Indelible Ink: The Trials of John Peter Zenger and the Birth of America's Free Press

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Richard Kluger

Indelible Ink

The Trials of John Peter Zenger and the Birth of America's Free Press

Richard Kluger

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English

WW Norton & Co
24 November 2017

History; History of the Americas; Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900

The liberty of expression has been fixed in the firmament of our social values since our nation's beginning-the United States was the first government to legalize free speech and a free press as fundamental rights. But when the British began colonizing the New World, any words, true or false, thought to disparage the government were judged as criminally subversive.

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, John Peter Zenger-only a front man for Cosby's adversaries, New York Supreme Court Chief Justice Lewis Morris and the shrewd attorney James Alexander-became the endeavor's courageous fall guy when Cosby brought the full force of his high office down upon it. 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. Here is an enduring lesson that resounds to this day on the vital importance of free public expression as the underpinning of democracy. 8 pages of illustrations

By: Richard Kluger
Imprint: WW Norton & Co
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 211mm, Width: 142mm, Spine: 28mm
Weight: 316g
ISBN: 9780393354850
ISBN 10: 0393354857
Pages: 384
Publication Date: 24 November 2017
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

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 for Indelible Ink: The Trials of John Peter Zenger and the Birth of America's Free Press

An outstanding book. -- American Journalism Timely...well-written and thoroughly researched. -- James Srodes - Washington Times Comprehensive. -- Richard Tofel - ProPublica Lively, detailed...the most thoughtful, comprehensive and well-researched study of the 1735 criminal trial in New York City of newspaper publisher John Peter Zenger on charges of seditious libel. -- M. Kelly Tillery - The Philadelphia Lawyer Thoroughly engaging...packed with drama...[I]t stands as a cautionary tale of what might happen if we let history repeat itself. -- Amy Brady - Los Angeles Review of Books We've heard of the Salem witch trials. This is the trial from the 1700s you have not heard about. Mega-trial. Think Hamilton meets John Grisham. We have a 1st amendment and we got into the American Revolution because of the explosive things that happened in this book. -- Brad Thor - The Today Show Indelible Ink is a triumph...a new and very compelling take on the Zenger case. I found myself glued to Kluger's book and much in agreement with his findings, and he has written it all wonderfully well. -- Stanley N. Katz, author of Newcastle's New York: Anglo-American Politics, 1723-53 and director of Princeton University's Center for Art and Cultural Studies Beneath WikiLeaks and Edward Snowden, beneath the whole modern concept of a free press, lies the trial of a German-American printer in colonial New York. Richard Kluger's account of the Zenger trial is thoughtful, scrupulously detailed, and utterly relevant. -- Russell Shorto, author of Revolution Song