This work examines how, in the months leading up to the French Revolution, both the royal government and its opposition relied heavily upon pamphlets to sway public opinion, and how the number of published pamphlets reached truly astounding proportions in late 1788 and early 1789.

This volume explores the relationship between politics and pamphleteering in the Dutch Republic. By analyzing the political role of pamphlets and their interplay with other media in public debates, the articles provide a new understanding of Dutch political culture.

Setting the Agenda describes the mass media’s significant and sometimes controversial role in determining which topics are at the centre of public attention and action. Although Walter Lippman captured the essence of the media’s powerful influence early in the last century with his phrase, “the world outside and the pictures in our heads,” a detailed, empirical elaboration of this agenda-setting role of the mass media did not begin until the final quarter of the 20th century. In this comprehensive book, Maxwell McCombs, one of the founding fathers of agenda-setting tradition of research, synthesizes the hundreds of scientific studies carried out on this central role of the mass media in the shaping of public opinion. Across the world, the mass media strongly influences what the pictures of public affairs "in our heads" are about. The mass media also influences the very details of those pictures. In addition to describing this media influence on what we think about and how we think about it, Setting the Agenda also discusses the sources of these media agendas, the psychological explanation for their impact on the public agenda, and the subsequent consequences for attitudes, opinions and behaviour.

"This is the first volume of a four-volume set that will reprint in their entirety the texts of 72 pamphlets relating to the Anglo-American controversy that were published in America in the years 1750-1776. They have been selected from the corpus of the pamphlet literature on the basis of their importance in the growth of American political and social ideas, their role in the debate with England over constitutional rights, and their literary merit. All of the best known pamphlets of the period, such as James Otis' Rights of the British Colonies (1764), John Dickinson's Farmers Letters (1768), and Thomas Paine's Common Sense (1776) are to be included. In addition there are lesser known ones particularly important in the development of American constitutional thought: Stephen Johnson's Some Important Observations (1766), John Joachim Zublys An Humble Enquiry (1769), Ebenezer Baldwins An Appendix Stating the Heavy Grievances (1774), and Four Letters on Interesting Subjects (1776). There are also pamphlets illustrative of the sheer vituperation of the Revolutionary polemics, and others selected for their more elevated literary merit. Both sides of the Anglo-American dispute and all genres of expression -- poetry, dramatic dialogues, sermons, treatises, documentary collections, political "position papers" -- that appeared in this form are included. Each pamphlet is introduced by an essay written by the editor containing a biographical sketch of the author of the document, an analysis of the circumstances that led to the writing of it, and an interpretation of its contents. The texts are edited for the convenience of the modern reader according to a scheme that preserves scrupulously the integrity of every word written but that frees the text from the encumbrances of 18th-century printing practices. All references to writings, people, and events that are not obvious to the informed modern reader are identified in the editorial apparatus and where necessary explained in detailed notes. This first volume of the set contains the texts of 14 pamphlets through the year 1765. It presents, in addition, a book-length General Introduction by Mr. Bailyn on the ideology of the American Revolution. In the seven chapters of this essay the ideological origins and development of the Revolutionary movement are analyzed in the light of the study of the pamphlet literature that went into the preparation of these volumes. Mr. Bailyn explains that close analysis of this literature allows one to penetrate deeply into the colonists understanding of the events of their time; to grasp more clearly than is otherwise possible the sources of their ideas and their motives in rebelling; and, above all, to see the subtle, fundamental transformation of 18th-century constitutional thought that took place during these years of controversy and that became basic doctrine in America thereafter. Mr. Bailyn stresses particularly the importance in the development of American thought of the writings of a group of early 18th-century English radicals and opposition politicians who transmitted to the colonists most directly the 17th-century tradition of anti-authoritarianism born in the upheaval of the English Civil War. In the context of this 17th- and early 18th-century tradition one sees the political importance in the Revolutionary movement of concepts the 20th century has generally dismissed as mere propaganda and rhetoric: 'slavery,' 'conspiracy,' 'corruption.' It was the meaning these concepts imparted to the events of the time, Mr. Bailyn suggests, as well as the famous Lockean notions of natural rights and social and governmental compacts, that accounts for the origins and the basic characteristics of the American Revolution."--Publisher's description.

The Reynolds Pamphlet (1797) is an essay by Alexander Hamilton. Written while Hamilton was serving as Secretary of the Treasury, the Pamphlet was intended as a defense against accusations that Hamilton had conspired with James Reynolds to misuse funds meant to cover unpaid wages to Revolutionary War veterans. Admitting to an affair with Maria, Reynolds’ wife, Hamilton claims that the accusation is nothing more than an attempt at blackmail. This revelation not only endangered Hamilton’s career as a public figure, but constituted perhaps the earliest sex scandal in American history. “The bare perusal of the letters from Reynolds and his wife is sufficient to convince my greatest enemy that there is nothing worse in the affair than an irregular and indelicate amour. For this, I bow to the just censure which it merits. I have paid pretty severely for the folly and can never recollect it without disgust and self condemnation. It might seem affectation to say more.” Accused of corruption in his role as Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton was forced to confess his adultery, bringing shame to himself as a married man and supposedly honorable public figure, yet saving his political career in the process. Looking back on his affair with Maria Reynolds from a distance of five years, Hamilton expresses regret for his foolishness, yet wholeheartedly denies her husband’s accusation that he had been involved in his scheme to misuse government funds. Perhaps the first sex scandal in American history, the Reynolds affair sent shockwaves throughout the burgeoning republic, leaving many to question the motives and character of their leaders for the first time, though certainly not the last. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Alexander Hamilton’s Reynolds Pamphlet is a classic of American literature reimagined for modern readers.

A history of the printed pamphlet in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Britain.