ABSTRACT

Journalism and the American Experience offers a comprehensive examination of the critical role journalism has played in the struggle over America’s democratic institutions and culture. Journalism is central to the story of the nation’s founding and has continued to influence and shape debates over public policy, American exceptionalism, and the meaning and significance of the United States in world history. Placed at the intersection of American Studies and Communications scholarship, this book provides an essential introduction to journalism’s curious and conflicted co-existence with the American democratic experiment.  

chapter |26 pages

Introduction

Journalism and the Story of American Exceptionalism

chapter 3|20 pages

Building an “Empire of Liberty”

chapter 4|20 pages

The Penny Press and Mass Democracy

chapter 6|20 pages

New Journalism for a New Nation

chapter 7|19 pages

The Progressive Period

chapter 9|21 pages

“Misery and Human Fortitude”

The Dust Bowl and the Great Depression

chapter 11|19 pages

A “Cold War” and a “New Frontier”

chapter 17|22 pages

9/11 and Covering Wars on Terror