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Summary
Summary
The liberty of written and spoken expression has been fixed in the firmament of our social values since our nation's beginning--the government of the United States was the first to legalize free speech and a free press as fundamental rights. But when the British began colonizing the New World, strict censorship was the iron rule of the realm; any words, true or false, that were thought to disparage the government were judged a criminally subversive--and duly punishable--threat to law and order. Even after Parliament lifted press censorship late in the seventeenth century, printers published what they wished at their peril.
So when in 1733 a small newspaper, the New-York Weekly Journal, printed scathing articles assailing the new British governor, William Cosby, as corrupt and abusive, colonial New York was scandalized. The paper's publisher, an impoverished printer named John Peter Zenger with a wife and six children, in fact had no hand in the paper's vitriolic editorial content--he was only a front man for Cosby's adversaries, New York Supreme Court Chief Justice Lewis Morris and the shrewd attorney James Alexander. Zenger nevertheless became the endeavor's courageous fall guy when Cosby brought the full force of his high office down upon it. Jailed for the better part of a year, Zenger faced a jury on August 4, 1735, in a proceeding matched in importance during the colonial period only by the Salem Witch Trials.
In Indelible Ink, acclaimed social historian Richard Kluger re-creates in rich detail this dramatic clash of powerful antagonists that marked the beginning of press freedom in America and its role in vanquishing colonial tyranny. Here is an enduring lesson that resounds to this day on the vital importance of free public expression as the underpinning of democracy.
Author Notes
Richard Kluger won the Pulitzer Prize for Ashes to Ashes, a searing history of the cigarette industry, and was a two-time National Book Award finalist (for Simple Justice and The Paper). He lives in Berkeley, California.
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Kluger, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Ashes to Ashes, celebrates the power of free expression in his book on John Peter Zenger's pioneering colonial newspaper, the New York Weekly Journal. Contextualizing the pre-revolutionary situation in which Zenger launched his paper, Kluger accurately describes the relentless royal prosecution of anyone printing anything without a license, which opened violators to charges of "seditious libel" in disturbing the peace and subversion. In 1710, Zenger became an apprentice to printer William Bradford, but Bradford was soon tried for libel, surviving when his suit was dismissed on a technicality. Zenger returned to Bradford's employ in 1725 before going on to produce his own four-page paper. In 1733, amid a messy, politicized environment of accusations, scandal, and power shifts, Zenger himself was charged with libel for revealing the aggressive, dominating policies of the British officials. He was jailed for nine months before his historic one-day trial. Framing his work with F.D.R.'s monumental 1941 "Four Freedoms" speech, Kluger produces a comprehensive tribute to Zenger's legal battle against censorship and reprisal, which sparked progressive thought later appearing in the basic political documents of the young American republic. (Sept.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* When computer maven Edward Snowden shocked the nation in 2013 by leaking details of the NSA's monitoring of ordinary Americans' cell phone calls, those debating the legality of his whistle-blowing frequently invoked recent parallels, such as Daniel Ellsberg's 1971 release to the New York Times of the Pentagon papers and Bradley Manning's 2010 WikiLeaks disclosure of secret military cables. Kluger recognizes a need to assess such exposés in a much broader historical context, which he opens to readers by visiting the early eighteenth-century world where the maverick printer John Peter Zenger first established freedom of the press as a fundamental principle of the American founding. In that simpler but hardly less tempestuous age, Zenger made daring journalism a new political force, bringing to light in his New-York Weekly Journal the misdeeds of the royally appointed governor, William Cosby, who furtively manipulated the judiciary, suppressed voters' rights, and enriched himself with shady land deals. Event by compelling event, readers follow Zenger through the drama that eventually landed him in jail on libel charges before a liberty-loving jury freed him with a 1735 verdict signaling a clear American commitment to the unfettered reporting that can check abuse of power. The much-needed prologue to today's headlines.--Christensen, Bryce Copyright 2016 Booklist
Choice Review
In this gripping, well-researched narrative, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Kluger explores the events leading up to the 18th-century seditious libel trial of John Peter Zenger. Kruger tells how this poor German immigrant became the willing publisher of the New-York Weekly Journal, a paper whose sole object was to oust William Cosby, governor of New York, from power. Zenger was merely a front for powerful lawyers Lewis Morris and James Alexander, who wrote scathing satires and defamatory essays for Zenger to print. Zenger was brought to trial in 1735 after Cosby claimed he was publishing libelous material. Andrew Hamilton took the defense's case and turned the law on its head, claiming printed truth was indeed an adequate defense in a libel action. The jury agreed; Zenger was released the next day. This case did not change the existing law but was a pivotal moment in the movement toward a free press in the US. Kruger frames his narrative with discussions of internet news journalism and the exile of Edward Snowden, providing a cautionary tale to readers about current challenges to the free press and public expression. A timely release and an absorbing read. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readership levels. --Matthew Knight, University of South Florida
Library Journal Review
We wouldn't remember John Peter Zenger (1697-1746) for his momentous contribution to freedom of the American press if not for Lewis Morris (1671-1746). A brilliant, self-serving, power-hungry landowner, Morris was driven to avenge his firing as New York chief justice by William Cosby, royal governor of New York. Pulitzer Prize-winning author Kluger (Ashes to Ashes) deftly details the years of repressive political and legal conditions leading to Zenger's 1735 trial for printing Morris's and James Alexander's anonymous, cutting accusations of the governor in a newspaper designed solely to ruin Cosby's reputation. Kluger thoroughly outlines the history of Cosby's peremptory abuse of royal prerogative, and the conniving of Morris, Alexander, and other antiroyalists. Andrew Hamilton, Zenger's skilled attorney, boldly and successfully challenged prevailing law that defined any criticism of the royal government as criminal seditious libel. Kluger raises important questions still resonating today: Should the government limit free expression to maintain order and shield itself from criticism (warranted or not)? How far should judgment extend if it spurs unrest or threatens national security? VERDICT This thought-provoking account deserves to be read by everyone; it will especially appeal to readers interested in law and colonial history.-Margaret Kappanadze, Elmira Coll. Lib., NY © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Table of Contents
Preamble: The Essential Liberty | p. xi |
Author's Note on Style | p. xxi |
1 A Perilous Trade | p. 3 |
2 Stormy Petrel | p. 36 |
3 Power Plays | p. 62 |
4 Bending the Rule of Law | p. 98 |
5 Battle Lines | p. 126 |
6 A Superlative Monster Arises | p. 156 |
7 An End to Generous Pity | p. 185 |
8 Whiffs of Torquemada | p. 213 |
9 Philadelphia Lawyer | p. 241 |
10 Indelible Ink | p. 271 |
Epilogue: From Zenger to Snowden | p. 303 |
Acknowledgments | p. 313 |
A Note on Sources | p. 315 |
Notes | p. 319 |
Selected Bibliography | p. 329 |
Image Credits | p. 333 |
Index | p. 335 |