Raise Hell and Sell Newspapers

Raise Hell and Sell Newspapers, the lively biography of Alden J. Blethen, traces the newspaperman's life from his birth in 1845 to his death in 1915. Longtime editor-in-chief of The Seattle Times, Blethen became the most powerful and influential publisher in the Northwest and one of the foremost newspapermen of his generation. Authors Sharon A. Boswell and Lorraine McConaghy tell the compelling story of this self-made man during a period of dramatic change in American life. Alden Blethen arrived in Seattle broke in 1896, after making and losing fortunes as a newspaper owner and publisher in Kansas City and Minneapolis. One year later, the Klondike gold rush transformed the muddy Puget Sound seaport into a magnificent boomtown. Using a loan from his brother-in-law, Blethen purchased a share in The Seattle Times. During the next two decades, as Seattle grew into the queen city of the Northwest, Blethen transformed The Times into the region's largest paper and reclaimed his family's fortune.