author
Henry Watterson
1840–1921
A powerful newspaper editor and public voice of the post-Civil War South, he helped build the Louisville Courier-Journal into one of the country’s most influential papers. His life moved through journalism, politics, and memoir, leaving behind a vivid record of his era.
3 Audiobooks
Marse Henry: An Autobiography (Volume 1)
by Henry Watterson
Marse Henry: An Autobiography, Complete
by Henry Watterson
Marse Henry: An Autobiography (Volume 2)
by Henry Watterson
About the author
Born in Washington, D.C., in 1840, Henry Watterson grew up around politics and newspapers and entered journalism at a young age. After service on the Confederate side during the Civil War and editorial work in several Southern cities, he settled in Louisville, Kentucky, where he became the leading force behind the newly merged Courier-Journal in 1868.
For decades, he was one of the best-known editors in the United States. Often called "Marse Henry," he mixed political advocacy, commentary, and literary flair, and his paper gained national reach under his leadership. He also served briefly in the U.S. House of Representatives from Kentucky and won the 1918 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing.
Watterson wrote several books, including "Marse Henry": An Autobiography, published near the end of his life. He died in 1921, but he remains closely associated with Kentucky journalism and with the energetic, argumentative style of American newspaper writing in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.