Advanced
Error loading page.
Try refreshing the page. If that doesn't work, there may be a network issue, and you can use our self test page to see what's preventing the page from loading.
Learn more about possible network issues or contact support for more help.
Title details for The Publisher by Alan Brinkley - Available

The Publisher

Henry Luce and His American Century

by Alan Brinkley
Sean Runnette
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
Borrow Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
1 of 1 copy available
As the founder of Time, Fortune, and Life magazines, Henry Luce changed the way we consume news and the way we understand our world. Born the son of missionaries, Luce spent his childhood in rural China, yet he glimpsed a milieu of power altogether different at Hotchkiss and later at Yale. While working at a Baltimore newspaper, he and Brit Hadden conceived the idea of Time: a "news-magazine" that would condense the week's events in a format accessible to increasingly busy members of the middle class. They launched it in 1923, and young Luce quickly became a publishing titan. In 1936, after Time's unexpected success—and Hadden's early death—Luce published the first issue of Life, to which millions soon subscribed.


Historian Alan Brinkley shows how Luce reinvented the magazine industry in just a decade. The appeal of Life seemingly cut across the lines of race, class, and gender. Luce himself wielded influence hitherto unknown among journalists. By the early 1940s, he had come to see his magazines as vehicles to advocate for America's involvement in the escalating international crisis, in the process popularizing the phrase "World War II." In spite of Luce's great success, happiness eluded him. His second marriage—to the glamorous playwright, politician, and diplomat Clare Boothe—was a shambles. Luce spent his later years in isolation, consumed at times with conspiracy theories and peculiar vendettas.


The Publisher tells a great American story of spectacular achievement—yet it never loses sight of the public and private costs at which that achievement came.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Awards

  • Release date

    June 22, 2010

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781400197590
      • File size: 615287 KB
      • Duration: 21:21:50

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Henry Luce grew up in China, part of a missionary family, and became a founder of TIME magazine. Alan Brinkley shows how Luce's China experiences and Yale background helped shape his work and values. Sean Runnette's presentation of this Luce portrait is clearly a reading, not a performance, but it's a lively one. Runnette reads Luce's own words with a little extra exuberance, reflecting the hopeful spirit of the young journalist. Descriptions of "Timese" and its excesses are delivered with delightful humor. The biography gives insight into the creation of several influential magazines, including TIME, FORTUNE, LIFE, and SPORTS ILLUSTRATED. It also introduces a fascinating yet imperfect man who had great influence on journalism and our culture. J.A.S. (c) AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from February 15, 2010
      The magazines Henry Luce and Time Inc. launched have become institutions, but as Brinkley's magisterial biography reminds us, Luce was only 24 years old when he published the first issue of Time
      at the tail end of a recession in 1923—not much different from today's digital media entrepreneurs. (Brinkley also details the role of Brit Hadden, Luce's friendly rival at Hotchkiss and Yale and eventual business partner, in making the magazine a success.) Those around Luce frequently described him as arrogant, and his intense sense of purpose increasingly played out in the pages of his magazines, like his insistence (despite numerous warnings from observers on the front lines) on supporting Chiang Kai-shek as a counter to the rise of communism in China. Brinkley appears to have read every issue from the early decades of Time
      , Fortune
      , and Life
      cover to cover, grounding his criticisms of Luce's social and political vision in rigorous detail. He's equally solid on Luce's personal life, including his early years as the son of Christian missionaries in China and his whirlwind courtship of (and rocky marriage to) Clare Boothe Luce. A top-notch biography, and a valuable addition to the history of American media.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

Loading