Infamous Scribblers

by Burns, Eric

• ISBN13: 9781586483340
• ISBN10: 158648334X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-02-27
• Publisher: Public Affairs

Summary

"This exploration of the most volatile period in the history of the American press tells of how the era's raucous journalism was essential in creating a lasting nation. Included are founding fathers such as Ben Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, and Sam Adams - all leading journalists; George Washington and John Adams, the leading disdainers of journalists; and Thomas Jefferson, the leading manipulator of journalists. These men and the writers who abused and praised them in print also included the incendiary James Franklin, Ben's brother and one of the first muckrakers; the high-minded Thomas Paine; the hatchet man James Callender, and a rebellious crowd of propagandists, pamphleteers, and publishers."--BOOK JACKET.

Author Biography

Eric Burns is the host of Fox News Channel's "Fox News Watch." A former NBC News correspondent, Burns was named one of the best writers in the history of broadcast journalism by the Washington Journalism Review. He is also an Emmy winner for media criticism. He is the author of four previous books; his The Spirits of America: A Social History of Alcohol, was named one of the best academic press volumes of 2003 by the American Library Association.

Table of Contents

A Note to Readers	ix
INTRODUCTION: Inappropriate Behavior	3	(16)
Part I. The Role of Authority
1: The End of the Beginning	19	(16)
2: Publishing by Authority	35	(18)
3: Defying Authority	53	(14)
4: The Sounds of Silence Dogood	67	(16)
5: Science, Sex, and Super Crown Soap	83	(14)
6: The End of Authority	97	(18)
Part II The Approach of War
7: Severing the Snake	115	(20)
8: "The Weekly Dung Barge"	135	(36)
9: The Tory Dung Barge	171	(14)
10: The Shot Spread 'Cross the Page	185	(14)
11: Uncommon Prose	199	(12)
12: A Sword of a Different Kind	211	(14)
Part III: The Tumult of Peace
13: The Passionate Decade	225	(22)
14: The Not-So-Unlikely Target	247	(14)
15: The Gazette...	261	(16)
16: ...versus the Gazette	277	(16)
17: Dark Whispers on the Page	293	(22)
18: "The Arising Vapour"	315	(22)
19: Cobbett's Quills	337	(14)
20: Sedition	351	(24)
21: Master and Mistress	375	(20)
22: Post-Script	395	(12)
EPILOGUE: Renewed Subscriptions	407	(6)
Notes	413	(28)
Bibliography	441	(10)
Acknowledgments	451	(4)
Index	455