Today in Writing History June 24, 1842: Ambrose Bierce, American short story writer, essayist, and journalist was born. The American Revolution Bicentennial Administration named his book, “The Devil’s Dictionary,” one of the top 100 masterpieces of American literature. Many consider his horror writing on par with Poe and Lovecraft. As a satirist, he has been compared with Voltaire and Swift. His war stories influenced Hemingway. In 1913, at age 71, he traveled to Mexico to cover the revolution. He joined Pancho Villa’s army and witnessed the Battle of Tierra Blanca. He never returned from Mexico. No one knows what happened to him and his body was never found. However, a priest named James Lienert, claimed that Bierce was executed by firing squad in the town cemetery there. In one of his last known correspondences, he wrote to a friend: "Good-bye. If you hear of my being stood up against a Mexican stone wall and shot to rags, please know that I think it is a pretty good way to depart this life. It beats old age, disease, or falling down the cellar stairs. To be a Gringo in Mexico—ah, that is euthanasia!"
His writing career began in San Francisco, as a journalist, after the Civil War. He wrote for “The San Francisco News Letter,” “The Argonaut,” “The Californian,” and “The Wasp.” From 1872-1875, he lived and wrote in England. He returned to San Francisco in the 1880s, becoming one of the first regular columnists for William Randolph Hearst’s “San Francisco Examiner.” Hearst sent him to Washington to investigate corruption on the Transcontinental Railroad. Collis Huntington, head of the Central Pacific, had persuaded Congress to forgive $130 million in low interest loans to the railroads, worth over $5 billion in today’s dollars. When Huntington told Bierce to “name his price” for suppressing the article, Bierce replied, “$130 million. If, when you are ready to pay, I am out of town, you may hand it over to my friend, the Treasurer of the United States.” The bill was quashed, largely due to his news coverage of the scandal.
#workingclass #LaborHistory #satire #books #author #writer #ambrosebierce #journalism #literature #mexico #hemingway #poe #lovecraft #panchovilla #revolution @bookstadon
Miss Kitty 🌈🌈🌈
GBDC φ #EnGrève ⏚
MikeDunnAuthor
Sommermodus (bundeskater)
🔻Hermod (il/lui) 🏴🚩
pOtiron
Russell Rope
sybau🫸🎶
la_voix