Imposter's war, the press, propaganda, and the newsman who battled for the minds of America, Mark Arsenault
Type
Label
Imposter's war, the press, propaganda, and the newsman who battled for the minds of America, Mark Arsenault
Language
eng
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references and index
resource.biographical
individual biography
Illustrations
illustrations
Index
index present
Literary Form
non fiction
Main title
Imposter's war
Nature of contents
bibliography
Oclc number
1259047070
Responsibility statement
Mark Arsenault
Sub title
the press, propaganda, and the newsman who battled for the minds of America
Summary
The shocking history of the espionage and infiltration of American media during WWI and the man who exposed it. A man who was not who he claimed to be... Russia was not the first foreign power to subvert American popular opinion from inside. In the lead-up to America's entry into the First World War, Germany spent the modern equivalent of one billion dollars to infiltrate American media, industry, and government to undermine the supply chain of the Allied forces. If not for the ceaseless activity of John Revelstoke Rathom, editor of the scrappy Providence Journal, America may have remained committed to its position of neutrality. But Rathom emerged to galvanize American will, contributing to the conditions necessary for President Wilson to request a Declaration of War from Congress--all the while exposing sensational spy plots and getting German diplomats expelled from the U.S. And yet John Rathom was not even his real name. His swashbuckling biography was outrageous fiction. And his many acts of journalistic heroism, which he recounted to rapt audiences on nationwide speaking tours, never happened. Who then was this great, beloved, and ultimately tragic imposter? In The Imposter's War, Mark Arsenault unearths the truth about Rathom's origins and revisits a surreal and too-little-known passage in American history that reverberates today. The story of John Rathom encompasses the propaganda battle that set America on a course for war. He rose within the editorial ranks, surviving romantic scandals and combative rivals, eventually transitioning from an editor to a de facto spy. He brought to light the Huerta plot (in which Germany tried to push the United States and Mexico into a war) and helped to upend labor strikes organized by German agents to shut down American industry. Rathom was eventually brought low by an up-and-coming political star by the name of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Arsenault tracks the rise and fall of this enigmatic figure, while providing the rich and fascinating context of Germany's acts of subterfuge through the early years of World War I. The Imposter's War is a riveting and spellbinding narrative of a flawed newsman who nevertheless changed the course of history
Table Of Contents
The imposter -- Bombs, bullets, and bad luck -- Frostbite and dynamite -- Birth of a sensation -- The creation of John Revelstoke Rathom, part 1: from thin air -- Spies, lies, allies -- Transformation -- Romancing the dictator -- The creation of John Revelstoke Rathom, part 2: love, sex, and poison -- Minister without portfolio -- "Idiotic Yankees" -- Good friends/high places -- The creation of John Revelstoke Rathom, part 3: tried by fire -- Shock and awe -- Department of Judas -- The only thing we have to smear -- Kompromat -- Out of character -- Genesis of a lie