After the rise of the penny press in the 1830s, journalism became a target, a counterpoint, and even a model for many American writers. The first book of its kind, "Literature and Journalism in Antebellum America "explores the sibling rivalry that emerged as Poe, Thoreau, Stowe, and their contemporaries responded to newspapers, defended their own versions of the truth, and crafted "news of their own" in "Walden," "Uncle Tom's Cabin," and other works. This historical study provides fresh insights into the antebellum era while informing the current debate over stories and truths in the age of blogs, internet news, and reality television.

Explores the sibling rivalry that emerged in the American literary marketplace in the decades after the advent of the penny press, showing how journalism became a target, a counterpoint, and even a model for numerous American authors, including Thoreau, Cooper, Poe, and Stowe.