A Conversation with James McGrath Morris

I truly enjoy almost every interview I conduct for The Book Studio, but some of these interviews really do become better conversations than others. There are so many factors that go into a good interview, including the strength of a book's content and its author's ease in discussing that content. James McGrath Morris has an incredible subject in Joseph Pulitzer -- and he's wonderfully well versed in that subject. 

If you don't know anything about Pulitzer except that his name is on a major journalism prize, you've got a treat in store. Joseph Pulitzer's life is rich terrain for a biographer, and Morris not only mined the terrain others already had -- he found completely new primary sources that shed light on some crucial periods of Pulitzer's career. As Morris and I discuss during our conversation, Pulitzer was to the U.S. media what Carnegie was to U.S. Steel: A man with capital, but also a visionary whose ideas (good and bad) changed the landscape of news forever. 

Those invested in the media (and these days, we all are -- for more on that, listen to Morris talk about the effect Pulitzer had on the news in Manhattan tenements) should put "Pulitzer: A Life in Politics, Print, and Power" on their "Must Read" lists. In the meantime, I hope you'll watch this lively interview and enjoy...