Newspaper

by Maggie Messitt, Ian Bogost (Series Editor), Christopher Schaberg (Series Editor)

Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.

Newspaper is about more than news printed on paper. It brings us inside our best and worst selves, from censorship and the intentional destruction of historic record, to partisan and white supremacist campaigns, to the story of an instrument that has been central to democracy and to holding the powerful to account.

Newspapers are significant and vital and yet also quotidian and stuffed inside walls for insulation, crumpled to wash windows or start fires, and spread across floors to protect from paint or muddy shoes. A part of our daily ritual, “the first draft of history,” and a critical component of our democracy, newspapers figure in our lives and societies in many different ways, but are often central to the communities they serve.

This is a 400-year history of a nearly-endangered object and journalist Maggie Messitt's more recent, personal journey as an advocate for its transformation and survival in the two democratic nations she calls home – the United States and South Africa. A collection of 100 vignettes, Newspaper is a reflection on the past and present, and a journey alongside those seeking to prevent its extinction.

Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.

184 pages, Paperback

Published May 30, 2024

About the author

An independent narrative and immersion journalist, Maggie Messitt has spent the last decade reporting from inside underserved communities in southern Africa and Midwestern America. Typically focused on complex issues through the lens of every day life, her work is deeply invested in rural regions, social justice, and environmental sustainability. A dual-citizen, Messitt lived in South Africa from 2003 to 2011. During this time, she was a long-form reporter, a newspaper editor, and the founding director of a writing school for rural African women. A 2015 Kenyon Review Peter Taylor Fellow, 2016 Scholar-in-Residence at Bowers Writers House, and 2016 Clayton B. Ofstad Endowed Writer-in-Residence, Messitt is working to complete her PhD in creative nonfiction and her next book, a hybrid of investigation and memoir.

Longlisted for the Sunday Times Alan Paton Award (South Africa) and an INDIEFAB Book of the Year Finalist, The Rainy Season is her first book.

Reviews

[Olivia Hinds · Rating 4 out of 5]

Big thanks to my grandmother for giving me this book, and to the Hinds / Messitt connection!

This wouldn't be my typical choice of book, but I really enjoyed it. I wasn't aware of the censorship in South African news history, and this book really made me think about how important news is for informing and rallying us together. It was a sad to think about how many of these sources we have lost out on as people stop subscribing. Each piece is different from each other, but I think there are main themes to the importance of truthful news that has helped motivate social and political movements for generations.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book to read because it is basically a series of snippets of information about press freedoms in both the United States and South Africa. Some commonalities between the two countries. More reporting of atrocities committed against Blacks in the US. Plus the desire to create Black-owned newspapers.