Editing Ernest Poole (section)

==Biography==

===Early years===

Poole was born in [[Chicago, Illinois]], on January 23, 1880, to Abram Poole and Mary Howe Poole.<ref name=EA142>Edd Applegate, ''Muckrackers: A Biographical Dictionary of Writers and Editors.'' Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2008; pg. 142.</ref> His [[Wisconsin]]-born father was a successful commodities trader at the [[Chicago Board of Trade]],<ref>Some sources have his father's occupation as a "stockbroker." He was not. By the time he was 35 Abram Poole had built a business as a commissions-only commodities trader with offices in Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Louis, New Orleans, and New York City. See Pool, ''The Bridge,'' pg. 36.</ref> his mother hailed from a well-established Chicago family; together they raised 7 children.<ref>Ernest Poole, ''The Bridge: My Own Story.'' New York: Macmillan, 1940; pp. 8, 31.</ref>

Poole was educated at home until he was almost 7 years old, at which time he was enrolled in Chicago's University School for Boys.<ref>Poole, ''The Bridge,'' pg. 15.</ref> There he first showed a proclivity for the written word, working briefly on the staff of the school newspaper.<ref name=EA142 /> His was a privileged youth, spending summers at the family's seasonal home at [[Lake Forest, Illinois|Lake Forest]], on the shores of [[Lake Michigan]].<ref>Poole, ''The Bridge,'' pg. 24.</ref> The family's [[Michigan Avenue (Chicago)|Michigan Avenue]] home in Chicago was populated with servants, including gardeners and governesses, and he grew up in proximity of the scions of the city elite, including young relatives of [[Cyrus McCormick]] and [[Abraham Lincoln]].<ref>Poole, ''The Bridge,'' pp. 10, 15-16, 26 and ''passim.''</ref>

Following high school graduation, Poole, an accomplished [[violin]]ist, took a year off to study music, with a view to becoming a professional [[composer]].<ref>Poole, ''The Bridge,'' pg. 51.</ref> He found the process of writing music difficult, however, and — inspired by his literary-oriented and story-telling father — turned his attention to the written word as a possible profession.<ref>Poole, ''The Bridge,'' pg. 53.</ref>

After his year-long escape from formal education, Poole moved to [[Princeton, New Jersey]], to attend [[Princeton University]], where he attended courses in [[political science]] taught by [[Woodrow Wilson]].<ref>Poole, ''The Bridge,'' pp. 65-66.</ref> There he continued to demonstrate an interest in journalism and fiction writing, working on the staff of the school's daily newspaper, ''[[The Daily Princetonian|The Prince]]'' — before finding straight journalism tedious.<ref>Poole, ''The Bridge,'' pg. 56.</ref> He moved from nuts-and-bolts journalism to the arts, contributing material to the campus literary magazine, ''The Lit,'' and penning two [[libretto]]s for the illustrious [[Princeton Triangle Club]], although both were rejected.<ref name=Poole65>Poole, ''The Bridge,'' pg. 65.</ref>

It was at Princeton that Poole was influenced to the ideas of progressive reform associated with the burgeoning [[muckraker]] movement, with the book ''[[How The Other Half Lives]]'' by [[Jacob Riis]] playing a particularly pivotal role in the evolution of Poole's worldview.<ref name=EA142 /> He also read translations of Russian classics by [[Leo Tolstoy]] and [[Ivan Turgenev]], which deeply impressed Poole for their realistic style and aroused what would become a lifelong interest in him in the authors' native land.<ref name=Poole65 />

===Settlement worker===
[[File:McCluresCoverJan1901.jpg|thumb|right|160px|Poole began his journalistic career writing freelance articles for the muckraking monthly ''McClure's Magazine.'']]

Poole graduated from Princeton ''[[cum laude]]'' in 1902 and immediately moved to [[New York City]] to live in the [[Settlement movement|University Settlement House]] on the city's impoverished [[Lower East Side]].<ref name=EA142 /> During his stint as a settlement worker, Poole gained the notice of editors at ''[[McClure's|McClure's Magazine]]'' for an article he wrote on the social situation in New York's Chinatown district and authored a report for the [[New York Child Labor Committee]] on the continuing [[child labor]] problem.<ref name=EA142 />

Pushed by the Child Labor Committee to seek publicity by rewriting some of his lurid anecdotes of the life of street urchins, Poole wrote an article that early in 1903 found its way into the fledgling muckraking magazine, ''McClure's.''<ref name=EA142 /> Payment for the freelance effort was received and confidence boosted.<ref>Poole, ''The Bridge,'' pp. 69-70.</ref> The next phase of Poole's life, that of a professional writer, had begun.

