In our increasingly fractured media environment where people tend to go into their different media silos for entertainment, news, and culture, it may seem strange that a magazine sought to be the main source of news and culture to “average” America. The Saturday Evening Post of the early 20th century attempted to appeal to, and influence the opinions of, middle America. While the rich city dweller might subscribe to Harper's Weekly , your typical American in what we'd now term "flyover country," had seen no
When war clouds gathered on the horizon in the summer of 1914, Lorimer decided he should send correspondents to Europe to cover what might prove to be the biggest story of the age. The Saturday Evening Post did not usually have staff writers as such—the magazine depended on people to submit their work freelance—but Lorimer changed his mind during the war and worked on getting writers overseas so they'd give him stories that he was sure the public would be interested in. Once the shooting started in late Jul
This anthology, put together by Chris Dubbs and Carolyn Edy, cherrypicks 33 essays and columns from four distinct periods of the war (early days, the lead up to U.S. engagement, Americans in the fight, and after the war) to give a flavor of how the entire conflict was covered. Chapters before each section also discuss some of the memorable events and stories that were published at the time but not included in the anthology proper.