About this item
Molly McClain tells the remarkable story of Ellen Browning Scripps (1836-1932) , an American newspaperwoman, feminist, suffragist, abolitionist, and social reformer who used her fortune to support women's education, the labor movement, and public access to science, the arts, and education. Born in London, Scripps grew up in rural poverty on the Illinois prairie. She went from rags to riches, living out that cherished American story in which people pull themselves up by their bootstraps with audacity, hard work, and luck. She and her brother E.W. Scripps built America's largest chain of newspapers, linking Midwestern industrial cities with booming towns in the West. Less well known today than the papers started by Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst, Scripps newspapers transformed their owners into millionaires almost overnight.
About the Author
Molly McClain is a native Californian and professor of history at the University of San Diego. A graduate of the University of Chicago (BA) and Yale University (MA & PhD) , she writes books and articles in the fields of British and U.S. history.
