This book examines the idea of fake news through an analysis of the work of early to mid-twentieth century press critic George Seldes. By examining fake news - also known as propaganda and misinformation - from this period it becomes evident that it is a phenomenon that emerges in response to particular social, political and economic conditions. It is, therefore, not a new process but always a feature of the media ecosystem. Seldes’ work makes evident that contemporary anxieties about the role, function, future and credibility of journalism were expressed in the 1930s and 1940s. The same fears were circulated about the consequences of fake news and propaganda on democratic debate. The same concerns were also expressed about how technology extends the circulation of propaganda and fake news, and affects journalism practices. An analysis of Seldes’ media criticism of the fake news, lies and propaganda in daily newspapers in the 1930s and 1940s exposes the historical nature and impact of fake news on public debate, and affirms the critical role of journalists in exposing fake news.
A collection of interviews, speeches, and essays by Langston Hughes. Let America Be America Again: Conversations with Langston Hughes is a record of a remarkable man talking. In texts ranging from early interviews in the 1920s, when he was a busboy and scribbling out poems on hotel napkins, to major speeches, such as his keynote address at the First World Festival of Negro Arts in Dakar, Senegal, in 1966, Hughes's words further amplify the international reputation he established over the course of five decades through more widely-published and well-known poems, stories, novels, and plays. In these interviews, speeches, and conversational essays, the writer referred to by admirers as the "Poet Laureate of the Negro Race" and the "Dean of Black Letters" articulated some of his most powerful critiques of fascism, economic and racial oppression, and compromised democracy. It was also through these genres that Hughes spoke of the responsibilities of the Black artist, documented the essential contributions of Black people to literature, music, and theatre, and chronicled the substantial challenges that Black artists face in gaining recognition, fair pay, and professional advancement. And it was through these pieces, too, that Hughes built on his celebrated work in other literary genres to craft an original, tragic-comic persona—a Blues poet in exile, forever yearning for and coming back to a home, a nation, that nevertheless continues to disappoint and harm him. A global traveler, Hughes's words, "Let America be America Again" were, throughout his career, always followed by a caveat: "America never was America to me."
In Black Freedom, White Resistance, and Red Menace, Yasuhiro Katagiri offers the first scholarly work to illuminate an important but largely unstudied aspect of U.S. civil rights history -- the collaborative and mutually beneficial relationship between professional anti-Communists in the North and segregationist politicians in the South. In 1954, the Supreme Court outlawed racial segregation in public schools with the Brown v. Board of Education ruling. Soon after -- while the political demise of U.S. senator Joseph R. McCarthy unfolded -- northern anti-Communists looked to the South as a promising new territory in which they could expand their support base and continue their cause. Southern segregationists embraced the assistance, and the methods, of these Yankee collaborators, and utilized the "northern messiahs" in executing a massive resistance to the Supreme Court's desegregation decrees and the civil rights movement in general. Southern white leadership framed black southerners' crusades for social justice and human dignity as a foreign scheme directed by nefarious outside agitators, "race-mixers," and, worse, outright subversives and card-carrying Communists. Based on years of extensive archival research, Black Freedom, White Resistance, and Red Menace explains how a southern version of McCarthyism became part of the opposition to the civil rights movement in the South, an analysis that leads us to a deeper understanding and appreciation for what the freedom movement -- and those who struggled for equality -- fought to overcome.
"Since 1861, U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO), formerly known as the U.S. Government Printing Office, has produced the documents of democracy crucial to an informed citizenry. Keeping America Informed: the U.S. Government Publishing Office 1861-2016, is a freshly updated version of the 150 year Anniversary Book about this unique organization" --publisher description.
For 150 years, U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) has produced the digital documents of democracy crucial to an informed citizenry. Keeping America Informed: the U.S. Government Printing Office, 150 Years of Service to the Nation, published to mark GPO's 150th anniversary as a Federal agency, tells the story of this unique organization through a readable and concise narrative and numerous historic photographs, many of them never before published. This handsome new volume provides a panoramic view of GPO, which opened its doors for business on March 4, 1861, as Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated as the 16th president of the United States. After a description of the previous history of “publick printing” and the founding of GPO, Keeping America Informed covers the agency's physical and technological growth in the Gilded Age, its reform during the Progressive Era, and its crucial role in supporting the Government's efforts to grapple with the Great Depression and two world wars. Post-World War II, the book describes GPO's transition from traditional printing to the digital technology of today. It also highlights the hugely significant role the agency has played in the dissemination of federal Government information through its publications sales and Federal depository library programs. Much of the information in Keeping America Informed is new, the product of the latest research into GPO's history. Above all, its authoritative text and unique images depict the enormous contribution of its employees, past and present, to the well-being of the American people and nation.