10 Disturbing Exposes That Transformed Society
Beginning with the Progressive Era of US history (c. 1890–1920), writers have used the power of the pen and mass media to uncover the ills of society and call for reform. President Theodore Roosevelt coined the term “muckraker” to describe such reformers, a reference to John Bunyan’s
Pilgrim’s Progress in which a rake is used to dig up muck and filth. The muckraking tradition has become part of investigative reporting and still has an impact to this day.
10
1872
Bloomingdale Asylum was a private hospital for the mentally ill in New York where Columbia University now stands. An exclusive institution for patients from well-to-do families, the peaceful, well-kept grounds belied the horrors going on inside.