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The Rose Man of Sing Sing

A True Tale of Life, Murder, and Redemption in the Age of Yellow Journalism

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The Rose Man of Sing Sing

By: James McGrath Morris
Narrated by: John H. Mayer
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About this listen

 Today, seventy-three years after his death, journalists still tell tales of Charles E. Chapin. As city editor of Pulitzeras New York Evening World, Chapin was the model of the take-no-prisoners newsroom tyrant: he drove reporters relentlesslyaand kept his paper in the center ring of the circus of big-city journalism. From the Harry K. Thaw trial to the sinking of the Titanic, Chapin set the pace for the evening press, the CNN of the pre-electronic world of journalism. In 1918, at the pinnacle of fame, Chapinas world collapsed. Facing financial ruin, sunk in depression, he decided to kill himself and his beloved wife Nellie. On a quiet September morning, he took not his own life, but Nellieas, shooting her as she slept. After his trialaand one hell of a story for the Worldas competitorsahe was sentenced to life in the infamous Sing Sing Prison in Ossining, New York. In this story of an extraordinary life set in the most thrilling epoch of American journalism, James McGrath Morris tracks Chapinas rise from legendary Chicago street reporter to celebrity powerbroker in media-mad New York. His was a human tragedy played out in the sensational stories of tabloids and broadsheets. But itas also an epic of redemption: in prison, Chapin started a newspaper to fight for prisoner rights, wrote a best-selling autobiography, had two long-distance love affairs, and tapped his prodigious talents to transform barren prison plots into world-famous rose gardens before dying peacefully in his cell in 1930. The first portrait of one of the founding figures of modern American journalism, and a vibrant chronicle of the cutthroat culture of scoops and scandals, The Rose Man of Sing Sing is also a hidden history of New York at its most colorful and passionate.James McGrath Morris is a former journalist, author of Jailhouse Journalism: The Fourth Estate Behind Bars, and a historian. He lives in Falls Church, Virginia, and teaches at West Springfield High School.©2003 James Morris; (P)2009 Random House
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If you could sum up The Rose Man of Sing Sing in three words, what would they be?

This was a very intriguing listen about Charles Chapin who more or less invented modern newspaper methods. The writer has clearly defined a narrative, that of flawed pioneer, that he wishes to portray and it is a legitimate view. However, the details that he throws up also lend themselves to alternative narratives which I found myself contemplating along the way. This is not to say that Chapin was not a brilliant pioneer, he was. But, the events that lead up to and follow his wife's death are too easily explained but not fully explored and neither are his frequent disappearances over the years. It almost leaves you with the idea that there are 2 Chapins.
I think the writer may have been limited by volume, there is only so much he could have got into a book without turning it into a multi-volume piece.

Well worth a listen for a forgotten piece of modern history.

Would you be willing to try another book from James McGrath Morris? Why or why not?

The writer has done a tremendous amount of research and has contained an extraordinary number of historical events here.

What about John H. Mayer’s performance did you like?

The narrator is great: he has the office-worn 'gravelliness' to his voice reminiscent of 1940s movie portrayals of newspapermen.

A good version of events surrounding the Rose Man

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