Synopses & Reviews
200 Years ago a Philadelphia newspaper claimed George Washington wasn't the "father of his country." It claimed John Adams really wanted to be king. Its editors were arrested by the federal government. One editor died awaiting trial.
The story of this newspaper is the story of America.
In this monumental story of two newspaper editors whom Presidents Washington and Adams sought to jail for sedition, American Aurora offers a new and heretical vision of this nation's beginnings, from the vantage point of those who fought in the American Revolution to create a democracy--and lost.
Review
"Rosenfeld assumes the persona of the editor of the Philadelphia Aurora to reveal the 'suppressed history of our nation's beginnings,' serving up heresies like 'Washington and Adams were warring against the French Revolution because they were enemies to democracy ... and ... Adams, Hamilton and other 'Federalists' really wanted an American king.' By baiting the establishment with partisan sniping and courageous misbehavior, the newspaper provoked a reaction which threatened to suffocate the newborn First Amendment in its crib. Similarly Rosenfeld tweaks our conventional notions of historical integrity by blending fact with skewed opinion and philippic, to reproduce the sense of living 'in the midst of animosities and during the tumult of passions.' For all its 1,000 pages and 2,000 footnotes this is a lively read, just short of a novel but far beyond a reference book." Reviewed by Daniel Weiss, Virginia Quarterly Review (Copyright 2006 Virginia Quarterly Review)
Review
"BEST HISTORY 1997" --
Los Angeles Times"A magnificent achievement, American Aurora is both an original work of history and a rousing good story...The early days of the Republic will be much better understood by the publication of this remarkable book." --Doris Kearns Goodwin, winner, 1995 Pulizer Prize in History
"Richard N. Rosenfeld's strange and remarkable book, American Aurora...offers new and revealing perspectives on the period--subverting the heroic image of George Washington as General and President, catching as never before the ways the lure of the monarchy was felt....These are no mean accomplishments." --Gordon S. Wood, winner, 1993 Pulitzer Prize in History, Times Literary Supplement
"Richard Rosenfeld's story, which reads almost like fiction...is revisionist as history, fresh from its thorough grounding in the sources, brilliantly conceived and written, it is a remarkable retelling of the early years of the United States...this is an original work of history and told by a master storyteller." --Esmond Wright, Los Angeles Times Book Review
"Rosenfeld's monumental book America Aurora...is an importat book...it should be read by all who prize truth over myths, individual freedom over enforced national consensus, democrary of aristocracy." --The Nation
"A riveting narrative of an epochal politial struggle..American Aurora's first hand evidence is as irrefutable as its rough-and-tumble you-are-there immediacy is irresistible...A tale of high drama that leaves the stately mythology of our Founding Fathers' wisdom and omniscience shattered." --Dallas Morning News
"What a daring, remarkable book it is...the book succeeds..." --St. Louis Post Dispatch
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 910-956) and index.
About the Author
Richard Neil Rosenfeld, the son and grandson of printers, was born in Boston in 1941. He is an independent scholar who lives in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. He holds degrees from Yale, Columbia, and Boston Universities, is a Councillor at American Antiquarian Society, and is an Associate Fellow at Yale's Timothy Dwight College.