Waubonsee Community College

Fanatics and fire-eaters, newspapers and the coming of the Civil War, Lorman A. Ratner and Dwight L. Teeter, Jr

eng

Includes bibliographical references and index

government publication of a state province territory dependency etc

index present

non fiction

Fanatics and fire-eaters

bibliography

49760579

Lorman A. Ratner and Dwight L. Teeter, Jr

"During the years just before the Civil War, key newspapers in the United States became true mass media for the first time, reaching American society, North and South, as never before. In Fanatics and Fire-eaters, Lorman A. Ratner and Dwight L. Teeter, Jr., examine how this newly acquired power was used and how it exacerbated festering regional issues - preeminently the issue of slavery - as newspapers described and characterized some of the key events preceding the outbreak of the Civil War."

The history of communication

newspapers and the coming of the Civil War

"Using a finely honed analysis of specific events, from the Brooks-Sumner incident to the attack on Fort Sumter, the book provides a thorough and colorful background of the descent into war. Tracing political accounts and diatribes published in northern and southern newspapers from 1856 to the shelling of Fort Sumter in 1861, Ratner and Teeter assert that newspapers, in their desire to be profitable and promote specific agendas, stoked the fires that heated tensions between North and South."--Jacket

The emergence of a democratic press -- Impeding civilization: the Brooks-Sumner incident -- The Dred Scott decision and a society of laws -- Kansas and the Lecompton constitution: does the majority rule? -- John Brown's raid: violence in a republican society -- Lincoln's election: could a republican lead the republic? -- Firing on Fort Sumter: a republic at war with itself -- Conclusion: the shattered republic