Which muckraking journalist wrote The Shame of the Cities, exposing political corruption in American urban government?

• A. Ida Tarbell
• B. Upton Sinclair
• C. Lincoln Steffens
• D. Jacob Riis

Answer: (C)

Focusing on muckraking journalism that exposed how city governments operated helps explain this answer. Lincoln Steffens wrote The Shame of the Cities, a series of investigative articles published in McClure’s Magazine and later compiled into a book in 1904. He peeled back the curtain on urban political machines, showing how graft, bribery, patronage, and vote-buying controlled city governments and undermined democracy. This work became a rallying point for Progressive Era reform and framed corruption as a systemic issue in urban governance.

The other writers focused on different targets: Ida Tarbell investigated monopolies like Standard Oil, Upton Sinclair exposed the meatpacking industry and worker conditions, and Jacob Riis documented poverty and tenements through photography and writing. While each contributed to reform, none authored The Shame of the Cities.