Headstrong and confident, Poole immersed himself in his passion, fiction, while still ensconced as a settlement worker. Three short stories were immediately penned and sent out to various New York magazines — only to be returned with letters of rejection.<ref name=Poole70>Poole, ''The Bridge,'' pg. 70.</ref> Poole retreated to writing short works of investigative journalism on the boys of the city streets and met with better success, seeing print for one piece in ''[[Collier's]]'' and two others in the ''[[New York Evening Post]].''<ref name=Poole70 />

Poole's settlement house was active teaching classes and housing club groups during the day.<ref name=Poole72>Poole, ''The Bridge,'' pg. 72.</ref> In the evenings it hosted a steady stream of guests, including some of the most famous progressive activists of the day, including social worker [[Jane Addams]], journalist [[Lincoln Steffens]], British author [[H. G. Wells]] and left wing politicians [[Keir Hardie]] and [[Ramsay MacDonald]], as well as renowned attorney [[Clarence Darrow]].<ref name=Poole72 /> Acquaintances were made and ideas absorbed by Poole, who increased in commitment to attempt to the wrongs of society through intelligent social reform.<ref name=Poole72 />

Anxious to learn more about the people of the crowded Lower East Side milieu in which he lived, Poole set about learning [[Yiddish]], eavesdropping on conversations and jotting down fragments of the dialog he heard for future use in his imaginative writing.<ref>Poole, ''The Bridge,'' pp. 73-74.</ref> He met and made friends with [[Abraham Cahan]], publisher of the Yiddish-language ''[[Jewish Daily Forward]]'' ''(Der Forverts)'' and gained an appreciation from the venerable revolutionary of the struggle being waged by oppressed Jews and others against the Tsarist autocracy in Russia.<ref>Poole, ''The Bridge,'' pg. 74.</ref>

The tipping point for the 23-year old Poole as a settlement worker came when he was selected to investigate the problem of [[tuberculosis]] in New York City's Lower East Side tenement slums.<ref>Poole, ''The Bridge,'' pp. 78, 82.</ref> Poole spent weeks going from room to room observing and surveying residents and taking testimony about the fate of previous inhabitants.<ref>Poole, ''The Bridge,'' pp. 78-79.</ref> His report, "The Plague in Its Stronghold," generated attention from the press and Poole conducted tours of reporters and photographers around the tenement blocks, with the coverage spurring hearings of the [[New York State Legislature]] in [[Albany, New York|Albany]].<ref>Poole, ''The Bridge,'' pp. 82-83.</ref> The task proved a strain on Poole's mental and physical well-being and he himself became feverish and was sent home to the family summer home in Lake Forest to recuperate.<ref>Poole, ''The Bridge,'' pg. 83.</ref>

===Magazine correspondent===
[[File:Poole-Grace.jpg|thumb|right|160px|Margaret Ann Witherbotham Poole, to whom Ernest Poole was married in 1907. The couple raised three children.]]

Poole's time as a settlement worker at an end, he threw himself into investigative journalism. In 1904 the popular illustrated news weekly ''[[The Outlook (New York)|The Outlook]]'' dispatched Poole to live for six weeks in the [[New City, Chicago|packinghouse district]] of Chicago to report on the ongoing stockyards' strike, which prominently featured a melange of striking new immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe against thousands of African-American [[strikebreaker]]s brought for the purpose to the city.<ref>Poole, ''The Bridge,'' pp. 92-93.</ref>

When his ''Outlook'' piece was completed, Poole stayed on the scene as the volunteer press agent for the union of the striking slaughterhouse workers.<ref>Poole, ''The Bridge,'' pp. 94-95.</ref> The job put him in touch with the young [[Upton Sinclair]], who was on the scene to do research for what he hoped would become the ''"Uncle Tom's Cabin'' of the Labor Movement," published in 1906 as ''[[The Jungle]].''<ref>Poole, ''The Bridge,'' pp. 95-96.</ref> Poole's close friends in New York included two others who would travel to Imperial Russia as correspondents in 1905 — the socialists [[Arthur Bullard]] and [[William English Walling]].<ref>Poole, ''The Bridge,'' pg. 171.</ref>

Back in New York, Poole met the émigré Russian revolutionary [[Catherine Breshkovsky|Yekaterina Breshkovskaya]], the so-called "Little Grandmother of the Revolution."<ref>Poole, ''The Bridge,'' pg. 103.</ref> Together with an interpreter and a stenographer, Poole sat for eight hours listening to Breshkovskaya's personal story and the history of the revolutionary movement fighting for the overthrow of the [[Romanov dynasty]] of [[Russian Empire|Imperial Russia]].<ref>Poole, ''The Bridge,'' pg. 104.</ref> Poole's interview would ultimately result in a pamphlet issued by the Chicago [[socialism|socialist]] publishing house [[Charles H. Kerr Publishing Company|Charles H. Kerr & Co.]], ''For Russia's Freedom.''

