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Restless Genius

by Richard J. Tofel

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Overview
Readers reviews (3)

Product Details

Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Publishing date: 03/02/2009
Language: English
ISBN-13: 9780312536749
ISBN: 0312536747

Synopsis

The story of the man who transformed The Wall Street Journal and modern media

In 1929, Barney Kilgore, fresh from college in small-town Indiana, took a sleepy, near bankrupt New York financial paper—The Wall Street Journal—and turned it into a thriving national newspaper that eventually was worth $5 billion to Rupert Murdoch. Kilgore then invented a national weekly newspaper that was a precursor of many trends we see playing out in journalism now.

Tofel brings this story of a little-known pioneer to life using many previously uncollected newspaper writings by Kilgore and a treasure trove of letters between Kilgore and his father, all of which detail the invention of much of what we like best about modern newspapers. By focusing on the man, his journalism, his foresight, and his business acumen, Restless Genius also sheds new light on the Depression and the New Deal.

At a time when traditional newspapers are under increasing threat, Barney Kilgore’s story offers lessons that need constant retelling.

Richard J. Tofel is general manager of ProPublica, a not-for-profit investigative reporting venture, and previously was an assistant managing editor and the assistant publisher of The Wall Street Journal. He is the author of Sounding the Trumpet (2005), about JFK’s inaugural address; Vanishing Point (2004), about the disappearance of Judge Crater; and A Legend in the Making (2002), about the 1939 Yankees.

Richard J. Tofel's Restless Genius tells the story of the man who transformed The Wall Street Journal and modern media.

In 1929, Barney Kilgore, fresh from college in small-town Indiana, took a sleepy, near bankrupt New York financial paper—The Wall Street Journal—and turned it into a thriving national newspaper that eventually was worth $5 billion to Rupert Murdoch. Kilgore then invented a national weekly newspaper that was a precursor of many trends we see playing out in journalism now.

Tofel brings this story of a little-known pioneer to life using many previously uncollected newspaper writings by Kilgore and a treasure trove of letters between Kilgore and his father, all of which detail the invention of much of what we like best about modern newspapers. By focusing on the man, his journalism, his foresight, and his business acumen, Restless Genius also sheds new light on the Depression and the New Deal.

“Barney Kilgore is a legend to those of us who work in journalism. Now Richard Tofel brings him to life for a wide audience in this vivid, insightful, compelling biography. With traditional journalism under siege from the Internet, the story of how Kilgore created and implemented new and higher standards of reporting and writing couldn’t be more timely. More than any single person, Kilgore made The Wall Street Journal the pillar of journalism it is today and hopefully will remain for many generations.”—James B. Stewart, author of Den of Thieves and DisneyWar

“Restless Genius, Richard J. Tofel’s compelling biography of Barney Kilgore, recounts the growth of The Wall Street Journal from narrow trade publication to national business daily. It is a must read for anyone who cares about business journalism and the business of journalism.”—Norman Pearlstine, Chief Content Officer, Bloomberg, and author of Off the Record

“Richard J. Tofel has given us an original, fascinating, and vivid account of the life of an original, fascinating, and vivid man—Barney Kilgore, who, Tofel brilliantly argues, created modern journalism. As the architect of The Wall Street Journal, Kilgore, beginning at an amazingly young age, invented much of what we take for granted in newspapers, magazines, and online today. Too little known, Kilgore is one of those American figures who needed a great writer to bring him out of the mists of history, and Tofel has done it splendidly. Kilgore would be proud.”—Jon Meacham, editor, Newsweek, and author of American Lion

"Short biography of the man who turned The Wall Street Journal into the most successful paper in America. Having taken only a single economics course at DePauw University, Barney Kilgore arrived in New York City in 1929 to accept a reporting job at the Journal a mere seven weeks before the biggest market meltdown in the nation's history. During the course of his nearly 40-year career he would hold every important position at the paper, revolutionize the notion of business news and turn the enterprise founded by Charles Dow and Edward Jones into a national force. As a field reporter during the Great Depression, Kilgore wrote not for bankers, but for bank depositors, for and from the perspective not of insiders, but of readers, believing business news should be broadly understood as affecting everyone who makes a living . . . The author supplies a potted history of the paper, a look at the Bancroft family (especially C.W. Barron), who owned the Journal for 105 years, and mini-portraits of Bill Kerby, Vermont Royster, William Henry Grimes and Casey Hogate, all instrumental to the rise of Kilgore and the Journal. The changes Kilgore wrought, stylistic and substantive, included using anecdotal leads and 'nut grafs' to give stories a magazine feel, employing front-page news summaries, establishing nationwide printing plants, adopting the Electric-Typesetter and attending to the new science ofopinion polling. All helped shoot the Journal ahead of competitors, giving the paper sufficient clout and credibility to prevail in a memorable 1955 face-off with the country's largest corporation, General Motors, when the unhappy giant threatened to pull advertising over a dispute with the paper's coverage. Good reading for students of journalism and for general readers interested in the history of an extraordinary institution, acquired last year by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation."—Kirkus Reviews

"While Barney Kilgore might not be widely known to many outside of the newspaper industry, the Wall Street Journal, which evolved out of his lifetime of hard work, is certainly known to businesspeople and informed readers around the world. The story of Kilgore and this influential newspaper is captured in a compelling biography by Tofel, former managing editor and assistant publisher of the Journal. This is not only an account of one man's life during the Depression and the New Deal but also a history of the Journal in particular and business and financial newspapers in general. The cutting-edge ideas and writing style that Kilgore developed transformed the paper from a narrowly focused financial bulletin to the leading business news source it is today. What makes this work especially appealing is the incorporation of the many letters Kilgore wrote to his father, giving the reader a glimpse into this esteemed newsman's way of thinking about his newspaper and the news of the day."—Donna Marie Smith, Library Journal

