Synopses & Reviews
Although frequently attacked for their partisanship and unduepolitical influence, the American media of today are objective and relativelyineffectual compared to their counterparts of two hundred years ago. From the lateeighteenth to the late nineteenth century, newspapers were the republic's centralpolitical institutions, working components of the party system rather thancommentators on it.
The Tyranny of Printersnarrates the rise of this newspaper-based politics, in whicheditors became the chief party spokesmen and newspaper offices often served as localparty headquarters. Beginning when Thomas Jefferson enlisted a Philadelphia editorto carry out his battle with Alexander Hamilton for the soul of the new republic(and got caught trying to cover it up), the centrality of newspapers in politicallife gained momentum after Jefferson's victory in 1800, which was widely credited toa superior network of papers. Jeffrey L. Pasley tells the rich story of thispolitical culture and its culmination in Jacksonian democracy, enlivening hisnarrative with accounts of the colorful but often tragic careers of individualeditors.
Synopsis
The most comprehensive and important work on the partisan printer-editors of the early republic.... I]t is the first work students and general readers should consult on the subject. --Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography