Among the hundreds who died when the Titanic sank in the north Atlantic Ocean on April 15, 1912, one of the most famous was William Thomas Stead, an English journalist and editor. An early pioneer of investigative journalism and one of the inventors of the modern tabloid newspaper, Stead was one of the most controversial figures of the Victorian era. His advocacy of “government by journalism” helped launch military and parliamentary campaigns, and his inflammatory exposé of Chicago’s political corruption and the underground economy, If Christ Came to Chicago, allegedly sold 70,000 copies on its publication day. But Stead was also a mass of contradictions: a campaigner for women’s rights, he was unnerved by the rise of the New Woman; an advocate of world peace, he promoted huge hikes in defense spending; a political radical and Christian, he was also a spiritualist who took dictation from the dead. This collection of essays recovers the story of an extraordinary figure whose impact on modern culture and journalism can still be seen today.

 

Roger Luckhurst is professor at Birkbeck, University of London. Laurel Brake is professor emerita at Birkbeck, University of London. James Mussell is a lecturer in English at Birmingham University. Before retiring, Ed King was head of newspapers at the British Library.