Infamous Scribblers: The Founding Fathers and the Rowdy Beginnings of American JournalismInfamous Scribblers is a perceptive and witty exploration of the most volatile period in the history of the American press. News correspondent and renowned media historian Eric Burns tells of Ben Franklin, Alexander Hamilton and Sam Adams -- the leading journalists among the Founding Fathers; of 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 (there was, at the time, no job description of "journalist") 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. It was Washington who gave this book its title. He once wrote of his dismay at being "buffited in the public prints by a set of infamous scribblers." The journalism of the era was often partisan, fabricated, overheated, scandalous, sensationalistic and sometimes stirring, brilliant, and indispensable. Despite its flaws -- even because of some of them -- the participants hashed out publicly the issues that would lead America to declare its independence and, after the war, to determine what sort of nation it would be. |
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LibraryThing Review
User Review - davemac - LibraryThingAn excellent book - quite entertaining and informative. My only complaint - it seemed to end rather abruptly. It could have used a few more chapters. But then, as the post-script suggests, perhaps ... Read full review
LibraryThing Review
User Review - NewsieQ - LibraryThingA lightweight history of some of America's earliest journalists and their papers. Fairly well written and somewhat interesting. Not my favorite book on press history. Read full review
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Infamous Scribblers: The Founding Fathers and the Rowdy Beginnings of ... Eric Burns Limited preview - 2007 |
Infamous Scribblers: The Founding Fathers and the Rowdy Beginnings of ... Eric Burns Limited preview - 2007 |
Infamous Scribblers: The Founding Fathers and the Rowdy Beginnings of ... Eric Burns Limited preview - 2007 |
Common terms and phrases
Adams’s Advertiser Alexander Hamilton Aurora Bache’s began believed Benjamin Franklin Bache Boston Gazette Boston News-Letter British called Callender Callender’s Campbell century charges Chernow Cobbett colonies colonists Cosby Crown Edes and Gill editor England Courant fact Federalist Papers federalists fellow Fenno Ferling French Freneau friends governor House Hutchinson inoculation issue James Franklin Jay Treaty Jefferson John Adams John Fenno journalist knew Kobre later least less letter liberty Massachusetts matter ment National Gazette never New-York pamphlet paper Parliament patriots Pennsylvania Gazette perhaps person Philadelphia political Porcupine’s Gazette president printer Publick Occurrences published quoted in ibid quoted in Schlesinger quoted in Tebbel readers republican Reynolds Rivington Sam Adams Sedition Act seemed sometimes Stamp Act story thing Thomas thought tion told took Townshend Acts treaty truth turned United wanted Washington Weekly Journal words writes wrote XYZ Affair Zenger
References to this book
Bibliographic information
| Title | Infamous Scribblers: The Founding Fathers and the Rowdy Beginnings of American Journalism |
| Author | Eric Burns |
| Edition | reprint |
| Publisher | PublicAffairs, 2007 |
| ISBN | 1586485431, 9781586485436 |
| Length | 480 pages |
| Subjects | › › History / United States / General |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |