William Cowper Brann was a much read journalist of the era when America was beginning to take itself much too seriously and writers were quick to point out the error of their ways. Twain, OHenry, Brann, Draper and others tweaked the public and especially public "servants", the clergy and other pompous asses of the day. Following in their well placed footprints was H.L. Mencken.
Brann was a husband, father, writer and businessman. He also could lay claim to having experience as a bellboy, printer, professional baseball pitcher, opera company manager, playright, journalist and newspaper reporter. Yet, he was uneducated.
He also must be acknowledged as a good shot, killing an opponent in a gun fight that some describe as a duel. This is untrue. Brann was shot in the back, turned and faced his assailant and shot and killed him. He most surely have would have said, in the words of the giffer, "honey, I forgot to duck".
He made his mark on literature in the Iconoclast, a monthly of wide distribution prior to his death. Some 90,000 subscribers were said to have followed his caustic journalistic style as he took on politics, religion, civil servants, society in general and whatever moved him at the moment. It is sad to say that the best that could be said by reviewers of his work archived at the University of Texas was "3 Boxes, 1 Linear Foot". Brann was much more that this, one need only to read from the collection of his writings to recognize Brann as one of America's true Iconoclast, much better than Menchen could have ever hoped to be.
Was he a racist? Of course. But in his day and time this was not consided a flaw, only a viewpoint that was often expressed.
Was he anti-church? Certainly not. He pointed out on many occasions the inconsistencies in religion, especially as practiced at the local level but didn't question the tenets of religion. He would particularily have approved of Jackdaw of Rheims. A poem about making a crow a saint.
Was he a "yellow journalist"? What is a "yellow journalist", Webster does not grace us with a definition. One can only fall back on one of the definitions of journalism as, "writing that reflects superficial thought and research, a popular slant, and hurried composition, conceived of as exemplifying newspaper or popular magazine writing as distinguished from scholarly writing". Using the adjective "yellow" can only suggest that the writer was striking below the belt or not expressing the politically correct vision of PLUs.
For further on Brann: His collected 12 volume: The Complete Works of Brann the Iconoclast was published by his wife.
Brann and the Iconoclast by Charles Carver. A nice easy read with enough meat to lead you back to the Complete Works. Certainly gives descriptive detail of the life and times to permit one to more readily judge WCB.
---
Brann bibliography and archives. (The University of Texas appears to
have gone brain dead. This reference no longer works as of 9-7-96)
Vermillion-
paraphrased from Brann's, Word about Waco,
Directory
of Joe Wortham's Pages,
AboutJoe Wortham,
Joe Wortham'shome page