"One of the forgotten titans in American journalism, Barney Kilgore is the subject of a new book by Tofel, a former assistant publisher of the Wall Street Journal and author of Sounding the Trumpet. A Midwesterner from Indiana, Kilgore emerged from smalltown America to rise through the ranks at the Wall Street Journal on the eve of the Great Depression. Through the war years of the 1940s into the

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Journalistic Roots of the WSJ
From Amazon

This is a solid book about the man central to the journalistic roots of the WSJ. Still, it would have worked much better as an extended feature article. The frustrating part was that I kept on waiting for Richard Tofel to deliver on his claim that Barney Kilgore stood behind the invention of modern journalism. What I got was that Kilgore encouraged anecdotal leads followed by the "nut graf" (article's subject) in the writing of articles. While surely an improvement over the "inverted pyramid," it hardly amounts to the superlatives placed upon Kilgore. I also struggled at times with Tofel's heavy writing style.

A largely forgotten man who shouldn't be forgotten at all.
From Amazon

People in developed nations rarely know much about who created the world around them. They don't know, for instance, who invented the automatic starter for car engines, the jet engine, television, the computer and a thousand other devices that make contemporary civilized life possible. One of those inventions is the modern newspaper, as least as it was construed until a few years ago until newspapers attempted to become "infotainment" and pedagogical vehicles for the left-wing. These latter two factors may account for the increasing numbers of newspaper bankruptcies and generally falling circulations. But until their recent corruption, newspapers were a vital part of, at least, American life. And one man in particular was responsible for much of their look, feel and philosophy as exemplified in what for decades was the only truly American national newspaper, The Wall St. Journal. Bernard "Barney" Kilgore was the man. Through his long career at the Journal, he rose from neophyte to head honcho and, along the way, created many of the features and styles we once took for granted in a quality newspaper. Richard J. Tofel has undertaken to write the definitive biography of Kilgore and has succeeded, aided by a unique trove of letters between Kilgore and his father. These letters, covering almost 25 years, were unusually fulsome as Barney Kilgore described his actions to Tecumseh Kilgore, his father. It was a unique relationship and Tolfel rightly credits it as the basis of his work. Kilgore evolved editorial policies and styles that largely enabled the Journal to grow from a small business newspaper to the only national newspaper of the time, with circulation passing the million and then the two million mark. Kilgore also set standards for editorial integrity that are largely unseen today. It is instructive, for example, to see surveys measuring how many people trust the Journal versus the New York Times. Tolfel explains in not quite enough detail the relationship of the Bancroft family, which owned Dow Jones and the Journal, but maintained its distance most of the time. The Bancroft family sold the Journal to Rupert Murdoch recently. Tolfel, unfortunately and without reason, takes shots at Murdoch, revealing his own political allegiance. It is the only sour note in the book. While the Wall St. Journal was the first national business newspaper, Kilgore aspired to created the first general national newspaper as well. The vehicle for this attempt was The National Observer, launched three decades before USA Today. It was a noble, brilliant concept that never quite got it right. I was a devoted reader for all its life, as well as a Journal reader through the present day. I don't know, really, if the average person will find much to hold them in this book. I like it because it is well written and, perhaps, because I am a reader of the Journal and was a fan of the Observer. I am also a history buff who wants to know about the things around me, whether its the origin of the automobile self-starter or the guy who invented many modern journalistic practices. If you're curious about things in general or the history of journalism and newspaper publishing, this is an excellent read. Jerry

For lovers of newspapers
From Amazon

The newspaper industry is facing dire times. Just a few weeks ago the venerable Rocky Mountain News printed its last edition. Here in Cincinnati, the Cincinnati Post ceased business 12/31/07, and the Cincinnati Enquirer is only the shell it once was. As someone who has lived his entire life reading several newspapers a day, when I saw this book, I immediately grabbed it. "Restless Genius: Barney Kilgore, The Wall Street Journal, and The Invention of Modern Journalism" (282 pages) brings a number of stories simoultaneously: the life of Barney Kilgore and how he grew the WSJ; a looks at the WSJ itself; and of course a look at newspapers in general in the 1930-1970 era. As a regular reader of the WSJ, I'll admit upfront I had never heard of Kilgore, but author Richard Tofel brings a detailed description of how important Kilgore was in building the WSJ from a local New York paper (circulation 33,000) to a national paper (circulation over a million), and also how Kilgore built the image and prestige of the paper. A great example of that comes when the author retells the paper's showdown with GM (the paper's largest advertizer) in 1954 when GM ceases advertizing after the paper scoops several stories on "bootlegging" sales and the upcoming 1955 models (GM winked first and resumed advertising). It reads like a novel, except it all really happened. As is often the case in books like these, the most appealing and intruiging sections are the early years (for me anyway), as in: how Kilgore arose within the Dow Jones/WSJ organization, and how the WSJ operated in those early years. The author readily admits he was helped enormously by the extensive letter-writing between Kilgore and his father in the early years, and those letters do play a big part in the book, not that it dimishes the great job the author did with this book. In all, I will hearthily and readily recommend this book to anyone, but in particular to lovers of newspapers, as this book is a perhaps unintended tribute to the golden age of the newspaper industry.