In The Plum Tree Phillips rips away the façade and exposes politics as it really exists. David Graham Phillips (1867 - 1911) was an American journalist and novelist. Phillips was a reporter in Cincinnati before moving to New York to work for The Sun. Phillips developed a reputation as an investigative reporter. Phillips's novels often commented on social issues of the day and frequently chronicled events based on his real-life journalistic experiences. He was considered a Progressive and a muckraker. His reputation eventually cost him his life. Phillips was murdered when his book The Fashionable Adventures of Joshua Craig was published. A musician thought it had cast literary aspersions on his family. Although The Plum Tree is basically a romance it also is a political novel. Phillips unmasks politics in a way that is graphic and vivid. His skill as a journalist and his observations as a historian make this an intriguing book to read.