You really can't believe everything you read . . .

A premature newswire report announces the end of World War I, spurring wild celebrations in American streets days before the actual treaty was signed. A St. Louis newspaper prints reviews of theatrical performances that never took place—they had been canceled due to bad weather. New York newspaper reporters plant evidence in the apartment of the man accused of kidnapping the Lindbergh baby and then call him a liar in the courtroom once the trial begins.

These are just a few of the many wrongs that have been reported as right over two centuries of American history. All the News Unfit to Print puts the media under the microscope to expose the many types of mistakes, hoaxes, omissions, and lies that have skewed our understanding of the past, and reveals the range of reasons and motivations—from boredom and haste to politics and greed-behind them. Reviewing a host of journalistic slip-ups involving Ben Franklin, Mark Twain, William Randolph Hearst, Theodore H. White, and many others, this book covers the stories behind the stories to refine incorrect "first drafts" of history from the Revolutionary War era to more recent times.

"All the News Unfit to Print is a rollicking joyride that careens through the ridiculous, the odd, and the serious malfeasances in American journalistic history and reminds us of the difference between news and facts."
—Neal Gabler, author of Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination...

Their ambitions, intrigues, and jealousies shaped the birth of our nation, but they overcame their foibles and imperfections to throw off the chains of tyranny and form a more perfect union. We think of them now as faces on money or statues on pedestals, and, as Burns shows here in luminous prose, thatÕs exactly what they wanted to be. They all possessed astonishing brilliance, expansive egos, and more than just a little vanity. In this fresh perspective, Burns brings the Founding Fathers down off their pedestals to reveal the flesh-and-blood menÑvain and modest, sensitive and stubborn, brilliant and ambitiousÑwho overcame their faults and squabbles to establish a new nation that would shine as a paragon of governance. For the armchair historian, here is an exciting new look at our countryÕs origins....

This witty exploration of the most volatile period in the history of the American press tells of how the era s raucous journalism was essential in creating a lasting nation. Includes: Ben Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, & Sam Adams -- all leading journalists; George Washington & John Adams, the leading disdainers of journalists; & Thomas Jefferson, the leading manipulator of journalists. Also includes the incendiary James Franklin, Ben s brother & one of the first muckrakers; the high-minded Thomas Paine; the hatchet man James Callender; & a rebellious crowd of pamphleteers & publishers. The participants publicly aired the issues that would lead America to declare its independence &, after the war, determine what sort of nation it would be....