This is the astonishing story of North Carolinian John McLean Harrington, a maverick journalist who before and during the Civil War handwrote up to a hundred copies of each issue of his own various newspapers. As cultural and military battle lines were drawn across the South, Harrington, while postmaster in Harnett County, “blogged” in longhand about everything from the plight of slaves to unrequited love, international relations, and technology. He became an outspoken dilettante journalist, a defender of press freedom, and one of the nation’s most productive longhand journalists. Includes photos and accompanying transcriptions of two complete issues of Harrington’s papers.
Harrington
The Authors
Michael Ray Smith, Ph.D., is an award-winning journalist, photographer, and author of many articles and five books, including “FeatureWriting.Net.” He has been quoted in the New York Times, Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, USA Today, and Editor & Publisher. He teaches at Campbell University — a few miles from the book’s setting. Roy Alden Atwood (Introduction) is president and senior fellow of New Saint Andrews College in Moscow, Idaho. Quentin J. Schultze (Preface) is the Arthur H. DeKruyter chair and professor of communication at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan
