Whitelaw Reid was a journalist who achieved fame in Civil War battle reports--some of which stand as classics--and who wielded power and influence as editor of the New York Tribune for more than thirty years. He was a politician who was active in directing the course of the Republican party during the last quarter of the nineteenth century, using his wit, talent, and influence to effect presidential appointments and pursuing the office of vice-president of the United States after his nomination in the 1892 election campaign. He was a diplomat who served as minister to France, as ambassador to Great Britain, and as a member of the commission sent to negotiate peace with Spain in 1898. While his role as a politician elicited deference in his lifetime and his career as a diplomat has been viewed as distinguished, it was in his work and thought as a journalist that his...