Broadsides and Bayonets : The Propaganda War of the American Revolution / Carl Berger.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Berger, Carl, 1925 January 28- Author.

Series:

Anniversary Collection

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource (260 p.)

Edition:

Reprint 2016

Place of Publication:

Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press, [2016]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

Carl Berger here relates the fascinating story of the propaganda and subversion activities of both factions during the American Revolutionary War. The writ­ings of the period, the archives and litera­ture, are filled with intriguing references to "secret arts and machinations," some relating to incidents familiar to students of American history, others touching on events long since forgotten. This book for the first time brings these known and little-known events into perspective, ex­amining in a single, authoritative narra­tive their role and importance. In his Preface to Broadsides and Bay­onets, Berger explains the great effort which was made by the supporters of both causes toward effective and wide­spread psychological warfare. "During its eight-year progression the war gave birth to many divisive operations, well planned in some instances and often involving minority groups on the scene as well as Englishmen and Americans. Drawn into the colonial struggle were French Canadians and German mercenaries, Indian tribes and Negro slaves, Irishmen, and other peoples." Propaganda activities were not confined to the actual wartime period by any means. The newspaper and pamphlet attacks on the British started well before 1776 and brought to a fighting edge the spirits of the American colonists. Each major protagonist planned intelligent and extensive campaigns to subvert and weaken the enemy camp. "It was a provocative war in which the atrocity story, kidnappings, false rumors, and bribery stirred the people. It was a conflict which inevitably spread to Europe and there engaged the talents of Benjamin Franklin and John Adams, in America's first organized overseas propaganda campaign." Broadsides and Bayonets is the absorbing study of the techniques of Revolutionary propaganda. The author encompasses a great log of original material on the hot and cold war of the period, much of which has not been previously available in a single volume.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Preface

Contents

Illustrations

Acknowledgments

1. American Propaganda and the Struggle for Canada

2. The Campaign to Win the Indians' Allegiance

3. The Incitement of Negro Insurrection

4. The Campaign to Subvert the Hessians

5. Propaganda and Military Operations

6. Kidnappings, Rumors, and Bribes

7. Overseas Propaganda

8. Washington, Congress, and the Declaration of Independence: Epilogue

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 23. Jul 2020)

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

9781512800623

1512800627

OCLC:

979585083