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 bnrilliant 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 heroic figure who made the ultimate sacrifice while fighting for free press rights in a time when the First Amendment offered little protection for those who dared to critique America’s “peculiar institution.”

Culminating in Lovejoy’s dramatic clashes with the pro-slavery mob in Alton, Illinois—who were torching printing press after printing press—First to Fall will bring Lovejoy, his supporters and his enemies to life during the raucous 1830s at the edge of slave country. It was a bloody period of innovation, conflict, violent politics, and painful soul-searching over pivotal issues of morality and justice. 

In the tradition of books like The Arc of JusticeFirst to Fall elevates a compelling, socially urgent narrative that has never received the attention it deserves. The book will aim to do no less than rescue Lovejoy from the footnotes of history and restore him as a martyr whose death was not only a catalyst for widespread abolitionist action, but also inaugurated the movement toward the free press protections we cherish so dearly today.
1138267708
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 bnrilliant 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 heroic figure who made the ultimate sacrifice while fighting for free press rights in a time when the First Amendment offered little protection for those who dared to critique America’s “peculiar institution.”

Culminating in Lovejoy’s dramatic clashes with the pro-slavery mob in Alton, Illinois—who were torching printing press after printing press—First to Fall will bring Lovejoy, his supporters and his enemies to life during the raucous 1830s at the edge of slave country. It was a bloody period of innovation, conflict, violent politics, and painful soul-searching over pivotal issues of morality and justice. 

In the tradition of books like The Arc of JusticeFirst to Fall elevates a compelling, socially urgent narrative that has never received the attention it deserves. The book will aim to do no less than rescue Lovejoy from the footnotes of history and restore him as a martyr whose death was not only a catalyst for widespread abolitionist action, but also inaugurated the movement toward the free press protections we cherish so dearly today.
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First to Fall: Elijah Lovejoy and the Fight for a Free Press in the Age of Slavery

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

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

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

by Ken Ellingwood

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Overview

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 bnrilliant 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 heroic figure who made the ultimate sacrifice while fighting for free press rights in a time when the First Amendment offered little protection for those who dared to critique America’s “peculiar institution.”

Culminating in Lovejoy’s dramatic clashes with the pro-slavery mob in Alton, Illinois—who were torching printing press after printing press—First to Fall will bring Lovejoy, his supporters and his enemies to life during the raucous 1830s at the edge of slave country. It was a bloody period of innovation, conflict, violent politics, and painful soul-searching over pivotal issues of morality and justice. 

In the tradition of books like The Arc of JusticeFirst to Fall elevates a compelling, socially urgent narrative that has never received the attention it deserves. The book will aim to do no less than rescue Lovejoy from the footnotes of history and restore him as a martyr whose death was not only a catalyst for widespread abolitionist action, but also inaugurated the movement toward the free press protections we cherish so dearly today.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781643137032
Publisher: Pegasus Books
Publication date: 05/04/2021
Sold by: SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format: eBook
Pages: 400
Sales rank: 590,427
File size: 3 MB

About the Author

An award-winning journalist, Ken Ellingwood has been posted in the San Diego, Mexico City, Jerusalem, and Atlanta bureaus of the Los Angeles Times. He is the author of the critically acclaimed (and prescient) work of investigative journalism Hard Line: Life and Death on the U.S.-Mexico Border. He currently lives in Abu Dhabi.

Table of Contents

Introduction ix

Chapter 1 Where the Evil Existed 1

Chapter 2 A Land of Strangers 13

Chapter 3 Brethren 29

Chapter 4 The Only Weapon 39

Chapter 5 Nothing but a Newspaper 49

Chapter 6 To The West 59

Chapter 7 The Ashes of McIntosh 71

Chapter 8 A Judge Named Lawless 95

Chapter 9 Mr. Birney Frees His Slaves 111

Chapter 10 Incendiary Missiles 125

Chapter 11 The South Builds a Barricade 149

Chapter 12 A Right to Interfere 169

Chapter 13 The Odious Doctrines of Elijah Lovejoy 183

Chapter 14 A Band of Lawless Men 199

Chapter 15 The Wise and Good 215

Chapter 16 Effects Most Happy 229

Chapter 17 No Right to Be Neutral 245

Chapter 18 A Train of Mournful Consequences 259

Chapter 19 Tin Horns and Torches 269

Chapter 20 A Martyr in the Cause 283

Epilogue 299

Postscript 305

Acknowledgments 307

Bibliography 311

Notes 319

Index 343

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