Better known for his fiction, Alfred Henry Lewis was one of the most prolific political reporters of the "yellow journalism" era, an expert feature writer who was equally facile in covering national and local government. A Washington correspondent from 1891 to 1898, first for the Chicago Times and then as chief of William Randolph Hearst's Washington bureau, Lewis was a tireless and effective opponent of the political intrigue and corruption rampant during the period in which the "robber barons" were at the height of their power. A firm believer in the watchdog function of a free press, he saw its role as scrutinizing activities of politicians in the same manner as that of the policeman in keeping watch over "the plans and deeds of burglars, or what others are at criminal warfare with the law."

An individualist and an idealistic Democrat, Lewis produced highly partisan, often trenchant and bitter writings...