Fanatics and fire-eaters : newspapers and the coming of the Civil War Lorman A. Ratner and Dwight L. Teeter, Jr

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ratner, Lorman.

Contributor:

Teeter, Dwight L., Jr., 1935-2015.

Series:

History of communication

The history of communication

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Causes.

United States.

Journalism--Political aspects--United States--History--19th century.

Journalism.

Press and politics--United States--History--19th century.

Press and politics.

American newspapers--History--19th century.

American newspapers.

United States--Politics and government--1849-1861.

United States--Social conditions--To 1865.

Physical Description:

xiii, 138 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Urbana : University of Illinois Press, 2003.

Summary:

"During the years just before the Civil War, key newspapers in the United States became true mass media for the first time, reaching American society, North and South, as never before. In Fanatics and Fire-eaters, Lorman A. Ratner and Dwight L. Teeter, Jr., examine how this newly acquired power was used and how it exacerbated festering regional issues - preeminently the issue of slavery - as newspapers described and characterized some of the key events preceding the outbreak of the Civil War."

"Using a finely honed analysis of specific events, from the Brooks-Sumner incident to the attack on Fort Sumter, the book provides a thorough and colorful background of the descent into war. Tracing political accounts and diatribes published in northern and southern newspapers from 1856 to the shelling of Fort Sumter in 1861, Ratner and Teeter assert that newspapers, in their desire to be profitable and promote specific agendas, stoked the fires that heated tensions between North and South."--Jacket.

Contents:

The emergence of a democratic press

Impeding civilization: the Brooks-Sumner incident

The Dred Scott decision and a society of laws

Kansas and the Lecompton constitution: does the majority rule?

John Brown's raid: violence in a republican society

Lincoln's election: could a republican lead the republic?

Firing on Fort Sumter: a republic at war with itself

Conclusion: the shattered republic.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0252027876

9780252027871

0252072219

9780252072215

OCLC:

49760579

Online:

Book review (H-Net)