First to Fall: Elijah Lovejoy and the Fight for a Free Press in the Age of Slavery

A vividly told tale of a forgotten American hero—an impassioned newsman who fought for the right to speak out against slavery.

The history of the fight for free press has never been more vital in our own time, when journalists are targeted as “enemies of the people.” In this brilliant and rigorously researched history, award-winning journalist and author Ken Ellingwood animates the life and times of abolitionist newspaper editor Elijah Lovejoy.

First to Fall illuminates this flawed yet he...