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Indelible Ink

Audiobook
Nonfiction: Biography / History
Unabridged   13.5 hour(s)
Publication date: 09/13/2016

Indelible Ink

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

Available from major retailers or BUY FROM AMAZON
Audio CD ISBN:9781681682402
Digital Download ISBN:9781681682419

Summary

The untold story of the battle to legalize free expression in America by the Pulitzer Prize winning author of Ashes to Ashes.

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Product Description

In 1733, struggling printer John Peter Zenger scandalized colonial New York by launching a small newspaper, the New York Weekly Journal, which assailed the new British governor as corrupt and arrogant―a direct challenge to the prevailing law against "seditious libel" that criminalized any criticism of the royal government. Fronting for a group of powerful antiroyalist politicians, Zenger was thrown in jail for nine months before his landmark one day trial on August 4, 1735, in a packed courtroom, where he was brilliantly defended by Philadelphia lawyer Andrew Hamilton. In Indelible Ink, Richard Kluger recreates 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 redounds to this day on the vital importance of free public expression as the underpinning of democracy.

Reviews/Praise

"This thought-provoking account deserves to be read by everyone; it will especially appeal to readers interested in law and colonial history." —Library Journal

"A comprehensive tribute to Zenger's legal battle against censorship and reprisal." —Publishers Weekly Starred Review

"Event by compelling event, [listeners] 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." —Booklist Starred Review

Author Bio

Richard Kluger won the Pulitzer Prize for Ashes to Ashes, a history of the cigarette industry, and is a two-time National Book Award finalist (for Simple Justice and The Paper). He lives near San Francisco.