1900s: Print Culture

In an age before radio and television claimed the attention of Americans, reading was one of the most popular leisure-time activities. American writers and publishers churned out a variety of reading material to suit the tastes of every reader, from comic strips to magazines to dime novels to classics.

The comic strip was created just before the turn of the century when Richard Outcault (1863–1928) created a character known as the Yellow Kid in a series known as Hogan's Alley. Later strips such as The Katzenjammer Kids and Mutt & Jeff made such characteristics as word balloons, a distinctive cast of characters, and the use of a series of panels the common conventions of the comic strip. Still, by 1908 there were only five newspapers that ran daily comic strips.

Although magazines—collections of fiction and nonfiction often published on a weekly or a monthly schedule—had been around for many years, the so-called "magazine revolution" of 1893 made it possible to produce massive numbers of magazines and sell them for very little money—sometimes as little as a nickel an issue—thanks to the financial support of advertisers. By 1900, magazines such as Argosy, Cosmopolitan, the Ladies' Home Journal, McClure's, Munsey's, the Saturday Evening Post, and others were read by millions of readers. American advertisers enthusiastically sought space in these magazines, for they provided the best possible way to reach the greatest number of potential consumers.

The same technological advances in printing that allowed for the mass-circulation magazine also spurred the sales of the dime novel, a cheaply produced paperback book that sold for a dime. Dime novels were usually written by unknown writers who worked from outlines provided by the publisher; the stories involved romance, mystery, and adventure. Westerns were one of the most popular forms. Although he did not write dime novels, Jack London (1876–1916) wrote adventure stories set at sea or in the West, and his books sold millions. London was considered by many at the time as a "hack" writer—a writer who writes solely to make money or who writes over and over in the same way, almost as if using a formula. Today, London is considered one of the greater American novelists and is read widely in schools.