Fascinated by the tumultuous Russian political situation, Poole successfully convinced ''The Outlook'' to send him to Russia as the magazine's correspondent and a contract was drawn up.<ref>Poole, ''The Bridge,'' pg. 113.</ref> Poole sailed for England, then proceeded to France before traveling by train to [[Berlin]] and on to Russia, bringing with him communications and money entrusted to him in Paris for underground Russian [[constitution]]alists.<ref>Poole, ''The Bridge,'' pp. 114-115.</ref> Together with a translator, Poole traveled Russia extensively in the early days of the [[Russian Revolution of 1905|1905 Revolution]], ultimately turning in 14 pieces to ''The Outlook'' detailing his experiences and observations.<ref>Rosecrans Baldwin, [https://www.finebooksmagazine.com/issue/200908/pulitzer-1.phtml "Poole's Prize,"] Fine Books and Collections, August 2009, www.finebooksmagazine.com/</ref>

After his return from Russia, Poole continued to produce feature short stories depicting urban working class life for the periodical press, all the while gathering anecdotes for future novels. Poole split his output between ''[[The Saturday Evening Post]]'' and ''[[Everybody's Magazine]],'' as a successful freelance writer.<ref>Poole, ''The Bridge,'' pg. 182.</ref>

Poole married the former Margaret Ann Witherbotham in 1907 and the couple established a household in the [[Greenwich Village]] section of New York City.<ref name=EA144>Applegate, ''Muckrackers,'' pg. 144.</ref> The couple would raise three children.<ref name=EA144 />

For several years after his marriage, Poole found himself to writing of plays for the stage, an offshoot of the writing profession that pitted low probability of success against potentially immense financial rewards if a piece was successfully staged.<ref name=Poole192>Poole, ''The Bridge,'' pg. 192.</ref> His first effort, revolving around life in a steel mill, failed to find a producer but his second, a drama about the construction of a bridge in the [[Rocky Mountains]], led to six weeks of rehearsals and a grand New York opening — followed by poor reviews and a quick close.<ref>Poole, ''The Bridge,'' pp. 190-192.</ref>

Poole would ultimately write 11 plays for the New York stage, two of these in conjunction with [[Harriet Ford (actress)|Harriet Ford]].<ref name=Poole192 /> A total of three of Poole's efforts would be staged, with the two successful dramas running for 6 weeks and 3 months, respectively.<ref name=Poole192 /> His urge to write for the stage whetted, Poole would return to more secure forms of writing.

===Political activism===
[[File:Morris Hillquit NYWTS.jpg|thumb|right|160px|Poole credited erudite lawyer and party leader Morris Hillquit with winning him to membership in the Socialist Party.]]

Poole was slow to join the growing [[Socialist Party of America]] (SPA), initially resisting joining because, as he later recalled, he had "got free from one church and I didn't propose to get into this other and write propaganda all my life, instead of the truth as I saw it and felt it."<ref>Poole, ''The Bridge,'' pg. 89.</ref> Around 1908 he made the acquaintance of party leader [[Morris Hillquit]], however, who became a "lovable friend" and persuaded the non-[[Marxism|Marxist]] Poole that his views fell within the "very broad and liberal" ideological umbrella of the Socialist Party.<ref>Poole, ''The Bridge,'' pp. 194-195.</ref> Poole joined a branch of Local New York and maintained his red card in the organization at least through the years of [[World War I]].<ref>Poole, ''The Bridge,''  pg. 195.</ref>

From 1908 Poole began writing for the ''[[New York Call]],'' a socialist daily closely associated with the [[Socialist Party of America]] (SPA).<ref name=EA144 /> Poole was also among those left wing intellectuals who helped to found the [[Intercollegiate Socialist Society]] (ISS), joining in the task with his friends Arthur Bullard and [[Charles Edward Russell]].<ref>Poole, ''The Bridge,''  pg. 196.</ref>

