Journalism in the Civil War, 1861-1865

Journalism in the Civil War is examined in depth in BLUE & GRAY IN BLACK & WHITE -- an exploration of the individual and collective efforts of journalists assigned to some 2500 daily and weekly newspapers.

It focuses on the personalities, politics, and rivalries of editors; the efforts of newspapers to influence military appointments, strategy, and tactics; advances in printing technology; formal and informal censorship; the suppression of dissident newspapers; and, most of all, the war correspondents themselves.

These writers and illustrators demonstrated a basic truth borne out in every war since: an unfettered, honest journalist is a burden to an army in the field, anathema to the seat of government, and vital to a democratic society.

Critical comment on this study of journalism in the Civil War:

"Brayton Harris has done the near impossible: written an erudite, well-researched, informative book about the Civil War that covers a topic not yet addressed by the countless authors and historians who have been captivated by this crucial period in the life of our nation. And his book is really interesting, especially to anyone who has ever worked on a newspaper, dealt with a war correspondent, pondered about the objectivity of news from the front, or wondered if military journalism of that era was as influential on public opinion as it is today . . ."

--Robert B. Sims, former deputy press secretary for foreign affairs at the White House and assistant secretary of defense for public affairs

"To understand today's distrustful relationship between the military and reporters of the popular press, Blue & Gray in Black & White is a must. It all started with the Civil War, the public's right to know vs. the need for operational security -- the mantra of the military. The line in the sand between the two was drawn in the 1860s and extends to this very day in the Balkans."

--Lt.. Gen. Bernard E. Trainor, USMC (Ret.) and former military correspondent to the New York Times

Author Brayton Harris is uniquely qualified to write a book about journalism in the Civil War, and related military-media relations. A retired U.S. Navy captain, he served as a coordinator of in-country media activities in Vietnam. He has also been a printer, a publisher, and an editor, and is the author of more than two hundred articles and seven books, including The Age of the Battleship: 1890-1922; The Navy Times Book of Submarines: A Political, Social and Military History; and Johann Gutenberg and the Invention of Printing.

Other Reviews:

Michael Hedges, national correspondent for Scripps-Howard News Service. from Washington DC , October 16, 1999

Good Stories, Hack Writing from the front! --
From the Washington Times (October 2, 1999)

"Mr. Harris' book is a compelling account of how the Civil War led to the emergence of the press as a power on the national scene. It gives fresh insight into how a cast of visionaries and tough reporters -- along with some rogues and crackpots -- used that power to shape the way the nation viewed the war then and for all time . . . .This book is the first full treatment of the subject of press coverage of the Civil War since a pair of books by J. Cutler Andrews nearly two generations ago . . . Readers may be distracted by some of the author's digressions . . . [but] the value of "Blue and Gray in Black and White" outweighs any quibbles. . . . Journalism is viewed as the disposable first draft of history. What Mr. Harris' book makes clear is that taken as a whole, the work of combat correspondents created a record of the war that has formed our perceptions and fueled our imaginations ever since." --


George Hebert, a former editor of the Norfolk Ledger-Star, writing in the Virginian-Pilot, October 24, 1999:

"Author Harris . . . apologizes because he had to leave so much out of his book. But what he has packed into these pages -- in details of press conduct, policy and individual performance -- is brain-boggling and thoroughly readable. Even more important is what he tells about the tortures and stresses that the nation itself went through in its great -- but fortunately temporary -- splitting apart. Looking at the war from the viewpoint of those who produced and spread the news, even with all the journalistic gaps and miscues exposed, makes the picture of the conflict much more complete. This aspect of the war has been written about before, largely piecemeal. Now Harris has done it as fully, as clearly and as even-handedly as anyone could ask."

 

Ward Triplett, Kansas City STAR from Kansas City , October 16, 1999

How the Civil War helped make newspapers what they are today
-- From the Kansas City Star Magazine, (October 10, 1999)

"The love-hate relationship between the newspapers and the men who fought in the Civil War is just one of the subjects of Brayton Harris' Blue & Gray in Black & White: Newspapers in the Civil War . . . [In an interview, Harris said] "Before the Civil War, the newspapers in the United States were primarily opinion sheets for their editors. By the end of the war, they had actually become newspapers in the way we know them today. . . .One thing that came through is that nothing really has changed except technology . . . the media works the same way today that they did in 1860. Reporters do the same dumb, or brilliant things. Publishers sometimes put profits above ethics then and they do now.'"

Available from your local bookstore, or online from:
http://www.amazon.com
http://www.borders.com
http://www.barnesandnoble.com
384 pp; bibliography; index; illustrations

ISBN 1-57488-165-5 BATSFORD BRASSEY 4380 MacArthur Blvd., 2nd Floor, Washington DC 20007 (202) 333-2500 FAX (202) 333-5100      

Go to Brayton Harris homepage

 

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