Fleet Street: Five Hundred Years of the Press - Hardcover

This authoritative history of the press in London, from its earliest days through to the relaunch of "The Guardian" this year, tells a fascinating story. There were 'newsbooks' during the turbulent Civil War period, and rigorously state-controlled newspapers (such as the "London Gazette") launched afterwards, but the newspaper industry as we know it today really began to flourish in the 1690s, when released from censorship. New papers have been launched every year since then, and just a few have adapted and survived. 'Give the readers what they want' soon became the watchword used. And that is what this book aims to do, too. Political opinion, commercial opportunism, technological advances, price wars, satisfying the thirst for news (with newshounds who sniff out the day's stories), the influence of editors, great feature writers, gossip columnists, advertising campaigns, the invention of the cartoon strip and crosswords, the power of the Press Barons, and then the breaking of the power of the unions - all contribute to the story that Griffiths weaves so expertly.

Dennis Griffiths was former Production Director of Express Newspapers, editor of Professional Printer, and author of The Encyclopedia of the British Press 1422-1992 (Macmillan, 1992). He is also the lead curator of The Front Page exhibition at the British Library in 2006.