The Literary Digest

Articles from The Literary Digest

‘Rise and Fall of the Dime Novel” (Literary Digest, 1900)

Although the dime novel was in full swing as a popular form of mass literature in 1900, the journalist titled this article as he did because the genre was undergoing so many changes at the time, departing from it’s original format. A short history of the dime novel is provided with an emphasis on it’s classic period spanning the years 1860 through 1870:


Some references are also made to the work of the Beadle and Adams bookkeeper, George Munro, who completely changed the direction of the dime novel when he took up the pen in 1865.

‘Rise and Fall of the Dime Novel” (Literary Digest, 1900) Read More »

‘Rise and Fall of the Dime Novel” (Literary Digest, 1900)

Although the dime novel was in full swing as a popular form of mass literature in 1900, the journalist titled this article as he did because the genre was undergoing so many changes at the time, departing from it’s original format. A short history of the dime novel is provided with an emphasis on it’s classic period spanning the years 1860 through 1870:


Some references are also made to the work of the Beadle and Adams bookkeeper, George Munro, who completely changed the direction of the dime novel when he took up the pen in 1865.

‘Rise and Fall of the Dime Novel” (Literary Digest, 1900) Read More »

Captain Eddy Rickenbacker: Fighter Pilot (The Literary Digest, 1919)

This is a wonderful read in which the American World War One fighter pilot Eddie Rickenbacker (1890 – 1973), recounted his experiences in France. Arriving rather late in the game (March, 1918), he quickly racked up 26 kills, a Croix de Guerre, a Distinguished Service Cross, the Legion d’Honeur and the Congressional Medal of Honor (which would not be approved and awarded to him until 1930). He was the top Ace in the American Air Service. In his later life, he would go on to become one of the founders of Continental Airlines.

I learned pretty fast. Long practice in driving a racing-car at a hundred miles an hour or so gives first-class training in control and judging distances at high speed…

In his later life, Rickenbacker would go on to become one of the founders of Continental Airlines.


Click here to read an article about the development of aerial reconnaissance during W.W. I.


Read what the U.S. Army psychologists had to say about courage.

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The Future of War-Artists (Literary Digest, 1917)

Just as the American poet Walt Whitman once remarked concerning the American Civil War – that the real war will never make it into books, so goes the thinking of the ink-stained wretch who penned the attached column regarding the efforts of the Official War Artists during W.W. I – who attempted to render accurately the horrors of war. Such genuine indecency could never allow itself to be duplicated into a two or three dimensional format.

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William Orpen and W.W. I (Literary Digest, 1923)

In the immediate aftermath of the First World War there were many eye witnesses to the slaughter who refused to remember it as a Noble Struggle. The chubby and comfortable fellows who ran the British Government couldn’t have known that the society portraitist William Orpen was one of these witnesses – but they soon found out when they commissioned him to make a pretty painting depicting all the pomp that was taking place at Versailles…

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The U.S. Urban Murder Rate: 1926 – 1935 (Literary Digest, 1936)

Attached is a chart pulled from a 1936 issue of THE LITERARY DIGEST that reported on the U.S. urban homicide rate spanning the years 1926 through 1935. It indicates that the murder rate began climbing during the economic depression (from 8.8 in 1928); the years 1934 through 1936 saw a steady decline in urban homicide, more than likely as a result of the end of Prohibition.

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The Women’s Air Derby: Santa Monica to Cleveland (Literary Digest, 1929)

To those of us living in the digital age, the concept that the pilots of an airplane race should be segregated by gender in order to compete seems just like a dictate from Sharia law – but for our great-grandfathers, it made perfect sense. This article is about the Women’s Air Derby of 1929, which had a list of women pilots that read like the Who’s Who of 1920s women aviation.


Amelia Earhart was one of the competitors.

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