The Western Press in the Crucible of the American Civil War

Mary M. Cronin (Ph.D., Michigan State University) is a professor in the Department of Journalism and Media Studies at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, New Mexico. A former news reporter and editor, Cronin’s research interests include nineteenth- and early twentieth-century press performance issues, U.S. Civil War coverage, media law, and coverage of women and minorities. She is the author, editor, or co-editor of four previous books, as well as numerous scholarly articles, on media history. Debra Reddin van Tuyll (Ph.D., University of South Carolina) is a professor of communication at Augusta University. She is winner of the AJHA Kobre Award for Lifetime Achievement in Journalism History and the Donald L. Shaw Award for Lifetime Achievement in Service to Journalism History.

Mary M. Cronin, Debra Reddin van Tuyll, and Bill Huntzicker: Introduction: Land. Lots of Land. And Newspapers, Too: Westward Migration and the Creation of Western Journalism – Debra Reddin van Tuyll: By the Numbers: Facts and Figures of Western Editors and Their Newspapers – Mary M. Cronin: “Give Us the War News!”: News Gathering, Distribution, and Audiences – Glen Feighery and David J. Vergobbi: Press Roles and Functions: Community Building in the West – Erika J. Pribanic- Smith: No ‘Cliques or Factions’: Politics, Partisanship and the Press in the West – Crompton Burton: “Stirring Times”: The Coming of the American Civil War in the Western Press – Mary M. Cronin: Acts of Disloyalty: Legal and Extralegal Restrictions on the Far Western Press in Wartime – Hubert van Tuyll: A Distant and Bloody Mirror: The Western Press and the Fighting – Jennifer E. Moore: From Sea to Shining Sea: Domestic and International News from the Plains to the Ocean – Katrina Quinn: “Words are Not Sufficient”: The Western Press Reports the End of the War and the Death of Lincoln – Mary M. Cronin and Debra Reddin van Tuyll: Epilogue: In the Final Analysis: A Region of High- Risk Opportunity – Index.