| 2/13/1675 |
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John Bunyan, Vanity Fair
On this day in 1675 John Bunyan went to prison for the third time, convicted of preaching his Baptist faith without a license. In over twelve years of confinement Bunyan wrote numerous books and pamphlets, including Part I of A Pilgrim's Progress. It sold 100,000 copies in his lifetime, and is still reported to be the most sold book in the world, next to the Bible. |
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| 4/14/1906 |
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"Comes the Muckrake Man"
On this day in 1906, borrowing from John Bunyan, President Roosevelt made his famous speech labeling as "muckrakers" the new breed of investigative writers -- Ida Tarbell (Standard Oil), Lincoln Steffens (municipal politics), David Graham Phillips (Senate politics), Ray Stannard Baker (treatment of minorities), Samuel Hopkins Adams (patent medicines), Upton Sinclair (the meat industry), and others. |
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