Canada has not always had the role of 'friendly neighbor to the north.' In fact, the seemingly peaceful history of relations between the United States and Canada is punctuated with instances of border disputes, annexation manifestos and trade disagreements. David R. Spencer reveals the complexity of this relationship through a fascinating examination of political cartoons that appeared both in the U.S. and Canada from 1849 through the 1990s. By first examining both the cultural and political differences and similarities between the two nations, Spencer lays the groundwork for the main focus of his study - deeper analysis of the political perspectives of the editorial cartoons. Including 141 actual cartoons of the time, Spencer provides meaningful references to the historical material covered. An intriguing study by a leading Canadian-American scholar, this work is sure to interest many across the disciplines of journalism history, cartoons, media studies, communication and international relations.

When a case containing dismembered human remains surfaced in New York's East River in June of 1897, the publisher of the ""New York Journal"" - a young, devil-may-care millionaire named William Randolph Hearst - decided that his newspaper would ""scoop"" the city's police department by solving this heinous crime. Pulling out all the stops, Hearst launched more than a journalistic murder investigation; his newspaper's active intervention in the city's daily life, especially its underside, marked the birth of the Yellow Press. In a work that studies the rise and fall of this phenomenon, David R. Spencer documents the fierce competition that characterized yellow journalism, the social realities and trends that contributed to its success (and its ultimate demise), its accomplishments for good or ill, and its long-term legacy. Most notable among Hearst's competitors was New York City's ""The World"", owned and managed by a European Jewish immigrant named Joseph Pulitzer. ""The Yellow Journalism"" describes how these two papers and others exploited the scandal, corruption, and crime among the city's most influential citizens, and its most desperate inhabitants - a policy that made this ""journalism of action"" remarkably effective, not just as a commercial force, but also as an advocate for the city's poor and defenseless. Spencer shows how many of the innovations first introduced during this period - from investigative reporting to the use of color, entertainment news, and cartoons in papers - have had a lasting effect on journalism; and how media in our day reflects the Yellow Press's influence, but also its threatened irrelevance within the broader realities of contemporary society.