’ portrayals of high profile historical crises are examined, while other examples prompting Shaw’s journalism over the period are cited for depth: the 1888 Whitechapel murders, the 1890-91 O’Shea divorce scandal that fell Charles Stewart Parnell, peace crusades within militarism, the catastrophic Titanic sinking, and the Great War. Through Shaw’s journalism that undermined the popular press’ shock efforts that prevented rational thought, Shaw endeavored to promote clear thinking through the immediacy of his critical journalism. Arguably, Shaw saved the free press.

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9783319840642

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Shaw is presented to the reader as a voice of reason and rationalism, a man who fights bravely against the tide of his sensationalizing, sex-obsessed contemporaries. ... The controversy surrounding Shaw's article `Common Sense about the War'-and his other war journalism-is examined in detail, successfully conveying to the reader a sense of the shockwaves Shaw created with his anti-war stance. (Helena Goodwyn, Victorian Periodicals Review, Vol. 51 (1), 2018) Beautifully written and carefully researched; and display a rare and welcome commitment to social progress. ... focus primarily on the non-fictional prose writings of Bernard Shaw, the articles, lengthy letters, public speeches and criticism that form a large and important part of his extraordinary textual production. (Anthony Roche, Irish Studies Review, Vol. 25, 2017) This is an extremely important, meticulously researched, and truly entertaining book on an underexplored topic, and it is an absolute must-read for those interested in Shaw's journalism, his Irishness, or the intersection between his political crusading and his drama. (David Clare, SHAW The Journal of Bernard Shaw Studies, Vol. 37 (2), 2017)

Author Information

Nelson O’Ceallaigh Ritschel is Professor and Chair of Humanities at Massachusetts Maritime Academy, USA. He has published four previous scholarly books, including Shaw, Synge, Connolly, and Socialist Provocation (2011). He holds a Ph.D. from Brown University, USA.

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