author
Gustavus Myers
1872–1942
A fierce early critic of concentrated wealth and political corruption, this American journalist and historian wrote books that challenged the power structures of his day. His work is closely linked with the muckraking spirit of the Progressive Era.
3 Audiobooks
The History of Tammany Hall Second Edition
by Gustavus Myers
Great Fortunes from Railroads
by Gustavus Myers
About the author
Born in Trenton, New Jersey, on March 20, 1872, Gustavus Myers became known as an American journalist and historian who dug into the hidden costs of great fortunes, machine politics, and social inequality. He worked in the broad reform-minded tradition often associated with the muckrakers, writing with an eye for systems, money, and power.
Myers is especially remembered for books such as History of Tammany Hall and History of the Great American Fortunes, studies that examined political corruption and the accumulation of wealth in the United States. His writing was sharply critical, but it also helped make complicated questions about business and public life understandable to general readers.
He died in 1942, but his reputation has lasted because of the seriousness of his investigations and the moral energy behind them. Readers interested in American reform, inequality, and the history of power will find in his work a voice that is direct, urgent, and still strikingly modern.