Debating the Issues in Colonial Newspapers: Primary Documents on Events of the Period (Debating Historical Issues in the Media of the Time) - Hardcover

Copeland, David A.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0313309825 ISBN 13: 9780313309823

Publisher: Greenwood, 2000

Synopsis

For every major event or issue of the colonial period, newspapers printed the opinions of the day, in many cases attempting to influence public opinion. Issues such as medical discoveries, education, and censorship are covered in this collection along with important events such as the French and Indian War, the trial of John Peter Zenger, and the Boston Massacre. Each chapter introduces the event or issue and includes news articles, letters, essays, even poetry representing both sides of the argument as they affected Americans. Each document is preceded by an explanatory introduction. This is the only collection of primary source documents from colonial newspapers on the events of the era and will be a valuable tool for research and classroom discussion.

About this title

About the Author

DAVID A. COPELAND is the A. J. Fletcher Professor of Communication at Elon University. A past president of the American Journalism Historians Association, he was named Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching Virginia Professor of the Year in 1998.

Reviews

Copeland, a professor of mass communication at Emory and Henry College in Virginia, has authored several books and articles on the history of early American journalism. His latest monograph is a resource on the press in the colonial era. The book is arranged in 31 chapters covering topics from 1690 (the year American newspaper publishing began) to 1776. Some of the topics include "The Inoculation Controversy, 1721," "Women's Rights, 1738," and "Religious Divisions, 1740-1745." Events such as the "The Stamp Act Crisis, 1765-1766," "The Boston Massacre, 1770," and "The Battles of Lexington and Concord, 1775" are also treated.An introduction gives a brief history of newspapers and publishing in colonial America. Each chapter has the same format: an introduction followed by several documents on both sides of a controversy. These documents may include opinion pieces, letters, essays, or news reports that appeared in newspapers. Documents are preceded by brief paragraphs supplying background detail and reproduced with the original grammar and spelling intact, although it appears that some editing has been done. At the end of each chapter is a list of questions designed to help readers put the various documents in perspective and bibliographic notes to the chapter introduction. Rounding out the volume are a chronology of events and a bibliography of current books, articles, and Internet sites.There are several excellent collections of primary documents on colonial America. The multivolume Pamphlets of the American Revolu tion 1750-1776 (Harvard, 1965) only covers pamphlets. The two-volume American Political Writing During the Founding Era 1760-1805 (Liberty Press, 1983) does include complete unedited newspaper articles but surveys only politics. Debating the Issues in Colonial News papers is an excellent source for studying numerous topics of the colonial American period and should be considered for high-school, public, and undergraduate libraries. REVWR
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Edition details

• Publisher: Greenwood
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0313309825
• ISBN 13: 9780313309823
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 416