Misinformation Nation : Foreign News and the Politics of Truth in Revolutionary America / Jordan E. Taylor.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Taylor, Jordan E., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

American newspapers--History--18th century.

American newspapers.

Disinformation--America--History--18th century.

Disinformation.

Foreign news--America--History--18th century.

Foreign news.

Press and politics--America--History--18th century.

Press and politics.

America--History--To 1810.

America.

America--Press coverage--Europe.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (323 pages)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Baltimore, Maryland : Johns Hopkins University Press, [2022]

Summary:

"Fake news" is not new. Just like millions of Americans today, the revolutionaries of the eighteenth century worried that they were entering a "post-truth" era. Their fears, however, were not fixated on social media or clickbait, but rather on peoples' increasing reliance on reading news gathered from foreign newspapers. In Misinformation Nation, Jordan E. Taylor reveals how foreign news defined the boundaries of American politics and ultimately drove colonists to revolt against Britain and create a new nation. News was the lifeblood of early American politics, but newspaper printers had few reliable sources to report on events from abroad. Accounts of battles and beheadings, as well as declarations and constitutions, often arrived alongside contradictory intelligence. Though frequently false, the information that Americans encountered in newspapers, letters, and conversations framed their sense of reality, leading them to respond with protests, boycotts, violence, and the creation of new political institutions. Fearing that their enemies were spreading fake news, American colonists fought for control of the news media. As their basic perceptions of reality diverged, Loyalists separated from Patriots and, in the new nation created by the revolution, Republicans inhabited a political reality quite distinct from that of their Federalist rivals."-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Introduction : "Any thing but the age of reason"

Foreign advices and false friends : the mediation revolution in British America

Taxation with misrepresentation : fears of deception in the Anglo-American imperial crisis

The lying gazettes : news from London in revolutionary politics

An ocean of news : independence, commerce, and Atlantic information exchange

The genius of information : scripting an age of revolutions

The American constellation : dreams of a continental revolution

Bentalou's wager : the French Revolution and the birth of American partisanship

Unmaking the revolutionary Caribbean : race, commerce, and communication in the early republic

The fruits of revolution : false news and the eclipse of the Federalists

Epilogue : Tanguy's faithful mirror.

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

Includes index.

Other Format:

Print version: Taylor, Jordan E. Misinformation Nation

ISBN:

9781421444505

OCLC:

1343245621