Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 2001. [Vol. 7.] Eger Journal of American Studies.(Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 27)
Book review - András Tarnóc: Csillag András: Joseph Pulitzer és az amerikai sajtó. [Joseph Pulitzer and the American Journalism]
As far as his school experiences go, Pulitzer at first was taught by home tutors and as an adolescent he was instructed in a vocational trade school Here he learned languages, primarily German and French and the basics of business. Soon after his arrival in America he enrolled in a law school and by age 20 he completed his legal studies. Schooling in America played a definitive role in Pulitzer's life as both his legal and business studies implanted the willingness toward logical and organized thinking, cool-headed rational reasoning and the respect of the law. Peer pressure, or peer group experience is another important agent of the socialization process. Csillag emphasizes two episodes, Pulitzer's joining the Union army, and his relationship to Carl Schurz. Pulitzer's enrollment in the Union army and his support of the Northern cause in the Civil War reflects his life long commitment to democracy. Schurz, the great German freedom fighter, social reformer and newspaperman functioned as an early role model for Pulitzer. The role of religion in Pulitzer's case is somewhat limited. As Csillag points out religion played a negligible role in Pulitzer's upbringing, and his Jewish background partially explains his support of democracy and the less fortunate. Despite all this, Pulitzer used religion effectively during his career, suffice to point to the publication of the "Belshazzar's feast" political cartoon during the closing stage of the presidential election of 1884, his successful appeal to leading figures of the British clergy to ease the Anglo-American tension ensuing the Venezuelan border dispute, or his attack on the Blaine campaign for using the degrading "Rum, Romanism Rebellion" slogan to describe the supporters of the Democratic Party. Thus Pulitzer's journalistic, public and political career are the end product of the abovementioned socialization factors However, this is only the public Pulitzer, there exists another facet of this individual's character, the somewhat hidden private person, formed by the immigration experience. As one should not forget, even though Pulitzer himself reluctantly treated the subject, he was an immigrant. The distribution and structure of Csillag 's work reflects this situation, as out of the ten chapters only one is clearly dedicated to the exploration of Pulitzer's Hungarian ties. An immigrant naturally, lives a liminal life, that is being suspended between two cultures he or she 187