===Novelist===

Leaving the world of the stage, Poole began to concentrate on full length fiction. In the spring of 1912 he began research on the waterfront environs of [[Brooklyn Heights, New York]], gathering observations and anecdotes that he would painstakingly work into shape for the first of his major novels, ''[[The Harbor]],'' which was accepted by [[Macmillan Publishers (United States)|Macmillan]] in the spring of 1914.<ref>Poole, ''The Bridge,'' pp. 200-201, 212.</ref> Physically and emotionally drained by the writing process, Poole spent two months in Europe before returning to the family's new home in the [[White Mountains (New Hampshire)|White Mountains]] of [[New Hampshire]] to begin work on his next book.<ref>Poole, ''The Bridge,'' pp. 212, 215-216.</ref>

This idyllic interlude was shattered in the summer of 1914 when [[World War I]] erupted across Europe.<ref name=Poole216>Poole, ''The Bridge,'' pg. 216.</ref> The world situation so dramatically changed, Poole recovered the manuscript for his book from Macmillans and spent a month writing a completely new ending.<ref name=Poole216 /> Drawn to cover the conflict as a war correspondent as if a moth to a flame, Poole belatedly attempted to make use of his contacts with the publishers of various magazines, but found that all the positions for correspondents in France and England had been filled.<ref name=Poole216 /> He was ultimately able, however, to persuade ''The Saturday Evening Post'' to send him to the [[Imperial Germany|German]] capital of [[Berlin]] to cover the war from the opposite camp, and early in November 1914 he sailed aboard a British ship for Europe.<ref name=Poole216 />

In Germany, joining other western war correspondents such as [[John Reed (journalist)|Jack Reed]] he viewed German hospitals, troop trains, and saw the front from the German side.<ref>Poole, ''The Bridge,'' pp. 238 and ''passim.''</ref> He would spend three months in Europe covering the conflict.<ref name=EA144 />

Finally published in 1915, Poole's ''The Harbor'' was well received by critics and the reading public and his place in the American literary scene was thereby firmly established.<ref name=EA144 /> He followed the book up with a new novel in 1917 dealing with intergenerational conflict, ''His Family.''<ref name=EA144 /> This book was also warmly regarded, resulting in Poole being awarded the first [[Pulitzer Prize for Fiction]] in 1918,<ref name=EA144 /> an award which at least one 21st Century literary critic has argued was awarded to Poole as much for his previous effort, ''The Harbor."<ref name=drabelle>Dennis Drabelle. [https://archive.today/20130412035625/http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2012-01-13/entertainment/35439177_1_new-york-harbor-ships-fiction "Book World: Reissue of Ernest Poole’s ‘The Harbor’ long overdue"], ''The Washington Post'', Jan. 13, 2012.</ref>

Poole's next novel attempted to follow up the successful ''His Family'' with a sequel, ''His Second Wife,'' published in serial form in ''McClure's'' before being released in hard covers later in 1918.<ref name=EA144 /> This book proved distinctly less successful than his previous literary efforts with critics and the reading public, however,<ref name=EA144 /> and Poole's fiction never achieved such acclaim again.

From 1920 until 1934, Poole produced works of fiction for Macmillan at the rate of approximately one a year. While none of these attained the critical acclaim of Poole's wartime writings, the 1927 book ''Silent Storms'' was met with some degree of public success.<ref name=EA144 />

===Interpreter of the Bolshevik Revolution===

In 1917 ''The Saturday Evening Post'' dispatched Poole to Russia to report on the [[Russian Revolution of 1917|Russian Revolution]],<ref name=EA144 /> where he joined other sympathetic American commentators such as John "Jack" Reed and [[Louise Bryant]]. His journalism on the rapidly changing world in Russia was closely read by a curious public, and the articles subsequently provided the raw material for two works of non-fiction, ''"The Dark People": Russia's Crisis'' and ''The Village: Russian Impressions,'' both of which were published in book form by Macmillan in 1918.<ref name=EA144 />

===Later years===

After the war, Poole, Paul Kennaday, and [[Arthur Livingston]] initiated an agency, the Foreign Press Service, that negotiated for foreign authors with English-language publishers.

After a six year hiatus with Macmillan, Poole published his memoirs, ''The Bridge: My Own Story,'' in 1940. He returned to writing books during the final decade of his life, publishing one work of non-fiction on famous figures in Chicago history and two lesser novels.

===Death and legacy===

Poole died of [[pneumonia]] in New York City on Tuesday, January 10, 1950, thirteen days away from his 70th birthday.<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5423811/deaths_ernest_poole_69_war_reporter/ "Deaths: Ernest Poole, 69, War Reporter,"] ''Brooklyn Daily Eagle,'' Jan. 11, 1950, pg. 15.</ref>