George William Curtis, a man of great versatility, high ideals, and immense charm, was widely admired as a journalist, author, orator, educator, reformer, and political leader during the last half of the nineteenth century. As a journalist, he wrote for the New York Tribune before becoming an editor and writer for the short-lived Putnam's Monthly. He was a columnist for Harper's Monthly and political editor for Harper's Weekly for many years and contributed to other magazines and newspapers. As an author, Curtis produced fiction as well as books of essays, travel, satire, and biography; he also wrote poetry. Curtis was one of the nation's most popular orators, a speaker of great courage who was not afraid to face down a mob. Although he had little formal education, Curtis served as a regent and later as chancellor of the University of the State of New York. He was a...