Transatlantic Vistas: American Journalists in Europe, 1900-1940

The turn of the century saw the first foreign correspondents for American newspapers in Europe, reporters whose function was to file light feature stories and also to serve as guides to visiting VIPs from the States. The two world wars, however, occasioned what Heald, professor at Case Western Reserve University, considers a golden age of American international journalism. In those periods, figures like John Gunther, William L. Shirer, Dorothy Thompson and Vincent Sheean turned to interpretation and analysis; their ``fledgling cosmopolitanism'' enabled them to acquaint a generally indifferent America with Europe's problems and the growing threat to peace. They accomplished this despite the increasing censorship obstacles they faced. While Heald's writing is stodgy, the study is impressive. (Nov.)