Horace Greeley, the man who popularized "Go west, young man," built the New York Tribune into the moral and intellectual voice of a generation. Yet his relentless crusade to reform everything ended in one of the most precipitous falls in American political history, complete with a mental collapse and death before the electoral votes were counted.

This deep dive follows Greeley from dire New Hampshire poverty to a printing apprenticeship and the founding of the Tribune in 1841. It explores his elevated brand of journalism, his eclectic roster from Margaret Fuller to Karl Marx, his role in founding the Republican Party, his complex relationship with Lincoln, and his catastrophic 1872 presidential run against Ulysses S. Grant.

• Rejecting the sensational penny press for high moral standards
• Shipping the Weekly Tribune to isola ...