Steffens, Lincoln (1866-1936), was an American author, editor, lecturer, and reformer. He was one of a group of writers known as muckrakers because their magazine articles during the early 1900's exposed corruption in government, business, and labor. Starting in 1902 with an expose of crooked political practices in St. Louis, Steffens went on to write about conditions in many U.S. cities and states.