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Empire of Ink: The Printers, Rogues, and Radicals Who Invented the American Newspaper
Not yet published
Expected 16 Jun 26A sweeping history of America’s first media revolution: the rise of the newspaper, and the transformation of a fledgling republic into the world’s first information superpower
No society had ever generated so much ink and paper in so little time. Between the Revolutionary War and the dawn of the twentieth century, the number of American newspapers increased five hundredfold, producing the greatest outpouring of printed matter the world had ever seen. In Empire of Ink, Alex Wright tells the story of how an unruly young democracy found its voice—fueled by a mix of new technologies, bold public policies, and a distinctly American zeal for free expression that unleashed a torrent of newsprint, knitting together a fractious republic.
It was a wild, boisterous era—populated by gunslinging editors, tramp printers, zealous reformers, brilliant inventors, and literal snake-oil salesmen. Together, they transformed journalism, built a new industry, and helped forge the nation’s character. By century’s end, this freewheeling press had yielded to corporate interests. Wealthy media barons seized on new technologies and economies of scale to consolidate power—shaping the mass media that would define the twentieth century.
Vividly bringing to life a pivotal chapter in American history, Empire of Ink reveals how the same struggles over truth, technology, and power continue to echo into today’s digital age.
No society had ever generated so much ink and paper in so little time. Between the Revolutionary War and the dawn of the twentieth century, the number of American newspapers increased five hundredfold, producing the greatest outpouring of printed matter the world had ever seen. In Empire of Ink, Alex Wright tells the story of how an unruly young democracy found its voice—fueled by a mix of new technologies, bold public policies, and a distinctly American zeal for free expression that unleashed a torrent of newsprint, knitting together a fractious republic.
It was a wild, boisterous era—populated by gunslinging editors, tramp printers, zealous reformers, brilliant inventors, and literal snake-oil salesmen. Together, they transformed journalism, built a new industry, and helped forge the nation’s character. By century’s end, this freewheeling press had yielded to corporate interests. Wealthy media barons seized on new technologies and economies of scale to consolidate power—shaping the mass media that would define the twentieth century.
Vividly bringing to life a pivotal chapter in American history, Empire of Ink reveals how the same struggles over truth, technology, and power continue to echo into today’s digital age.
- GenresNonfictionHistory
384 pages, Hardcover
Expected publication June 16, 2026
About the author
Alex Wright
63 books33 followersAlex Wright is a Brooklyn-based writer, researcher, and designer whose most recent book is Cataloging the World: Paul Otlet and the Birth of the Information Age. His first book Glut: Mastering Information Through the Ages, was hailed by the Los Angeles Times as "a penetrating and highly entertaining meditation on our information age and its historical roots."
Alex's writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The New York Times, The Believer, Salon.com, The Wilson Quarterly, The Christian Science Monitor, and Harvard Magazine, among others.
Alex is a graduate faculty member at the School of Visual Arts' MFA program in Interaction Design. From 2009-2013, he was the Director of User Experience at The New York Times. He has also led research and design projects for Etsy, Yahoo!, Microsoft, IBM, The Long Now Foundation, Harvard University, the Internet Archive, and Yahoo!, among others. His work has won numerous industry awards, including a Webby, Cool Site of the Year, and an American Graphic Design Award.
Although painfully aware that the last thing the world needs is another bearded, bespectacled Brooklyn writer, Alex nonetheless chooses to live in Park Slope with his wife, two boys, and three banjos.
Alex's writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The New York Times, The Believer, Salon.com, The Wilson Quarterly, The Christian Science Monitor, and Harvard Magazine, among others.
Alex is a graduate faculty member at the School of Visual Arts' MFA program in Interaction Design. From 2009-2013, he was the Director of User Experience at The New York Times. He has also led research and design projects for Etsy, Yahoo!, Microsoft, IBM, The Long Now Foundation, Harvard University, the Internet Archive, and Yahoo!, among others. His work has won numerous industry awards, including a Webby, Cool Site of the Year, and an American Graphic Design Award.
Although painfully aware that the last thing the world needs is another bearded, bespectacled Brooklyn writer, Alex nonetheless chooses to live in Park Slope with his wife, two boys, and three banjos.
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Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
The United States, in a very real sense, printed itself into existence. from Empire of Ink by Alex Wright
When I was a girl my best friend and I dreamed about starting a newspaper, planning to use a shed near her house, talking about how we would write it and distribute it.
So it was fascinating to learn that in 1861 a twelve-year-old girl did start her own paper and had three thousand subscribers! Her father had won a printing press in a poker game and her brother printed small jobs. ‘Little Nellie’s Paper’ was filled with “poems, observations on the weather, and the assorted musings of a twelve-year-old girl on small town life.” She “delved into local history,” and gathered a “stable of contributors.”
This history is full of surprises and stories. Mark Twain impoverished himself supporting a failed new printing press invention. He had started as a printer’s devil and later worked for a newspaper in the West when editors wore guns for protection.
From the beginning, American newspapers differed from the presses controlled by royal rulers. They could hold authorities to account and flame political movements. Sensational stories fueled readership while advertising revenue spurred the size and number of newspapers.
Wright offers up a very readable and exciting history and concludes with an analysis of contemporary pressures altering newspapers and how people get information. He predicts that we are at a historical tipping point of change, “an echo, however distorted, of the chaotic and pluralistic press culture of the nineteenth century.”
Thanks to Basic Books for a free book through NetGalley.
When I was a girl my best friend and I dreamed about starting a newspaper, planning to use a shed near her house, talking about how we would write it and distribute it.
So it was fascinating to learn that in 1861 a twelve-year-old girl did start her own paper and had three thousand subscribers! Her father had won a printing press in a poker game and her brother printed small jobs. ‘Little Nellie’s Paper’ was filled with “poems, observations on the weather, and the assorted musings of a twelve-year-old girl on small town life.” She “delved into local history,” and gathered a “stable of contributors.”
This history is full of surprises and stories. Mark Twain impoverished himself supporting a failed new printing press invention. He had started as a printer’s devil and later worked for a newspaper in the West when editors wore guns for protection.
From the beginning, American newspapers differed from the presses controlled by royal rulers. They could hold authorities to account and flame political movements. Sensational stories fueled readership while advertising revenue spurred the size and number of newspapers.
Wright offers up a very readable and exciting history and concludes with an analysis of contemporary pressures altering newspapers and how people get information. He predicts that we are at a historical tipping point of change, “an echo, however distorted, of the chaotic and pluralistic press culture of the nineteenth century.”
Thanks to Basic Books for a free book through NetGalley.
Displaying 1 of 1 review