Indelible Ink: The Trials of John Peter Zenger and the Birth of America's Free Press - Hardcover

"Celebrates the power of free expression...a comprehensive tribute to Zenger's legal battle against censorship and reprisal." -- Starred Review - Publishers Weekly "Event by compelling event, readers follow Zenger through the drama that eventually landed him in jail on libel charges-before a liberty-loving jury freed him with a 1735 verdict signaling a clear American commitment to the unfettered reporting that can check abuse of power. The much-needed prologue to today's headlines." -- Starred Review - Booklist "Kluger raises important questions still resonating today...This thought-provoking account deserves to be read by everyone." -- Starred Review - Library Journal "Enlightening and frightening... A book of American history for all, but lawyers and journalists will especially appreciate it." -- Kirkus Reviews "Beneath WikiLeaks and Edward Snowden, beneath the whole modern concept of a free press, lies the trial of a German-American printer in colonial New York. Richard Kluger's account of the Zenger trial is thoughtful, scrupulously detailed, and utterly relevant." -- Russell Shorto, author of The Island at the Center of the World "Indelible Ink is a triumph...a new and very compelling take on the Zenger case. I found myself glued to Kluger's book and much in agreement with his findings, and he has written it all wonderfully well." -- Stanley N. Katz, author of Newcastle's New York: Anglo-American Politics, 1723-53 and director of Princeton University's Center for Art and Cultural Studies

In 1733, John Peter Zenger scandalised New York by launching a newspaper, The New-York Weekly Journal, which assailed the new British governor as corrupt and arrogant-a direct challenge to the prevailing law against "seditious libel" that criminalised any criticism of the government. Fronting for a group of anti-royalist politicians, Zenger was thrown in jail before his landmark one-day trial on 4 August 1735 where he was brilliantly defended by lawyer Andrew Hamilton. In Indelible Ink, Richard Kluger re-creates the dramatic clash of powerful antagonists that marked the beginning of press freedom in America and its role in vanquishing colonial tyranny. Here is an enduring lesson on the importance of free public expression as the underpinning of democracy.