author
Will Irwin
1873–1948
A pioneering journalist and author, Will Irwin won national attention with his vivid account of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. His work ranged from muckraking investigations and war reporting to books on journalism, politics, film, and his own life in the press.
5 Audiobooks
Stanford Stories: Tales of a Young University
by Charles K. (Charles Kellogg) Field, Will Irwin
The City That Was: A Requiem of Old San Francisco
by Will Irwin
The Readjustment
by Will Irwin
The Picaroons
by Gelett Burgess, Will Irwin
About the author
Will Irwin (September 14, 1873–February 24, 1948) was an American journalist and author associated with the muckraking movement. After graduating from Stanford University in 1899, he worked as a reporter before joining The New York Sun.
Irwin’s breakthrough came in 1906, when he covered the San Francisco earthquake from New York, writing largely from memory and limited telegraphic reports. His account became The City That Was: A Requiem of Old San Francisco, bringing him widespread attention. He later worked with McClure’s and Collier’s, where his investigative writing included a major study of American journalism, published as The American Newspaper.
He went on to report from Europe during World War I and wrote extensively on war, politics, spiritualism, film, and journalism. His later books included a biography of Herbert Hoover, a history of Paramount Pictures, and his autobiography, The Making of a Reporter (1942).