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The Midwestern press is probably the best example of the "typical" American press of the Civil War era. Its denizens were not the huge metropolitan dailies of New York and Philadelphia, nor were they the struggling weeklies of the western territories. They did not feel the hard hand of war as the Southern press did in its struggles to obtain enough paper and ink to continue printing. Instead, Midwestern publishers and editors mostly continued on, business as usual, with some disruptions as staff members joined up to fight the war for the Union, or were drafted.
Democratic newspapers experienced the most war-related trauma as neither political nor military leaders understood the concept of the loyal opposition and sought to shut down non-Republican newspapers or those that supported peace efforts.
Debra Reddin van Tuyll and Mary M. Cronin explore the history of the Midwestern press as it examines the political, social, and economic roles of the press. This work will be useful as a supplemental text in undergraduate or graduate journalism history classes and can be used in history classes that deal with the Civil War or the nineteenth century.
List of contents
Debra Reddin van Tuyll/Mary M. Cronin: Introduction - Debra Reddin van Tuyll: The Midwestern Community of Newspapers - Mary M. Cronin: "Reports Deemed Reliable": Newsgathering, Distribution, and Audiences - Katrina J. Quinn: Worthy of the City and Age in Which We Live: Roles and Functions of the Midwestern Civil War Press - Michael Fuhlhage: Politics, Partisanship, and the Midwestern Press - David W. Bulla: Lincoln Rising: Press Coverage of a Political Dark Horse - David W. Bulla: Loyalty, Dissent, and Press Freedom in the Midwestern Press - James M. Scythes: Covering the War: The Midwestern Press During the Civil War - Simon Vodrey: Viewing the American Civil War's Home Front Through Midwestern Eyes - Melita M. Garza: "How Shall the History of the Recent War Be Written?": The End of the War in the Midwestern Newspapers - Debra Reddin van Tuyll/ Mary M. Cronin: Epilogue - Contributors - Index.
About the author
Debra Reddin van Tuyll is Professor Emerita at Augusta University Press. She is the author of nine books, most of which deal with the Civil War-era press. Her co-edited work, Knights of the Quill: Confederate Correspondents and Their Civil War Reporting, was a finalist for the 2011 Tankard Award for the Best Book in Journalism, and she was the 2019 winner of the Kobre Award for lifetime achievement in journalism history.
Mary M. Cronin is a Professor in the Department of Journalism and Media Studies at New Mexico State University. She is the author of five other books, most of which examine nineteenth-century press issues.
Summary
This book is probably the best example of the "typical" American press of the Civil War era which explores the history of the midwestern press as it examines the political, social, and economic roles of the press. This work would be useful as a supplemental text in undergraduate or graduate journalism history classes.
