At the other exposure, there were those who encountered that risk - and found notoriety or lasting fame along the way. In the hands of a select few, the pamphlet reached a level of high achievement beyond any ordinary Grub Street reckoning. As a special focus, the narrative reveals how the early journalists were driven not so much by scandal and sensationalism at home and abroad but by major historical events on the world stage: the Reformation, the English Revolution, the War of the Spanish Succession, and the revolutions in America and in France. Along a mighty timeline, these were the great political tides that led to the birth of journalism, the periodical press, and the emergence of the fourth estate. In this brief survey, the author includes vignettes on seven pamphleteers: Robert Greene, Thomas Nashe, Thomas Dekker, John Milton, Daniel Defoe, Jonathan Swift, and culminating with the high achievement of Tom Paine. The Pamphleteers is itself a pamphlet for the digital age. ABOUT THE AUTHOR James A. Oliver is an international writer, editor, and occasional journalist.
He is the author of A Footprint in the Sand, an epic political comedy inspired by the end of the Cold War, and The Anarchist's Arms, a play set in near-future London. In 2006, The Bering Strait Crossing: A 21st Century Frontier was published worldwide. In 2007, he was invited to Moscow by the Russian Academy of Scientists to discuss the subject at the inaugural ICL World Link conference. From 2007-2009, he lived and worked in Paris on the Ile Saint Louis, where he also developed the script for The Pamphleteers: The Birth of Journalism. James Oliver is presently based at a remote location for his research on The Strait of Gibraltar: antiquity to the 21st century. He is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.
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