Louise Bryant

Louise Bryant was a bohemian artist and writer who left Portland, Oregon, in 1914 and moved to New York City, where she wrote for the revolutionary publication, “The Masses.” She covered World War I in France and then returned to the United States only to leave again almost immediately for Russia, which was about to erupt in revolution.

Boldly maintaining that no social or political change was worth anything if it did not free women entirely, Bryant spent part of 1917 and 1918 in Russia, where she wrote a book about how it felt to be part of the excitement of what she saw at the time as a true revolution.

Subsequently, as a news correspondent, Bryant reported the first non-Italian interview with fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, as well as delivering a ground-breaking story on the Turkish leader, Inver Pasha. Unfortunately, as is sometimes the case with in-your-face women, Bryant was, and often still is, over-shadowed by her better known lover, communist writer and activist John Reed. But not on this blog.