James Cowan : the significance of his journalism : a thesis presented in three volumes in fulfilment of the requirement for the award of Doctor of Philosophy in History at Massey University, New Zealand

Wood, Gregory

James Cowan : the significance of his journalism : a thesis presented in three volumes in fulfilment of the requirement for the award of Doctor of Philosophy in History at Massey University, New Zealand

dc.contributor.author	Wood, Gregory
dc.date.accessioned	2020-10-13T21:35:19Z
dc.date.available	2020-10-13T21:35:19Z
dc.date.issued	2019
dc.description.abstract	This thesis argues that to understand Cowan the historian, his interest in history and his way of writing history, one must return to the roots of his writing – his journalism. Cowan’s adroit penmanship meant that his history writing existed in close parallel to his journalism. His writing style varied little between the two areas, which meant that he reached a wide group of readers regardless of their reading level or tastes. His favourite topics included travel writing and recent history, that is, history in his lifetime. For a better understanding of how and why he wrote, some key aspects of his life and career have been selected for study. These aspects include his childhood, his early journalism as a reporter for the Auckland Star, and his later journalism for Railways Magazine. Finally, his legacy is considered from the viewpoint of his colleagues and contemporaries. Cowan the journalist was the making of Cowan the historian, and to better understand the strengths of his histories one must appreciate his journalistic background. Past and present cannot be easily separated, and his historical work becomes more clearly articulated in the present with the discovery of previously unknown material from the nineteenth century and representing a quarter of his journalism output. That material has can now be appreciated for what it is – as the wellspring of his writing, the original source of his histories.	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10179/15730
dc.language.iso	en	en_US
dc.publisher	Massey University	en_US
dc.rights	The Author	en_US
dc.subject	Cowan, James	en_US
dc.subject	Cowan, James, 1870-1943	en_US
dc.subject	Journalists	en_US
dc.subject	New Zealand	en_US
dc.subject	Biography	en_US
dc.subject	History	en_US
dc.subject	19th century	en_US
dc.subject	20th century	en_US
dc.subject	White slave	en_US
dc.subject.anzsrc	430320 New Zealand history	en
dc.title	James Cowan : the significance of his journalism : a thesis presented in three volumes in fulfilment of the requirement for the award of Doctor of Philosophy in History at Massey University, New Zealand	en_US
dc.type	Thesis	en_US
massey.contributor.author	Wood, Gregory
thesis.degree.discipline	History	en_US
thesis.degree.level	Doctoral	en_US
thesis.degree.name	Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)	en_US